MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

My microscopy history is short. Had a cheap one when I was young in the 1960's -70's.
My interest is curiosity on mother nature.
Getting close to retirement I wanted to add on this curiosity by getting this good looking masterpiece; Zeiss Jena LgOG1 (I believe it is).

So far so good.
However, when I recieved it I found out that the microscope had retired itself before me by getting a rock solid non-moving masterpiece.
Solidified lubrication has made most of the moving parts static.

Since I have some time to retirement I hope that I can bring the Jena masterpiece back to life.
I believe, strongly, that I need this forums help in achieving this.

Refering only to the objective turret (nosepiece). If that one is stuck. I have been able to make a similar part on a Zeiss West (GFL) rotate freely, by adding some sewing machine light oil on the circumference (after having removed the objectives, of course) and mild heating in an oven (50-60C I think). But, only a 1-2 small drops of oil are needed. Afterwards, carefully inspect the turret and wipe off any single drop of anything (grease, oil etc) with KimWipe or lens tissue.

Hi Tribo,

congratulations to this nice microscope. It was way ahead of it's time when it came out in 1934 and is still a good to use microscope today.
There was an external Köhler-lamp and a Köhler lamp-base (the "Brotdose"). These and other accessories turn up frequently on german ebay.
I can send you a german repair manual via e-Mail this evening if you send me you e-Mail adress.
Here is a bit to read on Zeiss Jena: https://www.mikroskop-online.de/Mikrosk ... riften.htm

The Zeiss Jena LG was also produced in Russia and later the boxy version of the Lomo Biolam was based upon it too.
It shares most accessories with the Lumipan, NF, NG. The nosepieces are exchangeable and 5-seat nosepieces are frequently available.

The nosepiece is simple to service, there are no ball bearings in it.

Heating the stand without optical parts to 60 °C will make disassembly much easier.

Bob

Thank you Microbob.

Much appreciated.

Looking forward to receive the german repair manual. However it seems that I must wait as I do not have the needed authorisation to PM you yet. Got this message:

"We are sorry, but you are not authorised to use this feature. You may have just registered here and may need to participate more in discussions to be able to use this feature."

Wonder how many posts I need to have before getting authorized.

In the meantime I will be updating myself on the microscope and its history. Thank you for the links; again much appreciated.
Can its age be deducted from its serial number 419341?

The Köhler lamp did not come together with the microscope; however I believe I got part of the system as there was a 'distance' unit to be placed in front of and partly under the microscope.

Congratulations! Nice to see those beautiful old microscopes not put out to pasture just yet.

Looking forward to receive the german repair manual. However it seems that I must wait as I do not have the needed authorisation to PM you yet. Got this message:

"We are sorry, but you are not authorised to use this feature. You may have just registered here and may need to participate more in discussions to be able to use this feature."

Wonder how many posts I need to have before getting authorized.

One can however receive PM posts, if Microbob can send you his email you will get it.

75RR wrote:Microbob can send you his email you will get it.

He has just done this!

I don't think the serial number states the year of manufature as it is the case with all/many Lomo microscopes.

That distance piece is indeed used to keep the external lamp aligned. The lamp itself looks like a toy cannon. It has a diaphragm at the front and swivels on the base. The round sleeve is from red tinted glass and is easily damaged in shipping. You will probably find the lamp in one of the brochures. There are a couple of Zeiss Jena brochures to be found in english language in the internet too.
It is always important to recognize that yours is a "Carl Zeiss Jena" and Hobbsyt46s GFL is a "Carl Zeiss" (West). Two companies, similar names, quite incompatible microscopes. The history of Zeiss is really interesting!

Thank you.

Sent you an e-mail using my gmail address.

Yes, interesting and fasinating history involving also CIA. Released 1950 document (Catalog of Zeiss, Jena) in 2001 at this link:

https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom ... 0008-2.pdf

Tribo wrote:
Yes, interesting and fasinating history involving also CIA. Released 1950 document (Catalog of Zeiss, Jena) in 2001 at this link:

https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom ... 0008-2.pdf

One tends to forget that spies are first and foremost, bureaucrats!

Hobbyst46 wrote:Refering only to the objective turret (nosepiece). If that one is stuck. I have been able to make a similar part on a Zeiss West (GFL) rotate freely, by adding some sewing machine light oil on the circumference (after having removed the objectives, of course) and mild heating in an oven (50-60C I think). But, only a 1-2 small drops of oil are needed. Afterwards, carefully inspect the turret and wipe off any single drop of anything (grease, oil etc) with KimWipe or lens tissue.

The objective turret rotete freely so no problem there.
Thank you anyway for good advice.

Beautiful microscope.