My Leitz Orthoplan

[janvangastel]

Today my Leitz Orthoplan (from Brunel) arrived (see this thread if you want more info viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6728&p=60346#p60346 ).
The microscope was well packed and looked good. Only thing I have to buy is an adapter for the Britisch wall plug. See some photographs below.

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[75RR]

Looking good! Congratulations

[apochronaut]

That looks like a suitable Christmas present. Sinterklaas' is still really busy, so it must have been dropped off by Zwarte Piet!

You have some Orthoplan comrades in the forum. Take advantage of their knowledge.

[mrsonchus]

CONGRATULATIONS AND CELEBRATIONS!!!

What a mighty great beauty! My Big-O has as Apo' says, a companion!

Keep the images coming and get in touch if you need any advice - yours is exactly like mine - fabulous!

John B.

[gastrotrichman]

Congratulations. The Orthoplan is a great microscope … a joy to use. If you're new to microscopy, be sure to download an Orthoplan manual and learn the steps for setting up each image. The multiple steps may seem like overkill, but they will help optimize your images and will soon become second nature.

[janvangastel]

Thank you all for the congrats. Nice to see that more people own this microscope and I am sure I will have many questions. I have already downloaded a manual. Today my 'Britisch to Dutch' electricity plug adapter will arrive and I will be able to actually use the instrument. I don't have grounded electricity in my room. I don't know it that's absolutely necessary. If so, I will have to get it out of my my kitchen wall.

[KurtM]

Wow, that's a real beauty! I can't wait to hear about your adventures with it...

[MicroBob]

Hi Jan,
your Orthoplan looks very nice, you probably have made a very good decision here.
Such a great microscope has one severe disadvantage though: You will never be able to blame the instrument when your results are not as good as you want!

Bob

[janvangastel]

You are right, it will always be my own fault. But then it would be possibly to correct it with some extra study.

I am looking for a micro 4/3 camera adapter for my Orthoplan microscope. I fount this https://www.ebay.nl/itm/Full-Frame-2X-M ... rk:16:pf:0 on the internet. It has a built in 2x magnification for full frame micro 4/3 camera's. My camera's are not full frame, but have a normal micro 4/3 13x17.3 mm sensor. So I think I don't need the 2x optics, but just the bare mount. Is that right? Would make it much less expensive.

[75RR]

This is a link to a thread on the Photomacrography forum that should/might help you in connecting a camera to your Leitz microscope.

http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... hp?t=38487

+ a link to (the very useful) Charles Krebs pdfs on connecting a camera to a microscope:

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=882

[janvangastel]

Thanks for the links. I will study the information.
Alas, yesterday evening, the light went out. I turned it on and immediately it stopped. Might be the lamp. I took it out, but it fell out of my hand and broke, so impossible to see if it burned out. So I will get a new one today or tomorrow. According to the manual, a 12 V 60 W should be used. On the power supply is information about using a 12V 50 W and a 12V 100 W lamp, so maybe these are also useable. A day without a microscope....hope I survive....

[75RR]

Not sure if you have an incandescent bulb or a halogen one.

If Halogen you need to run it fairly high say at 10 - 10.5v in order to activate its cycle.

Incandescent bulbs are more forgiving although they tend to have a short lifespan.

However if you run it below the max voltage you can extend its life substantially.

Similarly if you run it at its maximum or above you shorten its life drastically.

Note that it also helps to prolong bulb life to dim the bulb before turning it off and slowly increase the voltage when you turn it on.

Here is the formula + the calculator steps ...

The figures are for 12v - 60w - 100hour incandescent bulbs running at 10v.

Also include an image of what the filament looks like in a microscope bulb.

[mrsonchus]

Yes, a 12V 100W may be used also - but not really needed. I routinely use 60W halogen and it's just perfect.

(I buy mine from Asda supermarket here in the U.K. for about £6 per pack of 4)

Here's a link to a thread re the bulb....
John B.

[janvangastel]

I inserted a new halogen lamp (old one also halogen), but the lamp wasn't the problem. The new one also doesn't work. Tested the fuse in the power supply which also seems to be good (same value when connecting the multimeter to both ends of the fuse compared to connecting both wires of the multimeter without the fuse). Same with the fuse in the wall plug. Opened the plug going into the power supply from the other end (cable connecting the lamp to the power supply) and checked for loose wires, but everything is OK. The inside of the power supply looks very good and I did not notice any loose wires, corrosion or burned connections. Also tested if any 12V current came out of the power supply on the lamp side and this is not the case. So I think the problem must be somewhere in the power supply.
My knowledge of electricity is very limited so I have no idea what to do next. This happend the third or fourth time I wanted to use the microscope, so maybe I should contact Brunel (don't know if there's any guarantee.

[75RR]

Tested the fuse in the power supply which also seems to be good (same value when connecting the multimeter to both ends of the fuse compared to connecting both wires of the multimeter without the fuse).

For the fuse you need to take it out and set the multimeter to ohms - place pins on either end at the same time, look for needle movement, numbers rising or listen for the beep!

[janvangastel]

yes, that's what I did.

[75RR]

May I suggest you start a new topic on this (power supply) issue under the Microscopy accessories section. You are more likely to get answers.

Sorry I can't be of more help- I am also electrically challenged!

[Hobbyst46]

Also tested if any 12V current came out of the power supply on the lamp side and this is not the case. So I think the problem must be somewhere in the power supply.

To test the PS, turn it on; set the multimeter function to VOLTS-DC (VDC); firmly insert the multimeter lids into the PS sockets. If the reading is zero, or nearly zero (say, <0.1Volt), the PS is defective (or it supplies AC voltage - see below). If the reading is 12VDC or -12VDC (reverse lids position), turn off the PS, switch the multimeter to current readings (A/Amp) turn on the PS and see what happens. Note than, on some multimeters, for example from Fluke, the contact point on the meter for current monitoring is different from the contact point for voltage and resistance monitoring.
Alternatively, if the PS is just a transformer and provides AC, check the voltage as above but with the multimeter set to VAC instead of VDC. Then, if it is 12V, proceed to check the currnet.

Note: the governing law in electrical circuit failures is as follows: at least 95% of the faults originate from loose/faulty/insecure contacts and wiring. This law is valid even when other known laws of electricity (Ohm's, Kirchoff's...) fail

[janvangastel]

Aha, thanks! Now we're getting somewhere. My telescope drives all work on DC, so I tested DC, which was wrong. With the multimeter on AC is shows 12V in the output. When I put the electrodes of the multimeter in the two holes for the halogen lamp pins, I also get 12V. I am not sure how to measure AC current. I don't see where I should plug in the red wire of the multipmeter. I see ADC, which means DC current I think, but I don't see AAC or something like that. See photograph. Itried with the red wire in the 10 ADC (black one in the COM) but do not measure any current.

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[desertrat]

Your multimeter is not capable of measuring AC current, only DC current, based on the markings on the front panel.

If the meter shows 12 volts AC at the lamp socket contacts and the lamp still doesn't work, that means either there is a bad connection in the lamp base, or the power supply is unable to supply the current the lamp needs.

The lamp connections can be checked for continuity using the 200 ohm switch setting on the multimeter. The lamp filament should read a few ohms resistance. If there is no reading, the lamp contacts are open circuited. If the ohm reading is zero, or a tiny fraction of an ohm, there is a short circuit in the lamp base.

If the power supply can't supply the current to the lamp, the only way to measure that is to connect the lamp in it's base, then find a place to measure AC voltage somewhere between the lamp holder and the power supply. If the power supply can't supply the current to the lamp, the voltage reading should be zero or a small fraction of one volt.

Building AM radio receivers from scratch using antique vacuum tubes is one of my other hobbies.

[Hobbyst46]

OK, I have seen 10A ports on multimeters, which allow measurement of up to 10A of AC or DC current (or <10A but still a few amps). Never seen ADC port.
However, since the PS does supply 12V, there is indeed a high chance that the problem lies with the lamp housing or socket.
I would turn off the PS, set the multimeter to Ohms (or the audio alarm position) and try to detect discontinuities along the path from the PS output point (on the board, if you can open it up without having a mess) and the end point of the bulb socket, I mean the hole into which the bulb pin is inserted. I would do it on both lids of the socket. Do it as an elimination approach. Resistance along the path should never be higher than a few Ohms at the most. A discontinuity means a break, will show as infinite resistance or L sign.

[janvangastel]

OK, thank you. I just tried that. Not sure if I did it right, but this is what I did.
I took the cap off the plug that goes into the power supply on the lamp side (so the plug on the cable from the lamp to the ps). Put the plug in the ps and turned it on. With the lamp in its socket I held one electrode of the multimeter against one of the wired pins of the plug on the ps and the other electrode against one of the pins of the lamp. Tried all combinations. Also held the electrode against the copper plate with the lamp holes instead of one of the pins of the lamp. Never saw any voltage meaurement. Sometimes the figures moved somewhat for a split second the moment I touched a pin, but then went to zero again.

I also measured the resistance between the plug and and the lamp pins. For both connetions on the plug side and both pins the numbers moved around for a moment and then went to zero.

[Hobbyst46]

I am not clear of the details of the measurement, so I suggest a scheme: Please remember (and forgive me if this is trivial and common knowkedge!!)- voltage is measured in parallel to the circuit, when the power is on. Resistance is measured likewise, but under power off. Current is measured in series - you must "break" the circuit to insert the electrodes in between - so, with your simple multimeter, is tricky.

[janvangastel]

Thanks for the drawings.

Test result (1): Volts.
1. When I place the multimeter electrodes directly in the socket holes for the lamp - so no lamp placed - I measure 12V.
2. When I place the lamp in its socket holes and measure with the electrodes against the pins of the lamp, I measure 0.0 V. I am almost sure that I measured 12V there as well yesterday, but maybe there's someting not good inside the socket. I tried two new lamps.
3. I also tried with the halogen lamp pins directly connected to the output of the power supply (where I measure 12V), so without the lamp socket and without the cable connecting the power supply to the lamp socket. To do this, I used two cables with crocodile clips (or whatever they are called in English) as shown in the image. I measure 12V between the crocodile clips on each end of the yellow and white cable , but as soon as I connect the lamp pins to the crocodile clips the 12V goes to zero while the lamp stays dead. So probably the socket is OK.

Test result (2): Resistance 0.2 ohms

Test result (3): Resistance also 0.2 ohms

I might consider buying a new socket, but I think that's not the problem. Addendum: just bought one to be sure: makes no difference.
Another thing: The multimeter has an analog volt display, with a small led. Neither of the two works with the power supply ON (it did before the problem started).

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[75RR]

Test result (1): Volts. When I place the multimeter electrodes directly in the socket holes for the lamp - so no lamp placed - I measure 12V. When I place the lamp in its socket holes and measure with the electrodes against the pins of the lamp, I measure 0.0 V.

The only reason I can see for that is that the bulb was not pushed down far enough and is therefore not making contact.

[janvangastel]

That was what I thought initially, but then (if I understand these things well) I should have also measured 12V while measuring without the socket, using the crocodile clips, like I wrote under 'Test result (1), 3'. Just bought a new lamp socket. No succes.

[Hobbyst46]

If it is not too much trouble, could you measure the resistance between the two pins of the bulb itself ?

side note: perhaps irrelevant, the late Prof Robert Pavlis once mentioned in a Microscopy-UK article that he had restored a Leitz Orthoplan 100Z lamp house that accepted flat-ribbon bulbs. Is that the case with your bulbs? yours looks like the 100 model, not the 100Z ?

[75RR]

Might be an idea to test the crocodile clips for continuity

Another thing: The multimeter has an analog volt display, with a small led. Neither of the two works with the power supply ON (it did before the problem started)

Do you mean that the Ammeter on the Leitz Power Supply is no longer working?

[janvangastel]

Do you mean that the Ammeter on the Leitz Power Supply is no longer working?

Yes, that's what I mean, I think. I don't know if it is called an ammeter. It points to a higher figure as I turn the control button further to the right. It worked fine in the beginning, but now its dead, like the halogen lamp.

Resistance between the two pins of the bulb is 0.4 ohm. Resistance of the crocodile clip cables I used is 0.2 ohm, which is the same as the resistance of the wires in de cable running from power supply to lamp holder. There's no information on the lamp house about its type. A photograph of the lamp house is in my first message of this thread (third image from above). A picture of the lamp is below. It's of the same type as the origimnal one.

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[75RR]

Just a heads up.

The analog dial on your power supply measures Amps.

Watts = Amps x Volts.

As you are using a 12v 50w lamp you should not pass 4 amps on the dial. i.e. (50w = 4 amps x 12v)

That is what the red lines are for. First red line is for the 12v 50w lamp - the second red line is for the 12v 100w lamp.