HR-1200R - A Great Tool for Analysis

I wanted to be sure that I paid tribute to a tool that is going to be super valuable as we seek to become experts in ceramic 3D printing.  But, I always wanted to have a bit of fun with the grandchildren when we got together over the weekend.

I have been using Helicon Focus for years beginning with the product photography I did for my daughter's artwork.  But, it's especially fun for me when using it for macro and micro-photography.  So, naturally I wanted to try it with the Hayear HR-1200R when I had a chance to show it to my granddaughter on her way to college.

I had previously given her my MRJ-03T microscope with a 5mpx digital camera that was pretty lame.  So, I wanted to see if she might like the HR-1200R.   However, because she had so much other stuff to carry to school this time, she left her microscope at home.  But, that didn't stop us from checking out the camera and measuring software in the HR-1200R's standalone configuration.

So, here are some images as processed through Helicon Focus:

First, a calibration slide to provide some sense of scale and resolution.  The small grid in the center of the circle is 1mm marked in .01 increments.

Calibration Slide - 1mm

 To demonstrate the resolution, here is a cropped version of that image.

1mm in 100 segments

With that in mind, here is an image of the stamen of a small flower.  This has NOT been processed through Helicon Focus.  It was captured using the EDF function built into the Hayear software.  This functions in a way that is similar to Helicon Focus.  But, is available in live mode as the capture is taking place.  Very nice.

HY-1200R EDF Image

Now we will show that same flower at a bit of a different magnification and apply Helicon Focus.

Stamen - Helicon Focus

If you click on the above photo and study the image carefully, you'll get an idea of just how nice the the HY-1200R is in standalone mode.

Here is the setup with the flow in standalone mode.

HY-1200R in Standalone Mode

My little demonstration is going to cost me some money because my granddaughter agreed that the HY-1200R is infinitely better than the camera now mounted on her microscope.  Not only was the image better; but, the software's measuring and processing capabilities are a biology major's dream when it come to being able to capture well documented images with annotation.

But, to really get the most out of the standalone mode, the stand will have to be upgraded to one that is a bit more rigid and having fine adjustment for focus.

That's the next upgrade.  But, that will also require a different lighting since the lighting is not built into the base.  Fortunately, Hayear ring lights are very inexpensive.

We've added another tool in our quest to understand ceramic 3D printing powders.  It's a small scale capable of reading in 1000th of a gram

HomGeek Micro-Gram Scale

As you can see, I have measured out 25 grams of Tethon3D Porcelain powder.  I will run this powder through 4 Talisman sieves with mesh values of 40, 80, 120 and 200.  I will then weigh each of the piles of powder to get a percentage of particles at the various sizes and capture the particle shapes with the HY-1200R.  This data will only be used to compare the different powders to see if we can predict performance when buying or creating future powders.

It should be very interesting for our students.