Despite how good microscope you have, stand is still very important part of final assembly. And while there are many commercial ones made of cast iron, they might cost more than a microscope head itself. I decided to make stand from wildly available material laying around – it’s MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard). Advantages – stable over time if not exposed to water, dirt cheap, easy to process.
In general it can be made of any material you have by hand. Here are key requirements I tried to consider:
Quick weekend sketch and stand is ready to be made.
There are few kinds of parts used in this project:
Building whole stand took me 15minutes or so. Depending on tools you have and selected materials it might take longer. I also omitted painting.
After it dried, few additional holes were drilled and extra hardware were installed it become normal microscope. Was surprised how tough it felt! Of course when things are magnified a lot, even tiny vibration will be amplified and will be visible in your frame. Steady table is recommended.
I tried many software packages to record video from USB camera and/or screen in the past. Some of them were better, some worse and some hopeless. But when I tested Open Broadcaster Software was surprised in a good way. It can record USB video, screen, mix views, has transitions between scenes and on top of that can stream directly to Youtube (or other service) live feed. It was definitely worth mentioning!
There are some minor issues (needs Administration permissions in order to record) and has dependencies on other libraries, but seems like all these “features” are discussed and well known. Once you get it running – there is no match. Best recording software ever!