Careless Mistakes

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Element 56
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Careless Mistakes

#1 Post by Element 56 » Thu Aug 27, 2020 11:53 pm

This is how you know when it's time to call it a night. An expensive mistake that didn't have to happen. I crashed my rare antique B&L 90x Dry Apochromat into my favorite antique JD Miller diatom slide. :oops:

I post this as a reminder to be careful and take it slow around your equipment. All it takes is one little distraction to ruin an otherwise good day.
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Kirby

apochronaut
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Re: Careless Mistakes

#2 Post by apochronaut » Fri Aug 28, 2020 1:05 am

Yes. have done similar. you feel like a complete clutz.....but. you didn't damage the objective? 90X dry B & L apochromat? I have never seen such as that. what does it look like? Must have a correction collar, like the 61X .95.

Mraster2
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Re: Careless Mistakes

#3 Post by Mraster2 » Fri Aug 28, 2020 1:57 am

Oh gosh :( or, Oh crikey :( insert other suitable word !
What can one say? Condolences ?

and I felt such a clutz when I crashed my ebay cheapo achro 20x into my slide, I just broke the cover slip, looks like yours was a proper job ! :(

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Re: Careless Mistakes

#4 Post by BramHuntingNematodes » Fri Aug 28, 2020 2:04 am

As a student we were never allowed to focus closer when looking through the eyepiece-- I get the idea that this sort of tragedy is likely pretty common.

It too would like to see that lens tho
1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination

Element 56
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Re: Careless Mistakes

#5 Post by Element 56 » Fri Aug 28, 2020 2:55 pm

apochronaut wrote:
Fri Aug 28, 2020 1:05 am
Yes. have done similar. you feel like a complete clutz.....but. you didn't damage the objective? 90X dry B & L apochromat? I have never seen such as that. what does it look like? Must have a correction collar, like the 61X .95.
The objective is fine thankfully. I have never seen this lens anywhere else either. I bought an un-jointed B&L monocular on eBay which came with this and a 40x with correction collar. It was a steal!

The other side is simply marked in all caps Bausch & Lomb
Optical Co.
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I think at one time or another everyone experiences such things. It is particularly disappointing when it's a coveted piece of history such as a well made diatom slide as this. I'm careful and know better so it makes me very frustrated but at least the object glass is fine which is also something for everyone to consider. When this happens if there is a piece of dirt between the object glass and slide it could be a catastrophic to crash into the slide. So always make sure both your optic and your work is clean! Blow it off or brush it with a soft brush before bringing it into focus. It only takes a moment!

Thanks for the condolences. At least it's just a "thing"!

Kirby

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Re: Careless Mistakes

#6 Post by BramHuntingNematodes » Fri Aug 28, 2020 3:02 pm

No wonder you crashed into your slide-- that's an immersion lens!
1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination

Element 56
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Re: Careless Mistakes

#7 Post by Element 56 » Fri Aug 28, 2020 3:08 pm

BramHuntingNematodes wrote:
Fri Aug 28, 2020 3:02 pm
No wonder you crashed into your slide-- that's an immersion lens!
I have never seen a B&L oil that wasn't marked Imm. I even have older B&L from the 1880's that's marked accordingly so I assumed this would have been marked if it was an oil lens. However, there's a lot about optics I'm still very ignorant about. Are you saying this one is an Immersion lens because of the high N.A.?

BTW, the image without oil was very good. Now I'm really excited to oil it!

Thanks
Kirby

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Re: Careless Mistakes

#8 Post by BramHuntingNematodes » Fri Aug 28, 2020 3:18 pm

Yes, the high NA tipped me off. I have two 90x B&L Apo's, the 1.3 and the 1.4. Neither are marked oil or imm. They really are treasures, but to get the most out of them you have to oil the condeser to the slide (which has to be the right thickness or else the oil isn't going to make contact when the condenser is focused) and the lens to the coverslip. Kind of a hassle, but that 1.4 is the sharpest lens I own.
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Re: Careless Mistakes

#9 Post by BramHuntingNematodes » Fri Aug 28, 2020 3:20 pm

Let me check if the fluorite immersion lens I have is marked...
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Re: Careless Mistakes

#10 Post by BramHuntingNematodes » Fri Aug 28, 2020 3:25 pm

Yes, the fluorites and achromats are all marked "OIL," but neither of the apos!
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Element 56
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Re: Careless Mistakes

#11 Post by Element 56 » Fri Aug 28, 2020 3:29 pm

BramHuntingNematodes wrote:
Fri Aug 28, 2020 3:02 pm
No wonder you crashed into your slide
I actually was reaching for the condenser to move it out of the way without looking. I accidentally grabbed and turned the course focus knob. I had been working with it for a while and still had room. I use my oil imm. a lot so I'm very comfortable with little WD. I just wasn't paying attention!

Thanks for the info on the lens. Can't wait to experiment tonight!

Kirby

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Re: Careless Mistakes

#12 Post by Element 56 » Fri Aug 28, 2020 3:31 pm

BramHuntingNematodes wrote:
Fri Aug 28, 2020 3:25 pm
Yes, the fluorites and achromats are all marked "OIL," but neither of the apos!
Very interesting. I guess it's assumed that one should know that. I only recently started getting into optical performance and theory and I still have a lot to learn.

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Re: Careless Mistakes

#13 Post by Wes » Fri Aug 28, 2020 8:44 pm

Element 56 wrote:
Fri Aug 28, 2020 3:29 pm
BramHuntingNematodes wrote:
Fri Aug 28, 2020 3:02 pm
No wonder you crashed into your slide
I actually was reaching for the condenser to move it out of the way without looking. I accidentally grabbed and turned the course focus knob. I had been working with it for a while and still had room. I use my oil imm. a lot so I'm very comfortable with little WD. I just wasn't paying attention!

Thanks for the info on the lens. Can't wait to experiment tonight!

Kirby
Be careful with old lenses and oil. The cement holding the front lens gets old and could leak oil inside your lens.
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Re: Careless Mistakes

#14 Post by mazo4033 » Fri Aug 28, 2020 10:07 pm

Oh no! :( That is terrible. I'm so sorry.

Perhaps it is somewhat fixable? I was just reading a book called "Microscopic Preparation Techniques for Plant Stem Analysis". One of the pages discussed how to fix an accidentally broken slide (if the mountant is Canada balsam, I don't know how this works for other mountants). But it said that if you put the slide in xylene for 10 hours, the Canada balsam will dissolve, the specimen can be taken off the slide, and then you can remount it on a different slide.

I don't know how this works with the specimen being a diatom (as the book was talking about plant sections) or with the mountant not being Canada balsam. Obviously with remounting the diatoms the slide would still not be the same, but if you liked the diatoms and this method could possibly work, it may be worth a try.

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Re: Careless Mistakes

#15 Post by Charles » Sat Aug 29, 2020 12:00 am

How did you break the slide and not the cover glass? Was this a strew or mounted diatoms? Most diatom mounters mount to the cover glass, so you maybe able to mount that cover slip to another microscope slide, if you know what type of mountant was used and then transfer the labels.

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Re: Careless Mistakes

#16 Post by Element 56 » Sat Aug 29, 2020 2:12 am

Charles wrote:
Sat Aug 29, 2020 12:00 am
How did you break the slide and not the cover glass? Was this a strew or mounted diatoms? Most diatom mounters mount to the cover glass, so you maybe able to mount that cover slip to another microscope slide, if you know what type of mountant was used and then transfer the labels.
I don't know why the cover glass survived but I got it in a group that wasn't property stored. The cover glass on a few had fallen off before I got them. Some had also started to separate and others the specimens slide to one side. This one was mostly fine before I broke it but you could see a little speration. It was a strew mount and I know I lost some of the specimens but haven't really inspected it under magnification yet. I have a collection of about a dozen or so antique slides that need repairs so this will be added to the group. I have a lot to learn before I attempt to repair them.

It was my go to slide and I will miss it! It wasn't an artistic arrangement or anything overly special but I just liked it. Sometimes would spend a week or longer with it on the stage while testing lenses and playing around with my camera. Feels like loosing an old friend.

Kirby

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Re: Careless Mistakes

#17 Post by Element 56 » Sat Aug 29, 2020 2:19 am

mazo4033 wrote:
Fri Aug 28, 2020 10:07 pm
Oh no! :( That is terrible. I'm so sorry.

Perhaps it is somewhat fixable? I was just reading a book called "Microscopic Preparation Techniques for Plant Stem Analysis". One of the pages discussed how to fix an accidentally broken slide (if the mountant is Canada balsam, I don't know how this works for other mountants). But it said that if you put the slide in xylene for 10 hours, the Canada balsam will dissolve, the specimen can be taken off the slide, and then you can remount it on a different slide.

I don't know how this works with the specimen being a diatom (as the book was talking about plant sections) or with the mountant not being Canada balsam. Obviously with remounting the diatoms the slide would still not be the same, but if you liked the diatoms and this method could possibly work, it may be worth a try.
Sounds like an interesting book! I'll have to check it out. I have a collection of the Balsam Post newsletter from the 80's and 90's that I really enjoy reading. There's a lot of mounting information in them so I have a fairly good background of "theory" to put into practice. I just need to catch up on some things before getting into it. It's a whole different direction from collecting and refurbishing microscopes but I think it could be just as much of an addiction!

As always thanks for the ideas and encouragement!

Kirby

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Re: Careless Mistakes

#18 Post by Element 56 » Sat Aug 29, 2020 2:35 am

[/quote]
Be careful with old lenses and oil. The cement holding the front lens gets old and could leak oil inside your lens.
[/quote]

Wes, I tore down and cleaned about a half dozen B&L oil immersion lenses from the early to mid 20th century and I found those pretty well sealed. Maybe I got lucky! This particular one is excellent but one of the things I like about older B&L objectives is that they are very easy to work on. I have one on my bench now that has really nice marks for indexing each lens. I like it when manufactures think ahead! :mrgreen:

Kirby

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Re: Careless Mistakes

#19 Post by MicroBob » Sat Aug 29, 2020 6:55 am

Element 56 wrote:
Thu Aug 27, 2020 11:53 pm
This is how you know when it's time to call it a night
Hi Kirby,
this is a sentence Johann Diedrich Möller should have adhered to. He was a very early case of burn out syndrome and unable to work for a couple of years. :shock: Your accident is a pity but since it is a strew slide you probably can restore the slide.

Objective with n.a. 1,0 and above always use some kind of immersion fluid.

The Möller company still exists. In the basement they had a safe with a combination lock that had not been opened since WW2. A member of our group opened the safe with a stetoscope. But there were only photos inside, no slides and diatom materials as hoped for. :roll:

Bob

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Re: Careless Mistakes

#20 Post by MichaelG. » Sat Aug 29, 2020 9:29 am

Element 56 wrote:
Sat Aug 29, 2020 2:19 am
I just need to catch up on some things before getting into it. It's a whole different direction from collecting and refurbishing microscopes but I think it could be just as much of an addiction!
.

This is a very useful ‘quick reference’
http://www.ftfarm.co.uk/microscopy/iceni/index.htm

I particularly like the ‘Mounting Guide’ which I immediately recognised [having found one in some items I inherited from from a meticulous slide mounter] ... Just a little slip of paper.

MichaelG.
Too many 'projects'

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Re: Careless Mistakes

#21 Post by Wes » Sat Aug 29, 2020 10:26 am

Element 56 wrote:
Sat Aug 29, 2020 2:35 am
Be careful with old lenses and oil. The cement holding the front lens gets old and could leak oil inside your lens.
Wes, I tore down and cleaned about a half dozen B&L oil immersion lenses from the early to mid 20th century and I found those pretty well sealed. Maybe I got lucky! This particular one is excellent but one of the things I like about older B&L objectives is that they are very easy to work on. I have one on my bench now that has really nice marks for indexing each lens. I like it when manufactures think ahead! :mrgreen:

Kirby
Sure, I have no experience with those objectives but in general its what people have observed.

Good luck :)
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Re: Careless Mistakes

#22 Post by Element 56 » Sat Aug 29, 2020 11:10 pm

MicroBob wrote:
Sat Aug 29, 2020 6:55 am
Element 56 wrote:
Thu Aug 27, 2020 11:53 pm
This is how you know when it's time to call it a night
Hi Kirby,
this is a sentence Johann Diedrich Möller should have adhered to. He was a very early case of burn out syndrome and unable to work for a couple of years. :shock: Your accident is a pity but since it is a strew slide you probably can restore the slide.

Objective with n.a. 1,0 and above always use some kind of immersion fluid.

The Möller company still exists. In the basement they had a safe with a combination lock that had not been opened since WW2. A member of our group opened the safe with a stetoscope. But there were only photos inside, no slides and diatom materials as hoped for. :roll:

Bob
Hi Bob,

Thank you for the insight into JD's career. I know a little something about being burnt out! Sitting at a bench, alone all day can take it's toll. It's too bad there wasn't more in the safe. That would have been an exciting prospect!

Regarding your group, are you a Quekett member or is it another microscope club? I joined the Quekett for the first time this year.

[/quote]

This is a very useful ‘quick reference’
http://www.ftfarm.co.uk/microscopy/iceni/index.htm

I particularly like the ‘Mounting Guide’ which I immediately recognised [having found one in some items I inherited from from a meticulous slide mounter] ... Just a little slip of paper.

MichaelG.
[/quote]

Michael, thank you for the link!

Kirby

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