MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

If anyone is interested, there is an American Optical/Spencer razor blade holder for microtomes on Ebay that has been kicking around for at least six months. At twenty bucks plus shipping it seems reasonably priced and seems to be in decent shape. http://www.ebay.com/itm/181257898809?_trksid=p206035...

Lol. I'm afraid some of us still don't have a cell phone, let alone a smart one. :D When I was a kid I remember reading one old introductory microscopy book that showed how to make an elementary microscope with a loop of fine wire and a drop of water. Never tried it because even as a kid I thought i...

Boy that is toy grade,

Yes, of course - but children were more easily pleased half a century ago. And there was certainly no consumer grade computers available at the time. In fact, transistor radios were still something of a novelty.

Jim

Here are a few photos of a Gilbert exactly like the one I had as a kid in 1962. It cost $5 at the time plus 10 cents sales tax (amazing how state government could get by on just a 2 percent sales tax.) Notice it magnified a whole big 1000 x? You couldn't see much more than a blur at that magnificati...

My first microscope as a young boy was a toy grade - an A.C. Gilbert, but it had glass lenses I believe. I would have been tickled to death with a Tasco if I had even heard of them or known the differences at the time. As it was, when I had learned enough to want something better than a toy, I purch...

........ and what a "pin spanner wrench" looks like, and if I can get one in local Sears or Home Depot... Thanks! If you can't find a pin spanner wrench, you might be able to substitute a pair of snap ring pliers. In a real pinch a pair of sharp pointed needle nose pliers will sometimes work. Even ...

You are quite welcome, Rod.

Jim

A 300 watt bulb would be used for projecting images on the wall, but you would also need a prism on the vertical body tube or photo tube of the microscope to change the light rays to horizontal. If you don't already know, Silge and Kuhne were the original manufacturers from whom American Optical ob...

Wonderful, Rod! Thanks Gekko. One interesting thing about this unit can be seen on the plate on the top of the lamphouse. It mentions the option to use a 300 Watt bulb!!!! I can't imagine what sort of scenario would require that much light, but there is no way it would be for visual, the 100 watt a...

Congrats, Johann. What were you examining when you found it? I saw my very first one just last month in the algae sediment at the bottom of a pet's water dish left outside. It looked very similar to yours, but unfortunately I did not have any kind of camera set up to get a picture. Still sort of a t...

You know, 75RR, that's deliciously, wicked funny.

Jim

Thanks, Phil, but I'll pass; I already have more money invested in this hobby than I like to remember. I almost bought that real nice number three that was on Ebay a few months back for two hundred. That was a nice bargain for someone. And just a week or two ago there was another one for a starting ...

Is there some sort of cosmic law that says once one has found a difficult-to-find object and purchased it, that several more will very soon show up? There must be. Here's another 10x apo. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Microscope-Objectives-Lot-/291723695421?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX...

wmodavis wrote:apatientspider - I agree with your assessment of Phil's tome. I had been thinking about compiling a book of sayings and titling it "Remember This" with a subtitle "But apochronaut Said..."

Jim

Speaking of the dead - you appear to have a ghost there at the edge of the bench, wearing the condenser turret for a crown.

Jim

Phil?

Your post here is one of the most succinct explanations of eyepiece choice I think I have ever read. I believe I'll print out a copy of it and keep it right with my scopes. I probably should commit it to memory though. Anyway, thanks!

Jim

apochronaut wrote:I read that politicians swim outdoors, 10 times or more as much as normal people do.

I fear that in the case of politicians the brain-eating amoebae would probably starve to death.


Jim

I respectively disagree with Dale on AO10 not being a good choice though. +1. My AO 10 Phase Star with 1031 lamp (same as Dale's) provided adequate light. I have since converted to a 1036A lamp reconfigured to LED powered by 4 AA batteries, and it also provides plenty of light. It might be mentione...

continued: I suppose I have repeated to some extent what others above have said, but I will throw a couple other thoughts out there. The following applies if you are looking to get something off Ebay - for other sources never mind: If you are only ever going to buy one scope, then buy a binocular on...

Hi, MIK, and welcome to the forum. I'm certainly no authority, and there are people here with far more knowledge and experience than I, but I'll throw in my 2 cents worth. One thing that jumps right out first is that if you want to do much looking at spirochetes, you will want a microscope that has ...

Thanks, Kurt. I'll take a look at the videos. I wonder what the Liquid Plumber has in it - some kind of acid perhaps? ...or a base? When I was a kid I once prepared the eye of a housefly by boiling in a solution of lye - old-fashioned Draino crystals would also have worked. Cleaned away everything e...

Thanks Jim. Not sure what you meant about the Orthoilluminator? Do you mean that they are quite bright, or are they somehow dangerous? In ways other than dropping one on your toes? I meant that they are very bright - perhaps dangerously so, if you were to look at either the extra bright photo setti...

Rod, Yes, you are correct - that darkfield condenser was for the older stands like the models 13 and 33 as well as some others from the 1920's thru 1940's. Beginning with the models 15 and 35 in the late 1940's the substage yoke was changed to a larger diameter and fitted with a nub to engage a notc...

Nice work, Kurt! And nice write-up and photos. How do you go about rinsing the samples?

Jim

No, the one filar eyepiece micrometer may not be complete, as it appears to be missing its eyepiece. I had thought the lone Bausch and Lomb eyepiece marked 7.5x went to it, but a closer looks shows that to be a simple micrometer eyepiece - which should have a scale of its own inside. The filar micro...

Welcome, Javier!

You have some very beautiful equipment.

Jim

I'm going to make an educated guess that the equipment is used in measuring hardness of metals or some other material. There appears to be a vertical illuminator rig present, which is often used for metallurgical work, and a couple of filar eyepiece micrometers for measuring (the lone eypiece goes t...

I have no experience with Bristoline microscopes, but they've been around awhile. I have a book from the 1960's that shows one, and a Google search shows they are still being made. Originally a British company, I believe. The optics were probably made in Japan earlier and in China presently. If you ...

I've always found hay infusions to produce interesting things to look at under a microscope. You don't have to use actual hay, of course - any kind of dead, dry grass or other plant matter will usually work. Just put half a handfull in a pint size or larger jar of distilled water or rain water and c...

Sure, you can place filters over your light source - most of them anyway. I'm not sure a patch stop for darkfield would work that way though - probably you'd get COL with it. Best way to find out what you can do is to try it.

Jim