I’ve been using a relatively inexpensive microscope for SMD soldering work for some time, connected via HDMI to a 24″ monitor.

For the price, I’m definitely happy with it, but as I’ve been doing more soldering work, I’ve become less happy with the mounting stand. The arm it mounts to often does not reach far enough to get the optics over the part of the board in question, or the base is too tall or wide to fit under it. If you want to examine something from the side, you have to tip the entire base over. I have resorted to spinning the microscope around and counterbalancing the base with a large weight, which works for some definition of “works” but only improves the reach by a little bit.

I wanted to improve the situation, so built a 3d printed mounting fixture to position the microscope head. It provides for a few more degrees of freedom than the factory issued one, and provides a lot more reach:

The tubes are held together with M4 bolts with each axis having a thumbscrew used to lock it in place. The optics can now be tilted in the pitch or roll direction, and the total reach is around 25cm, up from the stock 7cm.

The only parts I had to purchase uniquely were these 14mm tubes from amazon, some thumbscrews used to tension each of the clamps, a steel plate used to weight the base down, and a new LED lamp. I already had sufficient M4 heat set inserts and mounting bolts to fit everything else together. Here’s a photo from before I had the actual steel weight plate installed: