Used a kid's microscope while cleaning electrical contacts (for S&Gs)

[nakedfrog]

I have a ten year old VW, the push-button start on these can get a bit flaky over time, as mine was. I took the button/switch out so I could clean the contacts, which honestly looked pretty clean, but I thought it might be fun to use my partner's kid's microscope toy to check them out. Sadly I can't find a way to access the internal storage on it and didn't have a micro SD card in it, so I took pics of the screen with my phone, they've lost a bit of quality. Anyway, this is one of the pads inside the button that makes contact when pressed (ignore the gold background, that's my nail polish)



A casual inspection of the contacts made them seem fairly clean. But the microscope gave more detail.



Can definitely see the imprint left from repeated start/stops over time. Cleaned them up with a pencil eraser, first pass I didn't quite get it all.



And in this one, you can see I had not yet cleaned off the eraser bits.



But they were much cleaner when I finished up.


Seems to work much more reliably now, acting every time I press it instead of requiring multiple presses.

 

[nakedfrog]

Bonus pics of the underside of a bug that was crawling on the other side of a sliding glass door a while ago, and one of just my nail polish.

 

[lxskllr]

That actually looks like it would be fun to play with. Nothing serious; just an easy way to see stuff closer.

 

[nakedfrog]

That actually looks like it would be fun to play with. Nothing serious; just an easy way to see stuff closer.

Yeah, it's a neat toy, the one she has seems to be this one but there's a lot of variations out there. It was certainly better quality than I initially expected of it.

 

[IronWing]

Hmm, there's an MBS-10 scope on ebay right now for a very good price if the condition is as described. These are really good scopes for the price. The original illuminators are trash but can be replaced with a goose neck halogen lamp. @biostud get it for Christmas!

Pardon Our Interruption...

 

[sdifox]

I had a microscope with an optical view screen. Just a piece of frosted plastic for a projection screen but pretty neat for a 6 grader.

 

[sdifox]

Also, op wears gold nail polish?

 

[IronWing]

Also, op wears gold nail polish?

I know, right? It's December, red, green, or white with sparkles are the only acceptable colors.

 

[lxskllr]

Red's boring, but I like the idea of green. Kind of a deep pine.

 

[nakedfrog]

Also, op wears gold nail polish?

Not usually, I was feeling festive. Blue, purple, and black are much more common.

I know, right? It's December, red, green, or white with sparkles are the only acceptable colors.

Silver and gold are a time-worn winter holiday classic
The gold is "holographic" sparkle, you can just see a hint of the silver in the top left.

 

[nakedfrog]

Hmm, there's an MBS-10 scope on ebay right now for a very good price if the condition is as described. These are really good scopes for the price. The original illuminators are trash but can be replaced with a goose neck halogen lamp. @biostud get it for Christmas!

Pardon Our Interruption...

That seems much less practical for taking outside and looking at leaves and bark and stuff.

 

[RossMAN]

This would send me into a never-ending Howie Mandel germaphobe rabbit hole.