Wanted Dark Field Condenser for AO Spencer 15/35 214F or 218F

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kaybee
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Joined: Fri Sep 22, 2017 11:52 am

Wanted Dark Field Condenser for AO Spencer 15/35 214F or 218F

#1 Post by kaybee » Sat Sep 23, 2017 1:13 am

I need a darkfield condenser for my scope. It is from about 1950 and I think is a type 15. I have a condenser but the dovetail is too small for my mount. If anyone knows how to swap for the right dovetail, that would work too.

Thanks

apatientspider
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Re: Wanted Dark Field Condenser for AO Spencer 15/35 214F or 218F

#2 Post by apatientspider » Sat Sep 23, 2017 2:42 pm

kaybee wrote:I need a darkfield condenser for my scope. It is from about 1950 and I think is a type 15. I have a condenser but the dovetail is too small for my mount. If anyone knows how to swap for the right dovetail, that would work too.

Thanks

Hi,

The dovetail rings on many of AO/Spencer's darkfield condensers are just a shaped collar that slips off the main body of the condenser mount or carrier after a setscrew or two are loosened in the side of the ring - kinda like a setscrew locking shaft collar. This means that you can change rings on some of them to fit them to differing series of scopes. The dovetail ring you need is larger, as you said, and it also has a small rectangular notch in the part that goes to the rear of the microscope's substage condenser yoke. Good luck finding just the ring for sale! You'd be much better off looking for the entire condenser.

If you have access to Ebay, You might be interested in this parts scope. There's not much of it left, but it does have the entire condenser you need and the price seems very reasonable to me. It is hard to tell from the seller's photos if the condenser is still good, but you could ask him, I guess. In any event, the mount and dovetail itself look okay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMERICAN-OPTICA ... SwzVhZcEyf

Jim

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Re: Wanted Dark Field Condenser for AO Spencer 15/35 214F or 218F

#3 Post by zzffnn » Sat Sep 23, 2017 3:30 pm

Welcome to the forum!

You may ask the seller to take off the condenser and ship just that condenser to you. Shipping cost is around $4-$7 within continental USA. Seller don't earn any money from shipping that entire scope frame to you (actual cost is right around $13), so I don't see why he won't ship you just the condenser.

But don't tell seller the exact name for the condenser, as it is worth a bit more than what he is asking - if he finds out by search on eBay, he may raise his price.

kaybee
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Re: Wanted Dark Field Condenser for AO Spencer 15/35 214F or 218F

#4 Post by kaybee » Sat Sep 23, 2017 3:48 pm

Thanks, total I think is more than I would pay for just the condenser, and I will have some parts to play around with.

apochronaut
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Re: Wanted Dark Field Condenser for AO Spencer 15/35 214F or 218F

#5 Post by apochronaut » Sun Sep 24, 2017 9:04 pm

You won't find a 214F condenser for 20.00, unless it is hiding in a job lot and you can move most of the job lot along, recover the outlay.

kaybee
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Re: Wanted Dark Field Condenser for AO Spencer 15/35 214F or 218F

#6 Post by kaybee » Fri Sep 29, 2017 1:16 pm

I am fairly sure I did get the 214F without the light,$33 including shipping. It looks like the scope was dropped. So now I have 2 dark field condensers and some scrap frame parts. I also have a piece that screws into the lens?, is this part necessary? It has a lens in it and is black.

I will put up some pictures this weekend if I have a chance.

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