new to microscopy need help properly identifying my microscope

[Ken Brill]

Purchased used in 1999 as suitable for semiconductor wafer & hybrid inspection . Probably decommissioned from recently bankrupt Digital Equipment Corp Fab facility . Am now retired and actually have time to use it .

While identification markings indicate it is an AO Microstar my review of available AO. Leica & Reichert literature suggests it is actually was at some point marketed as an Epistar 2560 series IC inspection / Metallurgical high power compound microscope very fully optioned out . Is my identification correct ? .

I require a near 7.0 diopter correction in one eye slightly better in the other is it economically practical to obtain corrected eyepieces ? any guidance re: suppliers and costs ?

This microscope is trinocular though a proper dust cap is not in place guidance in choosing a digital camera would be appreciated .

Was stored unprotected in dry but dusty and unheated warehouse ( thought otherwise ) guidance as to proper cleaning and maintenance is needed .

Thanks in advance to anyone who may respond ;

Ken

[MichaelG.]

What a fabulous instrument, Ken

I knew nothing about it, but have just found this:
http://doclibrary.com/MSC167/DOC/Epista ... re0729.pdf

Welcome to the forum !!

Regarding your eyesight corrections ... Others may be better informed, but I think your best option is to get good ‘high-eyepoint’ eyepieces, and wear your spectacles.


MichaelG.

[MichaelG.]

< sorry ... double post >

[DrPhoxinus]

Ken,

Welcome to the forum.

I am about 5 to 6 diopters out and haven’t had a problem.
However when a normal vision family wants a look
then refocusing is in order.

Among my scopes I have an AO 150 two series 10 and a
410 which looks a little like yours in style.

Maybe compressed air can blow the dust out of the trinoc.

Gerard

[PeteM]

Nice scope - you'll enjoy it. It looks to be a deep throat Epitstar version of a Series 110 microscope - as you say, meant for wafer inspection.

Is there a lamp for the top illumination? A DIC slider and polarizers for epi use? If those parts are still with the scope, it's a pretty rare find.

As for corrections, as has been said if you are the only user you can dial it in just fine to use without eyeglasses.

I can't make out the objectives, but it looks like they are be no-cover slip types meant for reflected ("epi") use. Might also be brightfield and darkfield types?? Those will have the objective optics in an inner tube and a clear ring around them for epi light in darkfield mode.

Your stand also looks to have a condenser and bottom lamp so you could do transmitted work, as in slides. However, you will likely need to pick up some difrerent objectives for cover glass use above 20x or so.

Do you have x-y stage controls or was this the type where the user would move it by hand? For use with slides you might want to replace the stage - add x-y controls, slide clips, and x-y controls.

[Charles]

You have an AO Epistar 2560 with epi DIC. You have the version with both epi and transmitted lighting. You should also have an analyzer under the head and polarizar on one of the filters along the top back. Excellent scope. I have a manual if you need it.

Here is mine:

AO Epistar with DIC Side.JPG (131.22 KiB) Viewed 5030 times

[PeteM]

Just to add, for biological use you could make up a sub-stage (platen) with slide clips and a clear aperture to swap in where the glass rectangle currently fits.

[MichaelG.]

As for corrections, as has been said if you are the only user you can dial it in just fine to use without eyeglasses.

.

I am happy to be wrong [by consensus] but I always thought that the acceptable limits for dioptre adjustments would be what the manufacturer provides. ... and I don’t think I have ever seen an eyepiece with +/- 7 range.

MichaelG.

[Zuul]

I am happy to be wrong [by consensus] but I always thought that the acceptable limits for dioptre adjustments would be what the manufacturer provides. ... and I don’t think I have ever seen an eyepiece with +/- 7 range.

MichaelG.

Do you have a 7 diopter difference between your right and left eye? Total power is taken care of by the focus. It’s only the delta from right to left that needs to be adjusted in the eyepiece.

[Charles]

This has a list of your features and diagram:

EpiStar.JPG (137.28 KiB) Viewed 5010 times

[apochronaut]

You have a gem there. I would look for another 5 place nosepiece and 3 biological objectives. I'm not sure what you have in objectives but I can more or less figure out the likliehood of them. Only the 2 lower powers would at all be usefull with coverslips. You would want to look for a # 1022 20X, a #1309 40X and a # 1311 100X to fit the other nosepiece. If you replace the allen screws in the nosepiece dovetail with thumbscrews, you can swap from the epi set to the coverslip corrected set very quickly. A technique to maintain centering when swapping can be applied.

The same nosepiece from any series 100 scope will work..
It looks like you have a cat. # 1867 objective. It has something attached and surrounding it. I have never seen that before. Is that a further incident illuminator of some kind?

[MichaelG.]

I am happy to be wrong [by consensus] but I always thought that the acceptable limits for dioptre adjustments would be what the manufacturer provides. ... and I don’t think I have ever seen an eyepiece with +/- 7 range.

MichaelG.

Do you have a 7 diopter difference between your right and left eye? Total power is taken care of by the focus. It’s only the delta from right to left that needs to be adjusted in the eyepiece.

No ... But there is an underlying logic which suggests [to me] that adjusting the focus so far must take the performance of the objective out of its ‘design envelope’.

MichaelG.

.

Edit: ___ it would also make setting-up a parfocal camera system “interesting”

[MichaelG.]

Do you have a 7 diopter difference between your right and left eye? Total power is taken care of by the focus. It’s only the delta from right to left that needs to be adjusted in the eyepiece.

No ... But there is an underlying logic which suggests [to me] that adjusting the focus so far must take the performance of the objective out of its ‘design envelope’.

MichaelG.

.

Edit: ___ it would also make setting-up a parfocal camera system “interesting”

.

Forgive me for bumping this, but all has gone quiet ...
I had hoped that some useful discussion might ensue.

MichaelG.

[DrPhoxinus]

I am beginning to wonder whether there is a microscope model that Charles doesn't own.

Charles, can you give us a count and a model breakdown?

Gerard