Leica ergonomic stereo microscope head schema?

[Milou]

Hello,
Does anybody has a schema for such a tilting ergonomic stereomicroscope Leica head (ref 10445822), please?
As I would like to open it in order to clean some dust and tiny black particles (from bellows?) inside.....
But only the bottom seems to be possibly opened as upper eyepieces tubes are glued (not screwed!)
I would prefer to know before which screws can be removed to avoid wrong working after reassembly!

Thank you for your help

[PrecisionInstruments]

I don’t have a manual, though I know there are approx 4x 2.5mm Allen screws on the underside that when removed, allow you to seperate the black bellows from the bottom plate. You can then get to three 2.5mm Allen screws through the bellows that will remove the plastic top cover.

I also haven’t been able to get into the tubes.

If you put up a picture of the underside, I’ll try circle the screws. Four of the many screws on the base hold the variable angle pivot, so have to be careful.

[Milou]

Hello,

Thank you for your answer

Here is a picture of the underside of this ergo head:


Did you already clean the inside of such a head?
and therefore it's upper part (eyepieces side) should not be reached with prisms under it......

[PrecisionInstruments]

It a problem,

These are the four screws that will disengage a metal retainer which is holding g the bellows to the bottom plate. It won’t allow you to remove the bottoms plate, but you can lift the bellows up to access three screws that hold the top plastic cover on.

I haven’t been able to clean the prisms in the tubes under the eyepieces.

[Milou]

Thank you very much

I'll try to clean mine, at least the bottom part, when I'll be back home.

As the upper tubes are glued, that's impossible to access their prisms...

[Scarodactyl]

Here's hoping cleaning the lower prisms solves the issue.

[Milou]

I also hope so!

And for information, I've got a proforma invoice from Leica where I had asked if they could clean such an ergo head: In fact they only do standard exchange, but no cleaning and for more then 3'000,00 euros

Then you could safe a lot of money, if cleaning by yourself is possible.....

[PeteM]

I have one of these, which came to me trashed, with a bent tube, and out of alignment. I was able to get inside - as noted on the other site - and clean things up a bit. The only way I could figure to align things was a crude attempt at cutting the tubes short (one was already broken) and adding on new ones more or less held in alignment.

This ergo head and also another Leica ergonomic head with a geared interpupillary adjustment and iris are examples of a German design ethic of the time gone wild (I mean Wild) - as if they are making Swiss watches with pricey mechanical complications just because they can. To clean a bit of spot of fungus from a surface inside either of these heads requires hours of work - witness Leica wanting a $3000 factory return rather than a $300 service by a local dealer. You'll be amazed (dismayed) by the geared inclination mechanism you'll find in your scope, Milou. In the case of the other stereo ergo head, I encountered over a hundred tiny (really tiny) ball bearings requiring removal just to reach and clean one lens surface.

US-made Leica branded scopes, much of the Austrian production, and usually the better Japanese makers (Meiji, Nikon, Olympus) are comparatively exemplars where equal results are achieved with a fraction of the parts.

[Milou]

Thank you PeterM for your feedback with such a trasch ergo head

Indeed cutting eyepieces tubes would be the only solution to clean upper prisms (or perhaps removing glued tubes with a solvent, if a suitable one could be found?)

I'm very curious to see this complicate geared inclination mechanism you describe....
But isn't risky to remove all these tiny balls and then not to be able to reassemble all correctly?

[PeteM]

The tiny ball bearings were in a different-style Leica ergonomic head. That one had a geared knob for the interpupillary adjustment and a built-in iris. However, finding a way into the back end of the tubes of your scope will likely prove equally challenging. Good luck.

Somewhere there's probably a retired Leica tech who might have have some useful tips . . .

[Milou]

Somewhere there's probably a retired Leica tech who might have have some useful tips . . .

Yes It would be very interesting to get it, but it seems to be very difficult to find....
I've spent hours looking for it on the web without any result

Perhaps anybody in touch with Leica company/business would be more lucky then me!

[Milou]

Hello,
first try to open this head with some pictures, once the 4 red circled screws (see previuos picture) taken off:






What a mechanism.......

But I didn't see the 3 screws holding the top plastic cover
I'll try to open it nagain, when I will have more time for that....

The lateral screws are glued then better not to touch them (see first picture).....

But perhaps the 4 non circled ones (both sides of the bottom lenses) could be removed, in order to take off the metallic part with the 2 lens in the circular black part?
Didnt' you try that?

[PrecisionInstruments]

Apologies for the late reply.

I have just serviced a few of these heads and can see it is only two 2.5mm Allen screws to remove the top plastic cover.

I can’t upload a picture, though the screw heads are quite visible when you compress the bellows at rear of the head once you have removed the 4 screws to open the bellows. They’re either side of the tension adjustment for the variable angle movement.

[Milou]

Thank you
I'll try to go further in order to remove the top plastic cover, later on when I'll be back home!

[Atariwarrior]

Hello,

Were you able to resolve your issue?

I recently purchased a Leica maintenance service training manual on EBay for some microscope bodies and heads such as this one. I can take a look and see if there are instructions for servicing this head.