Hi everybody, first ever post here.
It may seem like a trivial point but I really do not solder as well as I did 30 years ago. Why? Because I simply can't see as well. I'm not "visually impaired", just old. In order to complete the job on my bench I must be available on a morning when the sun is shining in the window (thats about 10 days a year here in London) and with the addition of overhead lighting AND a table lamp plus my most powerful specs I can just about tell the difference between pin 6 and pin 7 on a valve base. Ouch.
Are there any special lights anyone would recommend for this sort of work? Something guaranteed to direct a beam of useful light onto a small area?
A $5 LED headband light works pretty well. Even it you don't find it useful for soldering, you will find plenty of other uses for it. If the headband light helps but is not quite enough, there are more elaborate head gear such as "jeweler's glasses magnifying with light". A good bench light is good too.
I've had one of those lamps on my bench for over 40 years. If I'm doing anything on the bench, the light is on. Pretty easy to swing out of the way. I still use a LED headband light when reading color codes on those blue 1/2W metal film resistors. Usually have to verify values with my meter too! As I get older my eyes grow dim. Need more and more light.
Thanks for all these ideas chaps! It's not a matter of the right glasses, as you get older you do need more light but when I set up a .5Kw builder's floodlight I knew I badly needed help. When its too hot to work because of the amount of lighting you're using, that's natures way of telling you something. I'm looking for a better quality rather than quantity of light and your suggestions look promising.
Thise LED panels look cool! I have a light similar to Sluckey's but it has a magnifying lens that is loke a big8 inch magnifying glass. I too have trouble seeing and cannot read fine print on anything. Don't know if you have a Harbor Freight in London but you can find these online at Amazon and other places. Mine butns almost 24/7 and has been going on same bulb for over 5 years now and still as bright as ever. Also have a jewelers glasses headband with 3 different magnification levels that os great. Got it on Amazon for like $8..00. Here's a link to the lamp or my attempt to post a link-
I started using a microscope for small smd work, but I use it for everything now, even soldering to turrets and pots.
Add a 0.5x Barlow lens. It cuts the magnification in half, but it moves the microscope away from what you're working on so there's plenty of room for your hands and a soldering iron, other tools etc: https://www.ebay.com/itm/AmScope-SM05-0 ... 4507!US!-1
Seems like a lot of money, but I'd probably have to give up soldering - and a lot of other stuff - without it.
