Fun Little Invertoscop D Conversion
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Fun Little Invertoscop D Conversion
You probably don't think of old Bram as anything but a dyed-through B&L man, but I saw someone selling this 1970s Invertoscop for $20 I thought it was a good bargain. If you want a B&L inverted scope you got what, the Universal from the 19th century, that projection scope, and I guess the Photozoom which is both late and hideous. This here W. German Zeiss came with no optics and no condenser. Perfect to put all those new phase objectives I found on. I'll figure out the condenser later.
I know what you're thinking, "you can't just put B&L lenses on there you doofus the parfocal length will never let the objectives focus!" You'd be right, and AO lenses or LOMO lenses won't work either. Maybe Wild. I have a Wild but haven't tested it yet on here. One thing you can do, though, is notice that the stage is held aloft by four purple-anodized aluminum spacers under the stage. You can take these off, and even flip them around, shortening the stage by a whole centimeter and not even risk losing the spacers! The screws all take a 3mm hex wrench which as an American I have a pile of from IKEA furniture-- but two of the screws are longer and these should go on the top for this configuration:
It works pretty well so far, especially considering the Rayovac flashlight illuminator and that I haven't cleaned it real well yet and that this is me holding my cellphone to take the picture. I used here the trusty 10x divisible achromat from the late fifties I believe. A rabbit's tongue, prepared by our friend from the distant past, the University of Pennsylvania anatomy student:
And here is the 40x Phase, a little fuzzier than I'd like, but I didn't flip the slide over so the coverslip thickness is about 6 times the ideal.
So there you have it! An optics-less Invertoscop can be an affordable way to get some inverted microscopy in your life and to use some lenses that otherwise don't have a home. The Condenser stand came with and fits on just fine, but looks to have been ill-used in the past. I'll try to rig up some sort of condenser holder, but the light should be a cinch now that I have this LED illumination figured out.
I know what you're thinking, "you can't just put B&L lenses on there you doofus the parfocal length will never let the objectives focus!" You'd be right, and AO lenses or LOMO lenses won't work either. Maybe Wild. I have a Wild but haven't tested it yet on here. One thing you can do, though, is notice that the stage is held aloft by four purple-anodized aluminum spacers under the stage. You can take these off, and even flip them around, shortening the stage by a whole centimeter and not even risk losing the spacers! The screws all take a 3mm hex wrench which as an American I have a pile of from IKEA furniture-- but two of the screws are longer and these should go on the top for this configuration:
It works pretty well so far, especially considering the Rayovac flashlight illuminator and that I haven't cleaned it real well yet and that this is me holding my cellphone to take the picture. I used here the trusty 10x divisible achromat from the late fifties I believe. A rabbit's tongue, prepared by our friend from the distant past, the University of Pennsylvania anatomy student:
And here is the 40x Phase, a little fuzzier than I'd like, but I didn't flip the slide over so the coverslip thickness is about 6 times the ideal.
So there you have it! An optics-less Invertoscop can be an affordable way to get some inverted microscopy in your life and to use some lenses that otherwise don't have a home. The Condenser stand came with and fits on just fine, but looks to have been ill-used in the past. I'll try to rig up some sort of condenser holder, but the light should be a cinch now that I have this LED illumination figured out.
1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination
Re: Fun Little Invertoscop D Conversion
Looks good [and a bargain-buy], Brad
I’m curious about those Purple spacers though ... Are they perhaps black anodised which has faded ?
MichaelG.
I’m curious about those Purple spacers though ... Are they perhaps black anodised which has faded ?
MichaelG.
Too many 'projects'
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Re: Fun Little Invertoscop D Conversion
Well, if that's what happens to 47-year-old black anodized aluminum I would venture a yes.
Are there special thin-bottomed petri dishes one can use with an inverted microscopes?
Are there special thin-bottomed petri dishes one can use with an inverted microscopes?
1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination
Re: Fun Little Invertoscop D Conversion
.BramHuntingNematodes wrote: ↑Sat Jul 11, 2020 2:30 pmWell, if that's what happens to 47-year-old black anodized aluminum I would venture a yes.
It’s certainly not unknown.
MichaelG.
Too many 'projects'
Re: Fun Little Invertoscop D Conversion
.BramHuntingNematodes wrote: ↑Sat Jul 11, 2020 2:30 pmAre there special thin-bottomed petri dishes one can use with an inverted microscopes?
Yes ... but the price makes your stand look a really good bargain
https://www.thermofisher.com/order/cata ... 80#/150680
MichaelG.
Too many 'projects'
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Re: Fun Little Invertoscop D Conversion
I have set up a condenser holder and a light source for this little scope and it seems to work pretty well. Here is the design in case anyone wants to make something similar:
The holder is set on an arm that can rotate on two axes, giving the condenser continuously variable positioning. I thought this would be a good way to get the condenser in the right spot without risking making a wrong size arm and having to start over. Maybe I can do some oblique stuff with it too I don't know.
I got the pinion gear from a Selsi toy microsscope. What a weird thing that old Selsi is-- the pinion fits the Zeiss rack perfectly. In fact, the whole thing has excellent, sturdy build quality. The miniature optics are so bad as to be unusable except at low powers-- still, it must have been a very expensive toy! The block and ring are made with ipe wood which is terrible and hard to work with, hard and dense like pernambuco or bloodwood.
The collector lens is an ancient hand-ground lens I think maybe from a botanical scope of yore? The LED is from LEDsupply and is a CREE XPL-2 single die LED in neutral white. The redder colors have slightly higher CRI but I thought that this was a better looking light and still produces good colors. It's extremely bright and small. The blind is a copper pipe.
Makes a pretty tight spot!
I also made a quick box for the power supply and driver, which is a Buck Puck with an included dimmer. All the LED components, including the heat sink, were around $30. Additional LEDs are cheap and I have also retrofitted the Dynazoom with one. There are molex connectors for quick changes but as you can tell eventually I will be able to use a switch. I have some UV filters around here too somewhere...
The power supply is one for a Hewlett Packard computer that died. Its 18v and around 3-4 amps I think? The driver is 1 amp constant current, and I only run bulb at a time.
The holder is set on an arm that can rotate on two axes, giving the condenser continuously variable positioning. I thought this would be a good way to get the condenser in the right spot without risking making a wrong size arm and having to start over. Maybe I can do some oblique stuff with it too I don't know.
I got the pinion gear from a Selsi toy microsscope. What a weird thing that old Selsi is-- the pinion fits the Zeiss rack perfectly. In fact, the whole thing has excellent, sturdy build quality. The miniature optics are so bad as to be unusable except at low powers-- still, it must have been a very expensive toy! The block and ring are made with ipe wood which is terrible and hard to work with, hard and dense like pernambuco or bloodwood.
The collector lens is an ancient hand-ground lens I think maybe from a botanical scope of yore? The LED is from LEDsupply and is a CREE XPL-2 single die LED in neutral white. The redder colors have slightly higher CRI but I thought that this was a better looking light and still produces good colors. It's extremely bright and small. The blind is a copper pipe.
Makes a pretty tight spot!
I also made a quick box for the power supply and driver, which is a Buck Puck with an included dimmer. All the LED components, including the heat sink, were around $30. Additional LEDs are cheap and I have also retrofitted the Dynazoom with one. There are molex connectors for quick changes but as you can tell eventually I will be able to use a switch. I have some UV filters around here too somewhere...
The power supply is one for a Hewlett Packard computer that died. Its 18v and around 3-4 amps I think? The driver is 1 amp constant current, and I only run bulb at a time.
1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination
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Re: Fun Little Invertoscop D Conversion
They are a nice little instrument. I should have spare parts for it if you're looking for anything. Just pm me.
I like what you did with the condenser! Very innovative and practical.
Regards,
Kirby
I like what you did with the condenser! Very innovative and practical.
Regards,
Kirby
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Re: Fun Little Invertoscop D Conversion
Thanks Kirby! Maybe one day I might look into some parts: there is an element somewhere between the nose and eyepieces that has suffered some kind of damage and produces artifacts in certain lighting conditions, maybe the splitting assembly, maybe the reducing lens. It's not very distracting under normal conditions. But maybe.Element 56 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 19, 2020 12:36 amThey are a nice little instrument. I should have spare parts for it if you're looking for anything. Just pm me.
I like what you did with the condenser! Very innovative and practical.
Regards,
Kirby
A week ago I might have asked if you had a condenser holder or illuminator!
1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination
Re: Fun Little Invertoscop D Conversion
.MichaelG. wrote: ↑Sat Jul 11, 2020 4:28 pm.BramHuntingNematodes wrote: ↑Sat Jul 11, 2020 2:30 pmWell, if that's what happens to 47-year-old black anodized aluminum I would venture a yes.
It’s certainly not unknown.
MichaelG.
Thought you might like to see this, Bram
. .
It’s not an analytical photo, but it gives a pretty good indication of how Black anodising often fades.
I also have a pair of ball & socket heads, one of which rapidly turned that colour after I handled it with cutting oil ‘suds’ on my hands.
Basically ... the black is a dye, and some of them are not very stable.
MichaelG.
Too many 'projects'
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Re: Fun Little Invertoscop D Conversion
Very nice, thank you MichaelG. It's not a bad shade of purple it turns into.
I have kludged together an aquarium by taking a plastic container used to package small screws, cutting a hole in the bottom with a razor, and using silicone sealant to glue a cover slip on the bottome over the hole. It works pretty well. I might post a picture of version two when I work out some slight improvements on the design.
I have kludged together an aquarium by taking a plastic container used to package small screws, cutting a hole in the bottom with a razor, and using silicone sealant to glue a cover slip on the bottome over the hole. It works pretty well. I might post a picture of version two when I work out some slight improvements on the design.
1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination
Re: Fun Little Invertoscop D Conversion
Very nice kludge job BramHuntingNematodes !-wish I was handy like that-try to find some cheap LWD (most normal 10x can look through a Petri dish just fine but 20x and up will need 1.2mm WD and get just some cheap 3.5 cm Petri dishes and your B+L will get real jealous quickly- inverted scopes are real fun for microbes (nematodes included!) cos you can have a 1/3 cm water depth enough sample to have a nice slice of habitat not just a drop of water and leave the Petri dish for a day or two and you can see who’s eating who, what’s got bigger and just how different microbes interact with each other. I left a Petri dish for about 5 days absentmindedly and all was left was one enormous obese ciliate full of critters he’d eaten-Seen those divisible 10x objectives on eBay-are they good? Easy to divide and put back? I assume it divides into 4 or 5x.
Regards ross
Regards ross
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Re: Fun Little Invertoscop D Conversion
Thanks RossF! Yes, this scope is superb for looking at a little pond habitat. I had an older sample that was kept active by virtue of aquarium grow lights as my fluorescent work light, and some amoebas were making a good showing. Unfortunately, 3 or 4 mm of water dried up more quickly than I anticipated!Rossf wrote: ↑Tue Jul 28, 2020 5:31 amVery nice kludge job BramHuntingNematodes !-wish I was handy like that-try to find some cheap LWD (most normal 10x can look through a Petri dish just fine but 20x and up will need 1.2mm WD and get just some cheap 3.5 cm Petri dishes and your B+L will get real jealous quickly- inverted scopes are real fun for microbes (nematodes included!) cos you can have a 1/3 cm water depth enough sample to have a nice slice of habitat not just a drop of water and leave the Petri dish for a day or two and you can see who’s eating who, what’s got bigger and just how different microbes interact with each other. I left a Petri dish for about 5 days absentmindedly and all was left was one enormous obese ciliate full of critters he’d eaten-Seen those divisible 10x objectives on eBay-are they good? Easy to divide and put back? I assume it divides into 4 or 5x.
Regards ross
All the mid-century B&L lenses are pretty good. This one divides by unscrewing the two bits from each other-- couldn't be simpler. I have a 10x phase on there already, and so it's currently divided to produce I think a 4x. I don't think B&L had LWD phase objectives from this era as I don't know if they had an inverted scope they were trying to outfit. It's alright, the cover-slip-bottomed dish works great!
1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination
Re: Fun Little Invertoscop D Conversion
i went this route...works great..rechargeable led 3 levels
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