My Zeiss Photomicroscope III

[ImperatorRex]

Hi Jochen,

Out of curiosity what would be a normal price range for a Stemi? I consider getting a stereoscope when my budget recovers from the DIC expenditure.

Wes

I only by second hand stuff. So I have bought for example my Zeiss Stemi III second hand (look here: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=5930#p53318) via the German Microscope Forum. It was in good condition and costed about 350 USD including Nikon wide field eyepieces with FOV 20. In ebay you would get it probably a bit cheaper, but you may do some own repairs, e.g. allignment of prisms and so on.
The later investment for the an Olympus SZH10 was much more costly (2000 USD) since it used apo chromatic objective. Hover still consider such price level as a bargain.

[Wes]

Merry Christmas to all members! I hope you, your family and your hobby are doing well.

After another annoying hiatus I am finally back to tinkering with my microscope. Before I had to freeze all of my microscopy related projects I acquired a Zeiss RSIII epifluorescent condenser. I had to adapt a few makeshift mirrors and filters but in the end it worked quite well. Fluorescent microscopy looks pretty alien to me, especially pond water.

[Hobbyst46]

Congratulations, the setup looks very nice.
May I note that the "condenser" in epifluorescence is in fact the objective itself. So, I assume that the acquired part is the filter-cube carrier assembly and perhaps the field and iris apertures in the tube between the lamp and filter-cubes ? or just filter housing if they are not arranged in cubes ?

[Wes]

So, I assume that the acquired part is the filter-cube carrier assembly and perhaps the field and iris apertures in the tube between the lamp and filter-cubes ? or just filter housing if they are not arranged in cubes ?

Thanks Hobbyst46. According to the Zeiss manual the condenser includes the field+iris apertures, filter housing and objective turret but I see your point about the objective being a condenser in its own right. There are no individual cubes but rather a block with 4 slots for the filters and mirrors. Because my filters don't fit I add the barrier in the filter slot below the optovar and the excitation filter goes in front of the filter house (there is plenty of space to place filters there but requires a simple adapter to keep it in place).

[Sabatini]

Learn a lote, beautiful ....

[Hobbyst46]

...

Two questions if I may:
1. Which lamp is installed in the epi-illuminator ? Hg, Xe or halogen ?
2. I notice that you placed the microscope on a thick spongy-styrofoam-like board. Is it to protect the bench/desk surface from the metal underneath of the scope, or vibration dampening ? the scope itself must be very heavy ...

[Wes]

...

Two questions if I may:
1. Which lamp is installed in the epi-illuminator ? Hg, Xe or halogen ?
2. I notice that you placed the microscope on a thick spongy-styrofoam-like board. Is it to protect the bench/desk surface from the metal underneath of the scope, or vibration dampening ? the scope itself must be very heavy ...

The epi-illuminator is a 12V 100W tungsten halogen lamp. As for the styrofoam pad it does neither, I mean I guess it protects the table and probably dampens some vibrations but the reason its there is to help me slide the microscope across the table (to free up space or turn the microscope in order to exchange parts). The microscope is quite heavy yes, I can lift it with one hand but its not trivial.

[MicroBob]

Hi together,
as I understand it the field aperture (with centering) is located at the back of the III RS. It can also be moved a bit front an back. My Phomi I should have an epi lighting aperture that can be slipped into the round seat in the column but I don't have this rare part. I haven't investigated the field aperture thoroughly so far but just kept it open with good result.

Bob

[Dawson]

I just picked one of these up, it’s in ok shape.. I can’t for the life of me figure out how to adjust the stage tension, not sure if it’s stuck or not.. it takes both hands to move it up and down... also anyone have resources on restoring these guys? I’ve read the user manuals, but not much help.

[Charles]

There is a hole in the right coarse focus knob 'collar'. Take an allen wrench which will fit the hole and then with the help of the allen wrench, turn the focus 'collar' counter clockwise to loosen. If that doesn't loosen it, it maybe just tight because of dried up grease and the whole focus block may need to be cleaned.

Zeiss Focus tensioner.JPG (14.11 KiB) Viewed 4943 times

[ScienceMatters]

Wes, this microscope is so cool. Very interesting to read about it and see your videos on YouTube. Neat!

[Wes]

I just picked one of these up, it’s in ok shape.. I can’t for the life of me figure out how to adjust the stage tension, not sure if it’s stuck or not.. it takes both hands to move it up and down... also anyone have resources on restoring these guys? I’ve read the user manuals, but not much help.

Try the tension collar as Charles instructed you. I've been trying to find a service/repair manual for an eternity so if you do find one don't forget to share

What exactly do you want to restore?

Wes, this microscope is so cool. Very interesting to read about it and see your videos on YouTube. Neat!

Thanks, good to hear about the interest in the microscope and videos

BR
Wes

[Dawson]

Thanks for the reply! I ended up taking the focus block out and cleaning up all the old grease, it’s moving much more smoothly now and getting easier the more I work it. “Restore” it was sitting an outdoor garage for I have no idea how long, so all of the lenses and mirrors/prisms have a ton of dust and fungus on them. The scope itself is actually in pretty good condition! I’ve pretty much taken every part I can off and cleaned it fairly well. Removed the bottom cover and cleaned out a family of spiders and cleaned the filters. Currently trying to get Illuminator working and finally get a better idea of how things look with more than my cell phone as a light source

[Wes]

I ended up taking the focus block out and cleaning up all the old grease

Did you take the block apart or just removed it from the scope and cleaned the exposed part of the rack and pinion?

I’ve pretty much taken every part I can off and cleaned it fairly well.

Do you know how to collimate the optical train after reassembly? I found this to be a very time consuming process (but very satisfying in the end).

[Dawson]

So I took the block off and cleaned all the parts I could reach. The fine focus was always super smooth, so after I cleaned the course gears it was good. I didn’t align the path, I wasn’t able to remove the side of the case, I removed all the screws and removed the film canister and fittings etc. just couldn’t get the panel to budge. I’m not comfortable playing with anything inside anyway