Did I jusr stumble on a simple solution ?

[Jinks]

Cleaning out a water filter system .. The glass beads begged for me to look at them under my microscope ..... Instant light alignment tool !

Dirty slide etc, but remarkable accurate alignment ?

The rings may be from the single LED light source that I installed 15 years ago to replace the original bulb ?

Just sharing a thought

Kind regards

Alex

[GerryR]

I haven't a clue as to what you are referring. I worked for a boss who once said engineers have solutions and go looking for problems. I'm not sure of either in this case. Can you explain? Thank you.

[Dennis]

It was quick but I decided I am not going to give it too much thought about what you thought.

If you want to calibrate something probably the fish filter glass bubble thingys aren't the best tool.

[Jinks]

Thanks for your replies .... Simply an accidental finding is that spherical Glass beads found in water filtration systems provide circular pattern in which light passes through .... My Zeiss Jena NF (East Germany) has an opportunity to align the light source . By using these two controls and the spherical image showing the light can be simply corrected to as close as one can expect with the simplest of actions ... No biggie .. Nothing to create a fuss about .. If you have a Zeiss Jena NF (East Germany) good stuff .. If not, then just scroll on by ... My other microscopes can be found on my first post on this site ... https://www.microbehunter.com/microscop ... =25&t=9455

[BramHuntingNematodes]

I think it's kind of neat I am always worried about centricity

[hans]

Interesting observation, I suppose the effect should be somewhat analogous to using a phase telescope or Bertrand lens for alignment, except of course it can't actually be used for phase alignment since it comes before the objective. What sort of water filter did the beads come from?

[macnmotion]

I guess that your results would probably depend on how perfectly spherical the bead is, and whether there are any imperfections that might distort your rings. With our telescopes we use point light sources to align mirrors and optics by viewing out of focus ring patterns, but we don't introduce any type of unknown additional glass into the light path when doing so. To do so, we might correct for a distortion that won't be there when that extra piece is removed.

[Jinks]

MY observations are simply from an amateur point of view , Definitely not for the professions .. The high number of beads in a tiny space, allows for comparisons over a number with similar results .. As mentioned, just a simple observation, from which others can opt to experiment with .. .or not .. I love to share my experiences . I'm now 70 ... I own a 1968 Glastron Gt160 boat , 8 inch Newtonian telescope. plus others, 1975 VW Superbug .. Ten Short wave radios and stack of other interesting collection, for which, non are perfect ..I enjoy and share my experiences.. I watch Oliver's YouTube videos with great enthusiasm ...The filter set from which I took the Glass beads is shown in the attached image Kind regards Alex

[MichaelG.]

The optical paths in “Ball Lenses” [which is what you effectively have] can be interesting !
… a quick Google search should locate pages from Edmund Optics, etc.

Whether you have discovered a useful alignment tool will depend upon whether you can easily detect either eccentricity within, or a general shifting of, that group of circles when things are mis-aligned.
… I suspect that the answer will be No, but would be very interested to see a demonstration of Yes.

MichaelG.

[macnmotion]

MY observations are simply from an amateur point of view , Definitely not for the professions .. The high number of beads in a tiny space, allows for comparisons over a number with similar results .. As mentioned, just a simple observation, from which others can opt to experiment with .. .or not .. I love to share my experiences . I'm now 70 ... I own a 1968 Glastron Gt160 boat , 8 inch Newtonian telescope. plus others, 1975 VW Superbug .. Ten Short wave radios and stack of other interesting collection, for which, non are perfect ..I enjoy and share my experiences.. I watch Oliver's YouTube videos with great enthusiasm ...The filter set from which I took the Glass beads is shown in the attached image Kind regards Alex

You're my kind of hobbyist!!

[SWmicro]

The glass beads begged for me to look at them under my microscope ..... Instant light alignment tool !

An interesting effect, I have some of that somewhere, from my tropical fish keeping days, I wonder where I put it !!

Just for info. it is not glass!
It is an ion exchange resin. The DI on the label = De-Ionized water.

[Sure Squintsalot]

Cleaning out a water filter system .. The glass beads begged for me to look at them under my microscope ..... Instant light alignment tool !

Dirty slide etc, but remarkable accurate alignment ?

I think that only a center bead can be used for alignment, as long as it is, in fact, in the center of the focal field and not just centered in the FOV; you'd have to know that in advance, and not just assume it is by default. If a) you're using a plan objective and b) all your other beads were identically sized and perfectly spherical, you could conceivably map the uniformity of the transmitted diffraction cone by measuring the (extremely tiny) angular difference between the focused LED light transmission and the center of the circumference of the bead. If you had a slide made with a uniform field of identically sized glass spherules, you could then jiggle the slide in a tight circle and actually find the focal center of your optical train by watching where those bright spots rotate around.

In short, no, your poorly distributed, unevenly sized, plastic, quasi-spherical "spherules" are a lousy alignment tool.

...but a great thought experiment!

[Jinks]

A simple post on an observation, with a mix of responses ..... From hobbyist to purist .... I could close this post with a comment, that one should always build on a learners experience, rather than to allows one's passion, to deconstruct .. I won't do this .. I will however show you a picture of my Glastron GT160 and share with you the knowledge, that despite it's age and old design ...It floats and offers great pleasure to the owner .. Me .. Kind regards Alex from OZ

[Chas]

Jinks, what sort of diameter ball seemed to be about right for your setup?

[Jinks]

@ Chris Thanks for your reply . My observation was based on an accidental discovery, that the spheres offered very simple basic solution, that worked with the Zeiss microscope .. I don't have the skills and drive to experiment beyond, that which has been described. I'm just buggering around, enjoying one on my many hobbies .. Kind regards Alex

[Chas]

Jinks, are we talking 1/16 inch... half inch ? Never seen a reverse osmosis ball

[Jinks]

@Chas .... A knats testicle, based on a knat, being very tiny. Kind regards Alex