BH-1 condenser pinion problem

[Rossf]

Hello-need some advice on my recently bought BH-1 which was immaculate-course/fine focus good-but come undone with the condenser holder pinion-the holder was stiff so disassembled to re-grease-the pinion does have some stripping and one fine crack on one of the teeth-I can wind it up if I give a little push from below and once it’s in the top position stays put quite well-any distance from top results in sag-does anyone know if you can get replacements, or 3-D printed or anyone have a spare to sell? In the meantime I was thinking of thorough cleaning-gently remove any created “burs” and painting the cog with nail polish to reinforce it-I used lithium grease and it’s too slippery so use a thicker grease to hopefully increase purchase between cog and guide and reduce sag-any other ideas would be greatly appreciated-so annoying when one little component can bring your scope to its knees..
Regards ross

[dtsh]

If you mean the Olympus BH1 series, specifically the pinion for the condenser, I too will need a replacement for this.

I've not tried modeling any helical gears in CAD so that is an unknown for me. If nothing can be found I'm willing to give modelling it a try, but I will need help getting info about the existing gear as mine is in very bad shape.

[Hobbyst46]

Hello-need some advice on my recently bought BH-1 which was immaculate-course/fine focus good-but come undone with the condenser holder pinion-the holder was stiff so disassembled to re-grease-the pinion does have some stripping and one fine crack on one of the teeth-I can wind it up if I give a little push from below and once it’s in the top position stays put quite well-any distance from top results in sag-does anyone know if you can get replacements, or 3-D printed or anyone have a spare to sell? In the meantime I was thinking of thorough cleaning-gently remove any created “burs” and painting the cog with nail polish to reinforce it-I used lithium grease and it’s too slippery so use a thicker grease to hopefully increase purchase between cog and guide and reduce sag-any other ideas would be greatly appreciated-so annoying when one little component can bring your scope to its knees..
Regards ross

Superb Olympus BH2 maintenance information is available on the Olympus site, maybe some of it is valid for the BH1 too.
For the sagging condenser you might try the grease NYOGEL 767A available via Amazon. It is a damping grease. Worked for me.