The Gash

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In another hobby of mine guys were recommending a clip-on Macro Lens for your smartphone. An added advantage going that route is being able to record/save an image and then look at it in more detail later on.

Also have a couple magnifying visors I sometimes use while working on circuit boards and the likes. Problem is working distance with strong magnification which is very little. Have another lens setup that just clips to one side of my glasses. A lot of the time I just use a loupe to inspect, make some mods, inspect, make mods...

I've always had crappy eyes and needed aids to help...

That might work if we used a cellphone a lot ... We have a nice smart phone , it resides in the door pocket of the car . Where we live there is no cell reception - or TV , or FM radio . Well , I do get about 3 FM stations . Even on the ride to town reception is spotty . The only times we turn the phone on is emergencies and when we go on a trip (farther than just to town ) .

I've had glasses for nearsightedness since I was a teen . The problem here is as much lighting as it is magnification . I used to have a goose-neck lamp over the lathe , it broke and I never replaced it . I have a flashlight that would help - if I had 3 hands .

Heck, just sharpening a drill bit I have a 3X magnifier lamp I swing over the bench grinder so I can really see what is happening. Have another one in my front office on that bench. I often use a small clamp on bench vise and a rotary hand piece there in conjunction with it to sharpen, grind, and cut stuff. More than once I've used an abrasive disc to shorten screws so I could get a finished job out the door. Its easy when I can clamp the screw in a vise and SEE it.

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Really nearsighted, had glasses since third grade. Amazing how much that helped in school...

I splurged on a Fenix E12 a few years ago. BEST flashlight I've ever had. Gold plated contacts, real on/off switch, defaults to low at power up and only one AA battery. Almost always wear a visor or cap and these can clip on the visor. The clip that comes with them is too tight for most visors but can be spread open a tad. Maybe they've fixed that issue nowadays...

I've bought some from Ebay sellers for ~$25 to give as gifts...

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I have a pair of the $50 import versions of this:

least that's what I paid in the stores where I found them. Googling for images shows only the Kalamazoo and Hardinge versions.

I used a 1" rod in a collet to level the base of one on its side in the milling vise and machined the rough cast sides parallel so it can be clamped in the vise, level or on angle blocks. As-is it has 24 spring-loaded stops but it could be set and clamped by eye at any angular rotation.

The other one is upright on an angle plate. The collet nut is a ring with spanner holes on the OD and doesn't need much clearance to tighten it. Both can take the 3, 4 or 6 jaw chucks on 5C mounts for my lathe.

Another possibility is a spin index:

If you cut gears or splines there's this: Clausing mill also uses B&S-7 collets. They almost interchange with Morse #2.

I'm thinking something a lot more simple than most of those . Probably something with a clamp ring for the Dremel on a pivoting arm , and a flat surface to set the collet blocks on . It'll need a way to clamp and locate the blocks laterally . For now though the ring light/magnifier is coming from the loading bench to the shop . It's not like I'm going to be sharpening end mills every day ...

I'm thinking something a lot more simple than most of those . Probably something with a clamp ring for the Dremel on a pivoting arm , and a flat surface to set the collet blocks on . It'll need a way to clamp and locate the blocks laterally . For now though the ring light/magnifier is coming from the loading bench to the shop . It's not like I'm going to be sharpening end mills every day ... Snag

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I don't have better answers because if I don't need 0.001" accuracy I just Dremel grind by hand, with a Magnivisor and my wrists supported on the bench vise or such. I made adapters to mount my Dremels on lathe tool posts which also hold them in the vise.

Even a 4-1/2" angle grinder can make reasonably precise cuts on lathe bits etc held in the vise. That's how I shape internal threading bits from blanks. It's not much different from smoothing a MIG weld bead on a fender repair, or cleaning up a forged blade.

Its actually pretty hard to beat an angle grinder for roughing lathe tools. I keep one with a hard cut blade in it all the time. Even if I need something a little more accurate it saves gobs of time to rough out the waste first.

I'm thinking something a lot more simple than most of those . Probably something with a clamp ring for the Dremel on a pivoting arm , and a flat surface to set the collet blocks on . It'll need a way to clamp and locate the blocks laterally . For now though the ring light/magnifier is coming from the loading bench to the shop . It's not like I'm going to be sharpening end mills every day ... Snag

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My simplest angle fixture is a Suburban (copy?) angle plate salvaged from a second-hand machining fixture with a work holding block bolted to it. Normally the block is a height and tilt adjustable dead center for my various indexers, or a 5C collet block could be strapped on. A cheaper slotted cast iron angle plate should work as long as it is tall enough.

Mine was stained and somewhat rusted from the coolant but scattered rust pits don't make it less precise as long as some original surface survives between them. It cleaned up nicely with fine steel wool and kerosene.

The once thriving industrial second-hand market in New England is rapidly drying up as manufacturing closes. The ham radio (+ industrial surplus) flea market I attended this weekend was lightly attended compared to earlier years, though I found most of what I wanted.

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Was searching for some Ebay info and came across this yesterday in the Sellers Community. A lot of responses blamed the economy/inflation. Good time for buyers who still have money...

=== Been on ebay for 18 yrs. top rated seller with 100% approval ratings. Over the course of that time, I've grown and added many new product lines & put thousands of dollars in new items online here this year alone.

This year it seems is the year that ebay has died, for in spite of discounts, and sales, I am now lucky if I get 100 dollars in sales in a week! (used to be 3-5x that much) I have 1400+ current active listings on ebay and not a single sale in 2 days now? WTH is going on here? I do price searches for similar items. Our prices are competitive, nearly always lower than others. I share several product posts daily on facebook, instagram ect. (free advertising) Still nothing. Some say its the new algorithms, but how do we counter or fix that if this is the problem? (you'd THINK ebay would be more on top of this issue) I'm not going to be able to hang on here if things don't perk up. 😢 Open to suggestions.