MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

I had a beat up Standard with broken stage, condenser and so-on and saw an Axiostar base on ebay and decided it was time for an upgrade. It's now an AxioStandard 160mm finite hybrid. A modest machine but it's all mine!

It's oddly fulfilling to be able to hybridize or retrofit some orphan parts together to make a whole. Even the manufacturers, sometimes did not intend such unions. Very good job putting that together, GaryB.

It looks good from here !!

MichaelG.

Thanks guys!

Apart from the head being a different color it looks like they were made for each other.

Just saw your post at : viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6185 re your change over to 'Lomo' objectives.

Was going to post about the need to change the eyepieces as well. Just before doing so I thought I would see which Zeiss you had.

Are you buying those objectives for your hybrid AxioStandard?

Please note that the Axiostar is an infinity system microscope.

Not sure how the 160 system head would work on it but I believe that the objectives most definitely should be infinity.

Link to an article on the Axiostar
http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/ind ... ostar.html

Axiostar Plus manual:
https://microscopy-news.com/download-ce ... cope_e.pdf

I am guessing GaryB already knows Axiostar is an infinity scope and its tube lens resides in scope head. So using a Zeiss Standard head (160mm head without tube lens) will make it 160mm or close to that, assuming the overall tube length is still 160mm.

One thing to note though (if Gary does not know already), is that LOMO objectives have short 33mm parfocal height. Many DIN scopes won't raise stage high enough to allow LOMO shorties to focus. So DIY raising stage and condenser may be necessary. In my case, I raised my Nikon Labophot's stage and condenser with stacks of machine screw washers.

I am guessing GaryB already knows Axiostar is an infinity scope and its tube lens resides in scope head.

Not sure if the tube lens resides in the head. If it does, then it might 'work', though not sure how well it would.

Have looked up infinity 'Reference Focal Length' which is the equivalent to 'Mechanical Focal Length' in finite microscopes.
They are not quite the same.
In infinity microscope systems the 'Reference Focal Length' is the distance from the Tube Lens to the Image Plane,
while in finite microscope systems the distance is measured from the shoulder of the objective to the seating surface on which the eyepiece rests.

I would suppose then that to convert an infinity system microscope to a finite one successfully one would not just have to remove the Tube Lens but also ascertain that the 'Mechanical Focal Length' was correct.

First chart is from here: https://www.microscopyu.com/microscopy- ... al-systems
Second chart is from here: http://zeiss-campus.magnet.fsu.edu/tuto ... flash.html

zzffnn wrote:One thing to note though (if Gary does not know already), is that LOMO objectives have short 33mm parfocal height. Many DIN scopes won't raise stage high enough to allow LOMO shorties to focus. So DIY raising stage and condenser may be necessary. In my case, I raised my Nikon Labophot's stage and condenser with stacks of machine screw washers.

I have a question: there exist 9mm, 10mm, 12mm etc RMS thread objective adapters, to insert between the objective and nosepiece, thus supposedly to compensate for differences in parfocality distance, i. e. for using 36mm objectives on a DIN microscope, or mixiing DIN and JIS objectives on a single nosepiece. Such adapters are listed on eBay. Are these a good solution?

Extenders are not good for GaryB, as he has high NA objective. Extenders change tube length and make objective rotation cumbersome.

Hi all, sorry for the late responses.

Yes, the lomo objectives mentioned in another thread are for this machine. Luckily for me I've had a few good breaks on equipment and the Axiostar stand was one of them. I did ask in a German forum if the head fitting was the same size as the old standard, and whether the tube lens was mounted in the head or not. The answers were yes it's same size and yes it's head mounted, so no compatibility issues with the Standard head because infinity optics are based on using the Axiostars own head. Once the frame arrived I measured the head mount to objective shoulder distance and it's the same as the standard. Looks aside, it's mechanically the same so a perfect match.

For the objectives, it is designed for 45mm DIN, so to use the 33mm Lomo's I put a 12mm spacer plate (the par focal difference) under the stage and refitted it using longer screws, again making it a match for focus travel with 33mm objectives. Owning both the Zeiss standard 16 and a Lomo Biolam, I tested objectives and eyepieces from both systems with each other and there appears little to no difference in compensation levels, so the Zeiss eyepieces work great with the Lomo objectives.

For lighting, I hardly ever use Kohler illumination so I have a floating hi-power LED I can move around under the collector, and when using the condenser, I have it on a disk I can slide around for oblique lighting. I use an LED ringlight for phase, COL and darkfield by sliding the condenser off the mount and placing the ringlight in its place. I have a Polarized filter mounted in the head so when I want polar I just put another polarizer over the light. It's quite versatile and quick to setup.

Hope this clears up any confusion as to how this contraption works.

One day I'll add an epi head as well.. one day

GaryB, this is an amazing project. The microscope is beautiful, looking modern and functional.
Please do report its performance with the combined optics, and camera compatability, when relevant.
Congratulations!