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Ortholux I POL, deemed "complete"... (after 10 years of hunting parts)
Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 9:24 pm
by ebenbildmicroscopy
At long last, I'm gonna declare that I'm finished with building my Ortholux I POL. Got in this epi Pol rig about a month ago and it replaced the epi phase contrast I had in it's mount. I'm proud that this setup is configured with Wollaston calcite prisms in both the transmitted and incident paths. This epi setup actually came with the protective cap for the calcite prism in the original packing (since Leitz quit marketing the Ortholux I in 1972, the packaging probably has to pre-date that)!! These epi setups are bad for users loosing that little prism, much less the prism cap - this is the first one I've ever seen.
It has been a long journey and I've gone down a few rabbit hole false leads (from around the world even) but I think I'm ready to declare this setup COMPLETE... although, I would LUV to get my hands on one of the old Ortho centerable Pol 5 place revolving nosepieces... to be cont'd...
Re: Ortholux I POL, deemed "complete"... (after 10 years of hunting parts)
Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2018 12:31 pm
by GaryB
What a beauty of a setup, nice to see your persistence has paid off.
Re: Ortholux I POL, deemed "complete"... (after 10 years of hunting parts)
Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 7:25 am
by ebenbildmicroscopy
GaryB, I appreciate your encouragement!
Sometimes I feel like I've gone to hell and back for this scope. I had one Ebay deal going for a Ortho Pol rotating stage from England - it was off an Ortho Pol that someone parted out. It ended up being a scam with a fake bidder. I finally found another stage that was part of a Leitz "lot" in New Jersey - I had to buy an Ortholux that I didn't need and a bunch of other stuff including a laser. Ended up costing $200 just to ship the stuff from New Jersey in two large parcels. I ended up having to buy another Ortholux from a museum in Arizona just to get a few components and the old man/museum volunteer that was in charge of the deal ended up being a little kooky and couldn't figure out how to pack the thing and then kept giving me about 3 or 4 quotes of what it was gonna cost to ship it, over the course of 5 or 6 phone conversations... I'd get on the phone with him and he'd just want to talk about all the things going on at the museum and how he was responsible for so many things there. I'd let him talk because I got so desperate to complete the deal, I'd do almost anything to keep him happy. I couldn't eat for about a week until I was sure that the old fella had actually shipped it... UGH!
But NOW, it is complete!