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Slide ringing table

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 1:41 pm
by Radazz
I recently purchased the Brunell ringer from Britain, and I’m having a load of fun.
The unit comes with 3 colors of sealant and 3 brushes. It’s quite heavy. The body is cast iron and the table is solid brass. This unit was about half the cost of an antique ringing table, but the older ones I’ve seen have an advantage i will discuss presently.
Oliver has a video on this site showcasing this same table, so I suggest you watch it if you are looking .
Image.
After putting a couple drops of light oil down the tube to lubricate the single ball bearing, the turntable spins for quite some time on it’s own inertia. In fact, if spun too fast it will ‘sling’ the paint and look spikey. Not in a good way.
I decided to ring some of the slides I’d made over the last couple of years with round coverslips. This exposed the only thing annoying about the table. The turntable is mounted under the lip of the palm rest. This keeps the turntable in place. Unfortunately, the edge of the table is so close to the casting that if the slide overhangs the turntable but a scruple of a scruple, it hits the casting.
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If the coverslip was close enough, I could fix it with a wider ring, but that is limited.
So, going forward, I made a jig for mounting the specimen dead center on the slide.
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Over all, I am happy with the purchase. It is easy to get really nice results. The sealants are water based, which seems to be all they can ship here to the States. They dry kind of dull, but a little clear nail polish as a final coat glosses them up nicely for showy slides.

Being a kill-the-fly-with-a-shotgun kind of guy, I ground the casting back about 3 or 4 mm to give myself a break.

Hope this helps someone,
Radazz

Re: Slide ringing table

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 2:14 pm
by billbillt
Hello Radazz,

Thanks for sharing this fun and interesting way of mounting.. I have everything here to make one of these, and maybe some day I will... Is the paint you use just common enamel?...

BillT

Re: Slide ringing table

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 2:39 pm
by Radazz
I don’t think so, Bill. More like a thick tempra.
When dry the white and black have a texture like white-out.
The gold is very translucent and dries hard.
Enamel would work well, but take a lot longer to dry, I imagine.
The ringing on antique slides seems to be shinier. A light coating of clear nail varnish makes these sealants look very nice.

Re: Slide ringing table

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 2:44 pm
by billbillt
Thanks for the quick reply.. I see this as a very interesting addition to a wonderful hobby..

The Best,
BillT

Re: Slide ringing table

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 7:31 pm
by MicroBob
Hi Radazz,
thank you for your presentation and review of the ringing table! This is one of the pieces of equipment that is not common any more and difficult to obtain. Good to see that the demand still makes it attractive to make them.
I made myself a ringing table from two wheels with each two ball bearings, were the lower just ascts as a holder and gave a second set to another friendly microscopist. The wheels are either from an elevator or a for lift and are no common standard items, but big bearings would do just as good.
It is bodged together a bit because I had to have it ready for a group meeting. Today I saw that we actually had one. :lol:

So far I used rust proctection paint from Feinkost Albrecht (ALDI). Classic recipes are based upon shellac and soot.

Bob

Re: Slide ringing table

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 7:52 pm
by billbillt
Hello Microbob,

That is a very ingenious design you have there!.. I am looking at a build similar to yours.. What is the paint ringing medium that you use?...

Thanks!,

BillT

Re: Slide ringing table

Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2019 12:46 am
by KurtM
Here's a DIY slide ringing table I made some years back using a VCR head for a bearing, and a woodworking router base plate for the spinning tabletop (the router itself lives in a router table). Slide clips from a toy microscope and scrap plywood from the trash are additional ingredients. Finally, a piece of card stock makes the slide bed. This contraption was originally intended to be a prototype for nice finished model, but it works so well as is I just kept it as is. This is one project I have really gotten a lot of use out of, and cost practically nothing (when I made a trip to the local TV repair shop to inquire as to dead VCRs, the guy replied "yes, how many would you like?" It was free, of course).

I have tried a variety of different things for slide ringing cement/paint, and so far like Testor's model enamel best. In practically every case, however, best results come from applying as many coats as your patience allows.

Another exceedingly useful item acquired is an inexpensive Brother QL-570 label printer from eBay.

Re: Slide ringing table

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 8:00 pm
by MicroBob
Hi Kurt,
your design is very nice especially as it is based upon widely availabe components.

Bob

Re: Slide ringing table

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 2:15 pm
by rnabholz
MicroBob wrote:Hi Kurt,
your design is very nice especially as it is based upon widely availabe components.

Bob
Kurt's was the inspiration for mine.
Slide Ringing Table Finished 45.jpg
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RingingTableWork.jpg
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Re: Slide ringing table

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 3:51 pm
by MicroBob
Hi Rod,
it is interesting how similar our three designs are.
What I like obout the heavy wheel of my ringing table is the mass that lets it turn for a moment though the big bearings soon slow it down.
A motorized table with a gear or stepper motor would be nice.

I made the aluminium disk on top of the bearing on the lathe and grooved some concentric rings in the surface. The position of the cover slip is a bit difficult to see, I hope to improve this by filling the grooves with black paint.

Bob

Re: Slide ringing table

Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 7:25 pm
by rnabholz
Hi Bob,

I guess form follows function. As I mentioned, I followed Kurt's lead, and it works very well.

I agree that some extra mass in the table is a definite advantage.

The VCR head works very, very well for this purpose. Mine will spin for just shy of 2 minutes before stopping completely, and over a minute at a speed useful for ringing, well within acceptable range.

Your lathe work guide puts my paper and pencil solution to shame, very nice looking.

Happy Ringing.

Re: Slide ringing table

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2019 10:36 pm
by billbillt
As luck would have it, here is an antique Bausch & Lomb slide ringing table on Ebay..

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Micros ... rk:36:pf:0


BillT

Re: Slide ringing table

Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 12:06 am
by einman
I was put off by Brunel's shipping cost to the US. Twice the cost of the table. Bioquip sells one I had put on my list for purchase although not as nice as some of these.

Re: Slide ringing table

Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 8:34 pm
by MichaelG.

Re: Slide ringing table

Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 8:44 pm
by billbillt
MichaelG. wrote:For a touch of class ... have a look here:
http://www.microscope-antiques.com/griffithclub.html

MichaelG.
Yes.. I agree that is VERY CLASSY....

BillT

Re: Slide ringing table

Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 9:06 pm
by photomicro
In 2006, following an idea sent in to him, Ernie Ives, who made thousands of wood sections (and other slides) over many years, made very successful ringing tables out of obsolete hard drives from computers. He wrote about this, at length, with full practical details in the column he wrote in 'Balsam Post' the quarterly publication of the Postal Microscopical Society. His column was entitled 'Mounting' and covered all aspects of practical microscopy. He first started this column in 1994, up until his death in 2014, completing 73 of them.

There are many microscopists in the UK, and no doubt further afield, as Ernie had many Marquetry friends in the US, who still use these to good effect.

Mike

Re: Slide ringing table

Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 9:40 pm
by Hobbyst46
photomicro wrote:... made very successful ringing tables out of obsolete hard drives from computers. He wrote about this, at length, with full practical details in the column he wrote in 'Balsam Post' the quarterly publication of the Postal Microscopical Society.
Mike, is that description available? the hard drive wheel per se is not very massive so has very weak inertia.

Re: Slide ringing table

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2022 3:53 pm
by TonyT
I posted this about 1 year ago:
"I have a Brunel ringing table, very well made.
However, if the round coverslip of your slide is not exactly in the center the ringing table will not work.
The gap between the edge of round table and the stand is small, the slide cannot overlap the edge by more than a few mm.
I have many slides with the specimen mounted to the right of center so as to make room on the left side of the slide for a large descriptive label.
My original ringing table, since lost, had the actual table just above the hand rests, one on each side - very nice system.
I have modified Brunel's new table by using a longer shaft so that the table is now above the hand rest; will now accommodate off-center slides."

Re: Slide ringing table

Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2022 2:19 am
by EYE C U
made this one last year
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