MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

rabitt wrote:Not sure if this will help http://www.hometrainingtools.com/chemistry/
they have Canada Balsam & other chemicals.
Found this place when just getting into the hobby.

Thanks for the help. I found the mounting solution near the end of the list of chemicals, turns out to be Canada Balsam.

Al

Oliver wrote:...
to make things worse, different companies have different infinity "standards" (maybe the word standard is not even appropriate here, as they are all different).
...
greets, Oliver.

'Standards' are a wonderful thing, every manufacturer should have one!

Al

Thanks for the suggestions all. I just want to start getting my feet wet by mounting some plant material. It seemed like glycerin jelly would be more straightforward than some other methods. More research and questions to follow.

Al

I just spent way too much time searching for sources and only found one & it's in Germany (Brunel Microscopes). Is there a stateside vendor for such? For now I want to buy a small amount of glycerin gelatin but later may want more variety. I don't want to make it myself, I'm just looking for the sho...

Thanks all for the schooling, it's starting to make more sense than it did before. Great link to explain about objectives. Apochronaut, I find your comments on contrast interesting but struggle with trusting mere words in sales literature. I always read sales literature with a grain of salt, too oft...

Is it possible to improve optics by buying better parts? I don't mean like going from achromat to plan objectives. For a given objective (achromat 40x/0.65 160/.017) are there good/better/best grades? Or does one look for a 40x/0.70 for instance ? I see prices all over the place for 'same spec'ed' p...

Well, to AmScopes credit they replaced my entire stage sub assembly. At first they wanted me to return the whole scope for a replacement but I was concerned I would have the same or similar issue with a replacement and have to start the whole process over from scratch. Today it arrived, I'm satisfied.

I'm no microscope expert but I do buy lots of used stuff. A guy who 'sells lots of microscopes' and offers one for sale with a very fixable problem (light burn out/wire issue) is very likely not being totally up-front. One will spend more time explaining the issue than it would take to actually fix ...

Dale wrote:I came so close to going the Amscope route, instead I was lucky to get an AO from a forum member.
That scope is for sale on ebay, but I am lowering the price for any forum members.
Dale

Link?

I went to ebay and searched AO microscope, got 503 hits.

So, I'm attempting to get a new part to replace the part that arrived with stripped out threads. The situation is simple. The scope arrived with the stage unattached because the screws stripped out of the stage. I started out with phone support and they quickly switched me to email support. 4 busine...

Local university surplus shop sold one for $1300, condition unknown.

Franz, a much less expensive way to explore and photograph polarized subjects (in fact it could be free) is with 3D movie glasses. Check my DIY article in issue 49 of the MicrobeHunter magazine. Since your scope has halogen illumination you may have to provide an air gap between the light source an...

Surplus Shed has these scopes periodically for $295. Don't know where they're coming from. Interested in the community thoughts on these.

http://www.surplusshed.com/pages/item/t1528.html#

Being the curious type I tried a couple of astronomy polarizer filters (one above and one below the target) to see what the effect would be. It didn't have the effect of colorizing the image or simply dimming the image that I expected when rotating one but it did have a very interesting effect. It d...

Franz, a much less expensive way to explore and photograph polarized subjects (in fact it could be free) is with 3D movie glasses. Check my DIY article in issue 49 of the MicrobeHunter magazine. Since your scope has halogen illumination you may have to provide an air gap between the light source an...

Has anyone tried either (the eBay or AmScope PZK) of these? AmScope doesn't call out the 400 series in the PZK blurb and the illuminator portion seems to be the wrong size on the eBay item.

zzffnn wrote:That sounds like the case of my LOMO Biolam (in which stage blocks condenser from rising too high to disengagement).

Is the condenser mount 37 mm in diameter?

Yes, 37mm condenser.

The two issues are related it seems. The condenser can go too high because the stage is not mounted. It appears the stage may have been mounted when the unit was boxed but came loose some time after. That would explain why no assembly screws where provided but 2 where loose in the packing. It may ha...

The condenser thing is odd, but some basic scopes, like my LOMO Biolam, have it that way. Many better scopes, as Lorez said, should have mechanism to prevent that from happening. The stage screws are even more strange. Are you sure you put on the right screws (have you tried other screws that came ...

Could it be that you pushed the condenser rack too high up, so much so that it disengaged from its rack and pinion gear? You may push it back with some force. Yea, turns out that's it. If I push it back down all is good. Should not go that hi. Pre-disposed to crap that is crap. Next issue-- screws ...

After some research and consideration, new scope arrived, much excitement. Amscope B490B compound beginners scope On arrival initial inspection reveals the condenser adjustment (moves it up and down) is sloppy. While talking to tech support it fails completely and fails to move at all. They offer to...

Thanks for the quick responses all. You are all re-enforcing thoughts I've acquired over the short time I've been researching stereo microscopes. Certainly agree with comments about AmScope's web site! Fluff central!! A lot of good info to be sure but often repeated and sometimes contradicted. Caref...

I'm looking at stereo microscopes (Amscope). In their blurbs they say the SW series is their premier optics. The scopes there are all fixed magnifications. I'm also looking at their SM series, mostly variable zoom and I believe one step down in touted optics quality. The sticky point is that that, f...