MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

I’m excited to trying to clean up this old dual head microscope and firing it up. The idea is to try to get the grandkids interested in science, starting with pond water, fibers, and stuff like that.
Does anybody know about how old this scope is, and what the upper power cord runs?

Second attempt at adding a photo...

The upper power cord goes to a small lamp housed in the teaching bridge. It lights a moveable pointer , controlled by the arm visible in the photos suppled, so the instructor can point out various features to the student, at the other pair of eyepieces. The bulb is a 1 watt miniature, # 328.

That will be a nice serviceable scope for you. They are almost indestructible, with excellent build quality and fine optics for their day.

Just a couple of notes on the complements it appears to come with.

It is supplied with the 1036 illuminator, which has a fairly specialized 18 watt incandescent bulb . The illuminator works great and is remote enough that it does not spread too much heat. However, the bulbs can be overdriven easily if the transformer is adjusted to it's maximum 7.5v. . This is commonly done, greatly reducing the bulb life. You should order a couple of spare bulbs immediately, # 1460X because the bulb might have a short life. They are only 100 hour bulbs when run at the correct 6.8v. The bulb is made by quite a few manufacturers but the originator was G.E. The original bulb has a prefocused filament but some of the knockoffs, particularly the Ushio version has a crappy filament that takes the scenic route from pole to pole. Get one with the extended poles and a short, straight, tight filament.

Unfortunately, the 20X Dark M objective supplied with your instrument is a phase contrast objective made for an earlier model of AO microscope that used a 160mm fixed tube optical system. It will produce an image in the later AO infinity scopes but it won't be very good. You can probably sell that one on ebay for 40.00 or so and keep your eyes peeled for either a cat. # 1077 20X .50 achromat objective or a cat.# 1022 20X .50 planachro objective. Either that , or fill that hole in the nosepiece with a 100X oil immersion objective.

Thanks for the advice, apochronaut. Much appreciated. Now I can’t wait to see if the 1036A is in decent shape, clean it up, and test out that 160mm 20x lens to see how bad it is in an infinity scope
And I’ll for sure be shopping for some bulbs.
I’m thinking 100x oil is something I’d seldom use, so will likely try to get one of the 20x objectives you recommend.

The bulbs require a bit of force to insert and remove. There's a tubular bulb changer available that makes the process both easier and safer.

As Phil suggests, the regular AO 20x plan achromat is a terrific objective -- good optics and just the right magnification and depth of field for many subjects.