Zeiss dovetails

[wstenberg]

I have several Zeiss microscopes. They came with a stripped out dovetail retaining pin. It's the little 5-part pin with a spring inside. They all look like someone wrenched on them with a pair of needle nose pliers. That's probably why the ended up getting sold on eBay. I don't know why they are always getting destroyed!!!

Anyway, is there a source of these retaining pins? Or at least the threaded tube for them? Looks like it's a M5-0.5mm thread.

I'm posting a photo of it for reference. The shiny part is where the threads used to be...

IMG_0151.JPG (72.93 KiB) Viewed 2320 times

[MicroBob]

Probably you will be able to get the part from a zeiss dealer. Have you already removed all damaged parts? It might be a left hand thread. Zeiss liked non-standard metric threads.

Bob

[wstenberg]

Thanks. I was able to get the old one out. Fortunately it's right-hand. You are right about the unusual threads- it's an uncommon thread pitch.