MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

SOLD 1 trinocular F head with eyepieces, $90 with free US shipping https://i.imgur.com/E1dLPpI.jpg SOLD 1 trinocular alphaphot head with eyepieces, 60 with free US shipping. https://i.imgur.com/ZvMQ67x.jpg I lucked out big time at a recent estate sale. The guy whose house it was was apparently a hug...

Just as a general question, what type of materials are these b&l refractometers meant for?

I have been having lots and lots of fun with my M420 since I got the basic setup completed, mostly taking photographs of faceted stones which I'd previously had trouble getting consistent results on: https://i.imgur.com/8sfGPaD.png (Color changing tourmaline under halogen and LED lighting) However, ...

A couple weeks back, GearsMade mailed me the knob back, asking me to remove the pinion gear. I had thought it was simply taken apart by unscrewing it with the pin wrench holes, but how wrong I was. I got it mostly taken apart, but the last step has completely defeated me: https://i.imgur.com/vdsR760...

This one was in person. Our local university has occasional sales, and very occasionally a microscope will show up.

Thanks! I really appreciate the quick answer on that.

Hey everyone. I had another lucky find last week at a surplus sale, and came across this beautiful Nikon microscope: https://i.imgur.com/m0m4g59.png Outfitted with three "E" objectives: https://i.imgur.com/8tZbZKk.jpg In my early testing I have been surprised and pleased with how much working distan...

Probably a 3, 4 or 5. Definitely newer than a 1 or 2 tend to look, lacking the weird shaping of an sz6 or supersnoot of the sz7. I love my sz7, I suspect you will enjoy this one if the fungus hasn't gotten to it.

Looks like one of their infinity heads. (edit whoops guess not see next post) I tried one on my zeiss finite base and could not resolve an image.

Just as a quick update: I feel a bit dumb, because when I actually looked at the objectives under my stereoscope, I think what I was taking for a delamination issue was instead unpolished glass surrounding the center of the lenses: https://i.imgur.com/3l0uYBz.jpg (I was also perplexed by what looked...

Your 100/1.25 may not be a planapo (it NA is unusually low for a planapo from that Zeiss series), does it say "planapo" on it? You are dead right, I got overexcited--the oil 100x is not a planapo after all, just the other four. Can anything be done with an oil-contaminated objective, or are they ba...

Wow. Is that delamination or physical wear to the lens surface?

Hello, I just got one. At least, it is a nikon trinocular head. The seller listed it as an 'F' but it doesn't have the sticker anymore. It seems to be in good shape, with 100/0 or 0/100 positions switched between by rotating the trinocular mount. I got it because it sort of matched what I needed for...

It's been a while, but I've made a little progress on this recently (after being distracted by some other projects (including the nearly-functional complete m420 that I purchased shortly after this). From having had to remove the makrozoom objective on the M420 to access the focus rack I realized th...

Hi everyone. I just came across this slightly-decapitated baby at a surplus sale at a pretty unbeatable price. I don't really deal with compound scopes much (I have an AO one-ten that I haven't even gotten to try out yet), so I am not really sure what to do with it. I know Zeiss is a good name, and ...

The screw that stripped kind of smeared around the hex wrench in a way that made me think it wasn't performing to spec. Maybe the same guy who used the loctite replaced the screws. Do you have a line on where I could get some better ones? I suspect I am going to get the same grade of Chinese steel a...

OK, I did try putting a little bit of liquid wrench in the thread and leaving it overnight. Unfortunately as events unfolded I couldn't go easy on this screw: https://i.imgur.com/AwOaQzb.png Turns out you can strip a hex screw even with a perfectly sized wrench (3mm). We finally got the screw extrac...

OK, I had a look through the service manual and started to get it apart. Step 1: remove the makrozoom objective. Very easy to do, it's a dovetail connection held on with a single screw. https://i.imgur.com/0mWgJAr.jpg Step 2: unscrew this hex screw (then two others) to get the focus drive housing of...

Thanks! I'd seen the basic manual but didn't realize there was a service manual available as well.
I will have a go at it myself, and try to document it properly too. It looks like it won't be nearly as bad as I'd feared.

I got a little caught up in some eBay bidding this week and ended up buying a Wild M420. It just came in, and has a couple of problems. There are some minor issues with the base (a few loose rollers and a sheared off thumbscrew), but they aren't likely to affect my usage too much. The big problem is...

I figured the best first step would be to see what kind of image it can produce, so I ordered a c-mount to m42 adapter and an adjustable m42 extender, which just came in today. Since I already had an m42-canon adapter for my other microscope adapter I figured I would give that a try: https://i.imgur...

What a fascinating subject you have there !! Please tell us more. MichaelG. These quartz crystals come out of Pakistan, but are very similar to those found in Herkimer, NY. They formed in cavities in a limestone, apparently crystallizing in the center of the pockets so they are complete all around ...

Hello everyone, I mentioned in my introduction post that I was hoping to get advice on adapting a digital camera (an older Canon EOS) to my american optics 580 microscope head. Einman suggested I get a dovetail adapter from RAFcamera on eBay, and I gave that a try. I picked up a 43mm dovetail to 42m...

Thanks! Yeah, I sure hope so. It came in today, and the news is mixed. It appears to indeed be a stanalone makrozoom with the photo tube, basically a Wild M420 without the oculars, a setup similar to a lot of industrial zoom lenses mentioned here. It is on what appears to be a motorized focus mount,...

I know that asking after you buy is a bit like consulting a lawyer after you sign a contract, but I spotted this on eBay with a few hours left and decided to make a lowball offer on it. Surprisingly they accepted, and it'll be on its way here soon: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Wild-Heerbrugg-Makrozoom-1...

Thanks! I've added it to my saved searches on eBay and if I see one that's anomalously cheap I'll probably pick it up. It's kind of interesting that it's described as a camera lens a few places--I suppose it does kind of blur the line more than usual, even if it's available with a stand and eyepiece...

Hello everyone. I hope this is OK to ask here. Many times while searching eBay and other sites for accessories for my stereozoom 7 I have come across listings for its apparent distant cousin/bizarro world counterpart, the monozoom 7. It is generally rather inexpensive, and I have been wondering if i...

Huh, that's interesting! Thanks for having a look. I don't think I'll buy this one since I doubt I'd have any use for such a thing, but it is neat to run into this kind of equipment.

I came across this oddball at a surplus warehouse. I'm honestly not even sure it's a microscope--there wasn't an eyepiece underneath the red cover, though it kind of looked like there should be. I mostly know Krüss as a maker of microscopes (particularly gemological ones) but I know they make a wide...

I've been considering that option--hooking a camera up to a gemological microscope is less with the intention of making high-powered print grade photos as it is of being able to document what you're seeing clearly without having to move the sample back and forth to a dedicated photo setup. But I wou...