Also Needing Microscope Purchase Advice

[PeteM]

Looks like you have at least two problems and should contact the seller for a return. He or she may offer a price adjustment and you might consider it.

The fine focus gear is about a $50 fix and a fairly long wait. Ebay seller "Lothman" has a metal replacement for the gear and is an excellent seller. However, shipments from Germany seem very slow these days. 30 days later, I'm still waiting for something that once took about 10 days. This will go quickly (maybe 10 minutes) the second time you might do it, but the first time around may easily take an hour as you figure things out. The lube will add time.

The lamp is a bit more difficult. The plastic guide in the back has thin runners that guide the lamp on to its contacts. If the scope is dropped on the lamp house (as can happen with poor packing and shipping) one or both of these runners can break. I've been able to repair them with very tiny aluminum angles epoxied (high temp epoxy) in place, but it's a bit of a pain and you have to be sure not to short out the contacts in the placement of those reinforcing angles . Your scope might better be a candidate for a $160 or so LED replacement - and that may also require a bit of reinforcing to have it fit.

If you are handy and willing to disassemble the focus (you could lube the coarse focus at the same time) and fix the gear - then fix the lamp or replace it with a LED (RetroDiode makes one) - something like a $250 adjustment might be fair for both you and the seller. Good news - assuming you're feeling competent to take this on is that you will have a much better knowledge of your scope when you're done.

I'd double check that everything else is working. You should be able to prop up an bright LED flashlight so the LED die is at the same place as the bulb and use that to check out the optics.

Good luck.

[Scarodactyl]

Note fine focus should feel easier than coarse, since you're doing a lot less work for equivalent turning. It might still be OK.
Darn shame about the lamp house--sometimes it's inadequate packing, sometimes it just gets dropkicked somewhere in shipping.

[JGardner]

I agree about the fine focus. The stage moves such a tiny amount when turning the fine focus that you may think it’s not doing anything. You’ll know for sure when you get the lighting sorted and can try focusing on a specimen.

[75RR]

Can you provide the Ebay link to the microscope you bought

[Hobbyst46]

Also on the Optiphot, the lamp housing is made of plastic and is fragile. I once fixed a broken lamphouse with high-quality epoxy cement. Used it liberally, like casting, and supported the broken part for 24 hours. The epoxy is now stronger than the original plastic...

[SSISailor]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/SALE-Nikon-Tri ... 2749.l2649

PeteM, thanks for all the suggestions. It's a tough decision. I'll try to get it sorted today.

Thanks for all the other comments. I'll keep you posted.