Reichert Trinocular identification assistance

[Jabes]

Hi all!
I'm.. Very new here. My search for information on this microscope brought me here.
I'm looking at purchasing a Reichert microscope I found, however I can't find any information on this model anywhere, and there's apparently no identifying model number listed on it. It does however list a serial number which is 340 133.
The seller has indicated the light isn't currently working but otherwise works well. They have also mention it includes an oil immersion lens, vernier adjustable slide holder, and magnifies up to 400x (guessing 10x optics 40x objective). They are selling this microscope for AUD$280 (USD$199.78, GBP£146.65, EUR€170.80. I've heard Reichert is a pretty good microscope brand and I've seen many people suggest beginners try to get their hands on a good second hand microscope rather than a new one if possible. I had been looking at getting an AmScope T490B-DK however including shipping it will be over AUD$800 so if this Reichert is a great deal I'll go for it, and I understand it'll probably need a service as it looks pretty bleak. Thank you so much for your help!
https://imgur.com/a/nfsWGoL

[Phill Brown]

Hi, good idea to ask,
I don't know the 'scope but I'd avoid buying into anything that maybe doesn't work electrically unless you can afford a gamble or need the microscope to be the project.
Some older bulb types are obsolete/hard to find/expensive.

[apochronaut]

Probably, it is a Reichert Biovar or Fluorvar. Nice microscope. Trino. too. You could do a lot with that. It's only defect is that in the incarnations that I used, it had only an 18mm f.o.v. The illuminator is a 100 watt halogen. It uses a commonly available 100 watt 2 pin halogen bulb. The same bulb an AO 120 uses , actually. Likely it has a bad bulb or a pin in the socket is pitted a bit. Easy fix.
Those transformers are very sturdy....old school windings and components. Any I have been around : 3 or 4, worked flawlessly. They had adjustable voltages.
It has a a 100X with an iris diahragm . Could easily be set up for high resolution DF. DF condensers are fairly common for it. The Fluorvar version has a filter carousel forward of the 100 watt illuminator, carrying a group of transmitted fluorescence filters.

I have a selection of parts for the Biovar, including a 63X 1.0 oil plan achro with a funnel stop for DF and a few other objectives if you need.
Go to ebay.at . There is an Austrian collector selling through somene with a rotating array of Reichert manuals. Probably you will find a manual or a variant thereof there. They are pretty cheap.

[apochronaut]

Taking a second look, I think a Fluorvar. The condenser has a flip down top lens, so the low power objective will have a full field. All of the illumination train adjustments can be done from a seated at the microscope position, even the mirror adjustment. The objectives will all be strain free.

That one is a later model with the unique back and forward fine focus. The coarse focus is a standard rotary knob but for fine focus, you push either knob backwards or bring it forward. The shaft moves in a slot in the side. The action is very smooth and precise.

[Jabes]

Wow. Wow wow wow.
Your knowledge of microscopes astounds me. As somebody who is entering the world of microscopy, I'll need to look into a lot of what those things mean hahaha.
Would you mind if I ask, would you recommend this purchase for a beginner who will be a hobbyist, and do you know ordinarily what this kind of microscope would go for roughly? Like is this a good deal or should I pass?
Thank you so incredibly much for all your time and effort you've put into your reply. I feel at the very least I will be able to pass this info onto the seller to help them out.

[apochronaut]

I'm a bit of a zombie on Sundays. I have always just returned from a roughly 400 mile straight through harvesting, packing and delivery run that begins Friday morning , so I fumble the ball a little.
I just noticed that I described the focus backwards. The push pull action is the coarse focus and the fine is a standard rotary knob with a micrometer ring. You will notice that there is only one focus knob on either side, normal for that scope.
The little silver knob on the side of the head flips the deviating prism up, for using the photo tube. It is nice that
they kept a cap on the photo tube, which shows that a bit of care has been provided to the instrument.

The objectives are probably 4X SPl, 10X SPl, 40X SPl and a 100X Plan with iris. The eyepieces should be 10X PK. There was a range of eyepiece magnifications from 5 X to probably 20X , all PK.

If the only issue is the halogen bulb, which are cheap and easily available , I would offer him 250.00, then progressively less if other defects are found. To purchase an 18mm f.o.v. Chinese trinocular microscope that has equivalent optical, capability and quality plus illumination capacity to that microscope, would cost around 1500.00. The T490-DK you mentioned above is an older Chinese design with limited capability. It comes with a dry DF condenser, limiting your DF to use with the 10X and 40X. It doesn't have enough illumination, nor the required iris equipped 100X objective to do high resolution DF. The objectives are not plan. The build quality and precision of the stand and other mechanical parts, substandard compared to a microscope like a Reichert. Add an oil DF condenser to that Reichert and it is more than twice the microscope that the T490-DK is.

If you can check the microscope personally, I would spend the time and money to get a bulb in advance. It is most likely Osram/Sylvania HLX62645 available from any broader scale supplier. Ebay.aus has them as well as electricalproducts.com.au.....15.00.
Put the bulb in and if you are lucky it will light up. If not, turn down the transformer, put a piece of tissue between your fingers and the bulb and give it a light wiggle to see if the contacts are failind. If the transformer doesn't turn on, check for the correct voltage setting on the back and then the fuse, in the back.
Once you have light. Check the optics and the evenness of the light left and right. If very uneven, then the beamsplitter in the head is likely separated. Replacement heads can be found. The bino uses the same beamsplitter as the trino.

Good luck.

[MichaelG.]

I just noticed that I described the focus backwards. The push pull action is the coarse focus and the fine is a standard rotary knob with a micrometer ring. You will notice that there is only one focus knob on either side, normal for that scope.

.

If the mechanism is the same as that used on my basic Neopan … then you were right first time
http://www.science-info.net/docs/reiche ... Neopan.pdf

MichaelG.

[apochronaut]

Proof that the Zombie condition is getting worse. Interesting how they mostly picture the eyepieces pointing towards the arm in that brochure.
The one Fluorvar I know of does not have that focus mechanism, rather a conventional concentric knob system. In all other ways, it is identical to the pictures in the imgur file. Am I right in thinking that the back and forth focus system was on "pan" instruments and then they abandoned the idea and went to "var" models. That might make the poster's instrument a Fluorpan. I suspect the transmitted fluorescence instruments were all 100 watt. There was also a 100 watt Diapan with 160mm objectives., then a 100 watt Diavar with the concentric focus. Later the Diavar 2 and Neovar 2 used the Reichert 45mm infinity objectives and the older AO 34mm objectives respectively, each capable of vertical fluorescence and most other features, except DIC.

[MichaelG.]

Am I right in thinking that the back and forth focus system was on "pan" instruments and then they abandoned the idea and went to "var" models.

.
Sorry, I don’t really know the history …

The system certainly works well, in mechanical terms, but I see a couple of negative aspects:
1. The action is not intuitive, so it needs to be learned
2. There is no scale, and no tidy way of motorising the drive
… so it doesn’t lend itself to Z-Axis measurements, or focus-stacking.

MichaelG.

[Jabes]

You guys are just so amazing.
How anybody can know this much about a random unidentified microscope let alone anything blows my mind. I wish I knew this much about what I had for breakfast this morning.
Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you for all the effort you put in. You're really helping to show me what the microscopy community is all about.

[MichaelG.]

As further encouragement, Jabes …
http://www.science-info.net/docs/reiche ... dicine.pdf

MichaelG.

[apochronaut]

Yes. Fluorpan. You can see the little pad at the back of the arm , where the missing incident fluorescence illuminator housing rested on the back of the arm. The diaphragm tube is puzzling. It appears to have a lip in the top, where possibly a second filter could be placed, raised high enough that any stray uv rays could not contact the eye. The incident unit carried a yellow filter guard to protect the view from above. There was only one filter carousel. Reichert and AO to some degree moved forward in parallel after 1962. Designs and accessories in one catalogue can be seen mirrored in the other's. In some cases they each shipped an entire stocklot across the ocean rebranded for the other's catalogues.
AO's treatment of a similar microscope was the AO 20, a generally similar microscope, albeit with infinity optics, a reverse nosepiece and fully plan objectives instead of semi-plan. The 20 also carried a dual 5 place filter carousel pack for potential filter ganging , instead of the one with an option to also filter over the illuminator window.
The Fluorvar appears very similarly kitted out, with the big change being the focus system change. Later , the Neovar 2F was more similar to the AO 120 fluorescence microscope , both sporting the AO 34mm infinity optical system and abandoning transmitted fluorescence altogether.