what is the size of the annuli in the Leitz 402a condenser

[DrPhoxinus]

Having purchased a early Ortholux I with a serial number in the 360000s marked D.R.P from a charity site, I wonder what the history of the scope is, There is a tag indicating it was serviced in San Antonio in 1989. For illumination the standard optics are gone, someone put a GE 1468 with its bayonet mount on a round ceramic fitting the port, but there is no collector lens.

Worse, it has a 402a, but someone put in red blue and purple filters in the condenser.

So what is the size of those annuli and is there any hope of restoring them to regular operation.

I made this discovery yesterday. Does anyone have tips on the 402a?

Gerard

[PeteM]

There is a US ebay seller who laser cuts a wide range of phase and darkfield annuli from Delrin. If you are handy, it's possible to make rings and fit them to your condenser. Even though he describes them, sizing will be a bit hit or miss. The smaller annuli also tend to be a bit fuzzy from the heat of laser cutting - but can be cleaned up to be workable.

Your easiest solution is to find another phase condenser, perhaps damaged but with all the phase annuli present.

[Charles]

DrPhoxinus, I think your Leitz condenser is actually a 402aa which is used for fluorescence microscopy. I have one that has the red, purple filters in it. It's probably easier to just get a 402a condenser from ebay.

[DrPhoxinus]

Charles,

Wow. So the filters have replaced the phase annuli.
Then the GE 1468 bulb was an afterthought which is why the collector isn’t there. Is the condenser useful with LED excitation? What do you yours for?

Gerard

[Charles]

You would also need an Leitz epi phloem which would have the excitation filters. Can you post a picture of your Ortholux and the condenser?

[DrPhoxinus]

Charles,

The condenser is indeed a 402aa. Amazing what another lower case letter does.
Researching the 402aa there is a normal phase I position. The problem is the 2 phase 2 40X and 2 phase 3 100x, those last four involving deep color glass.

It was way easier to get to the annuli in the Leitz condenser compared to Zeiss. A little cover on the upper left is held by 2 screws and you can pop an annulus out. I measure the OD to be 19.4 mm, but my caliper can have a 0.1 mm error. Thickness seems to be 3.5 mm

I was able to get Phaco I 10x and Phaco I 20x.

But the real problem is illumination. There is no collector lens and the bulb is a GE 1468 to far from the mirror

Is it possible to upload a picture from your pc or does it have to be a http?

Gerard

[Charles]

Hi Gerard,

You can upload pictures directly the instructions are in the Welcome to the new forum heading. You may need to reduce the size of the file, but basically it says:
"You can upload pictures to the forum. Below the edit box there is the option to upload attachments. Select the picture that you want to upload ("choose file") and then upload it. you can also add a caption to each image. There is a limit to 5 pictures per post, each picture can not be larger than 512KB and can not be larger than 1024x1024. Larger images take much loading time and can not be displayed properly inside the available space. If these size requirement are not met, then it will not upload."

[Charles]

Garard,

Also the low serial numbers in the 360000's indicates your Ortholux could be very old and one of the first versions which probably only has the lower lamp and no field iris.

Have you seen this one on ebay? $250 including shipping in the US and it has a 402a phase condenser. It's also a newer versions 695000'sm which is the newest version with field iris for Kohler illumination. No telling what shape it is in, but it looks like a solid deal.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Leitz-Wetzlar- ... 0667.m2042

[DrPhoxinus]

Charles,

Thanks for the ebay link.

If I had to write a Hallmark Card, it would read

Love is when your wife lets you buy another microscope.

A few years back we decided to home school our daughter.

Well Dad found that his grad school Zeiss had a harden grease problem.

Well then there was ebay, ETBTH, and charity sites.

First it was an American Optical 150

Then it was a Series 10 brightfield

Then it was a Zeiss Standard

Then it was a Series 10 phase

Then I got a hybrid Reichert 410 with a Series 10 trinoc head

Then I saw the Ortholux I

then she saw a Leitz triangle base and got it for me.

Then I saw a second Ortholux I, with a field iris. frozen noisepiece, shipped badly in newpaper, came in pieces

I am out of room, and have to use the scopes in a different room.

That ebay link looks good, but another scope for me would be pushing it.

Yes Charles you know your Ortholux. It has no field iris and has only one lamp port.

There is something about these instruments, too beautiful to just languish in the dust
[img

an ortholux retrofit not very effective

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underside

ortho.jpg (103.26 KiB) Viewed 6626 times

][/img]

[Charles]

Gerard, Yes I have gone down that road, but in my case, I'm still on that road. I have probably 12 or more Ortholux, and really don't need any more, but the ebay listings like I linked to doesn't help. I had put it in my watch list and the seller just offered a 10% discount ($225). He would probably go $200, which would make it really tempting for me.

Your light does seem to be a problem. The bulb in the original lamphouse is all the way back in the rear with collector lens in front. Does your other Ortholux have the original lamphouse? You may want to invest in a lamphouse or convert to LED. I have lamphouse with bulb if you need/want one. You would still need a power regulator if you did go with the original bulb and lamphouse. Of course the ebay ortholux has a lamphouse and the phase condenser.

[DrPhoxinus]

12?

Charles, I am really impressed. You appreciate the black enamel.

No the second ortholux does not have a lamp house.

I paid 189 for the last one without objectives, a frozen noise piece ( ordered a replacement from Poland)

They tossed it into a box with some newspaper and it was in pieces. It took me 20 minutes to unbend metal to get the trinoc head back on. That one has a lot of stage backlash, the whole stage moves. What do I tighten?

The triangluar one my wife has some Pv objectives but do those only work with Heine?

The eBay one looks a little dusty. If I only had room.

Gerard

[DrPhoxinus]

The eBay scope sold 10 minutes ago for 249

Gerard

[DrPhoxinus]

Well I think I need to take a Leitz break and realize my Ortholuxes are like classic cars and restoration might take years.

I put a offer on the ebay Ortholux and it sold for full price 20 minutes later.

I thought I could solve my problems by buying phase rings for the 402aa. I measured the OD at 19.4 mm.
A seller is offering a Ph 2 ring on ebay, but the ID is 19.4 mm, so it won't fit. Maybe there is a Leitzologist in this group that knows about this.

So as a break I turned on a Zeiss, probably the most modern scope I own. If someone can ID it and I would appreciate that.
Well I put a Leitz Phaco 170 Ph 2 in the nosepiece and I get good phase contrast on the Zeiss in Ph 2. That Zeiss is the one where I fixed the delaminated eyepieces with a few drops of immersion oil

If anyone has an interest in epi fluorescent thing let me know

Gerard

zeiss1.jpg (93.02 KiB) Viewed 6527 times

[Charles]

Hi Gerard,

Too bad about the Ortholux. Someone apparently thought it was a good deal too.

The Zeiss is probably a Standard 14 or 15. On the bottom there should be a stock number like 45 24 15 9902/29, which would tell you what model it is. In the example I listed 45 24 15 9902/29, it would be a model 15. Sometimes the phase annual from one maker will work with objectives from another.

[viktor j nilsson]

I'm actually looking for one of those Zeiss fluoro condensers, but I think you're in the US? Guess it'll be to expensive to ship to Sweden, unfortunately.

[DrPhoxinus]

I had just taken it off before I took the picture. The scope looked much more impressive with it attached, but for my use it was just an ornament. I was able to order a nose piece for my Ortholux from a seller in Poland, but that is a lot smaller Still it looks like a beautiful device.

With the stay at home orders because of Covid I have had a lot more time to spend with my scopes. I am using a slide of an earthworm cross section. It is not a diatom slide but there are a lot of structures including muscle fibers. The Zeiss Standard is now a competent scope but it doesn't have the romance of black enamel.


Sweden is mentioned in my Genetics text because of a mutant CCR5 delta 32 cytokine receptor resistant to HIV


https://www.nature.com/scitable/blog/vi ... _mutation/

Here in Michigan Covid has killed a number of people including my aunt who was in a nursing. When I teach i have a lecture on how scientific reality won't bend to political ones, something the US is struggling now. I wish you luck in Sweden given the political stance there compared to Norway

Gerard

[DrPhoxinus]

It’s a Zeiss Standard 16.

Looking through the Zeiss Standard Manual a Model 14 has a 4 objective nosepiece and the Model 16 has a 5 objective one.

Ah, Zeiss taxonomy

[Rorschach]

DrPhoxinus, I think your Leitz condenser is actually a 402aa which is used for fluorescence microscopy. I have one that has the red, purple filters in it. It's probably easier to just get a 402a condenser from ebay.

Charles, do you know whether the 402aa is better or worse than a darkfield condenser for fluorescence? I remember reading that a darkfield condenser was recommended by Leitz.