AO Cycloptic Illuminator

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dtsh
Posts: 977
Joined: Wed May 01, 2019 6:06 pm
Location: Wisconsin

AO Cycloptic Illuminator

#1 Post by dtsh » Fri Feb 26, 2021 3:45 am

I have an illuminator I use with my Cycloptic,one of the gooseneck types. It works fine, but the goosenecks are forever in my way. When I recently acquired a second Cycloptic, I decided to do something different, partly because this one is destined to spend it's time elsewhere and I don't want to buy another gooseneck just to donate it if I don't have to.

I got to thinking about how to arrange some of the strip LEDs when a thought occured to me, there are these LED rings designed to go over headlights called "Angel Eyes". I'll not comment on their intended purpose, but I started thinking and measuring; it seemed the 70mm ones would be a bit larger than the diameter of the Cycloptic's objective. So I ordered a pair and continued to think while waiting for them to arrive. When they got here, I started doing some measuring and started modelling it in FreeCAD. I added a spot for a 5.5mmx2.5mm DC socket. I thought a bit about how to clamp it, I didn't want to mar the Cycloptic with a set screw and a typcial clamp can be hard to print sometimes with the long overhang. What I ended up with was a wedge that gets pulled down by an M3 bolt and nut; as the wedge comes down against a similar wedge cutout in the body, it gets pushed out and binds against the objective barrel when an allen head bolt on the face of the light gets tightened. As a bonus, one can still use the regular barlows (sadly, I would have to remove the swing out barlow to use it on my 59M Cycloptic).

I don't know how long these LEDs will last, but the total cost was as follows:
2x 70mm Angel Eyes (only one needed) $11.50
1 5.5mmx2.5mm DC socket $1.10
7m of PLA silament $0.54
1 M3x20 bolt and nut $0.22
All in it was about $13.36 for the entire thing not counting my labor, not bad!

If anyone is interested I'll happily upload the STL files. I'm not sure how many folks out there use the Cycloptic; It's a great stereo in my opinion.
Cycloptic_illum1.jpg
Cycloptic_illum1.jpg (65.07 KiB) Viewed 4513 times
Cycloptic_illum2.jpg
Cycloptic_illum2.jpg (72.38 KiB) Viewed 4513 times

hans
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Joined: Thu May 28, 2020 11:10 pm
Location: Southern California

Re: AO Cycloptic Illuminator

#2 Post by hans » Fri Feb 26, 2021 10:51 pm

Looks nice and bright. I have an old fiber optic ring light I use but the fan in the light source is annoying, LED would be nice.

dtsh
Posts: 977
Joined: Wed May 01, 2019 6:06 pm
Location: Wisconsin

Re: AO Cycloptic Illuminator

#3 Post by dtsh » Fri Feb 26, 2021 11:15 pm

I was pretty pleased with the results.

Here's a shot of one of my tabanids at 25x as an example.
25x_tabanid.jpg
25x_tabanid.jpg (123.81 KiB) Viewed 4471 times

Chas
Posts: 422
Joined: Tue Jan 19, 2021 3:11 pm

Re: AO Cycloptic Illuminator

#4 Post by Chas » Wed Mar 03, 2021 3:48 pm

Thanks! I didnt know that 'Angel eyes' even existed, they look quite useful.
I have a set on it way :-)

farnsy
Posts: 209
Joined: Mon Jun 17, 2019 9:03 pm
Location: Fort Worth, Texas

Re: AO Cycloptic Illuminator

#5 Post by farnsy » Tue Jun 08, 2021 3:03 am

I just picked up a cycloptic myself on ebay. Hasn't arrived yet, and I'm in that place where I'm thinking about what kind of lighting would be best--this is a really nice idea. It's 12V, so have you rigged a cheap dimmer to it? I would definitely be interested in your stl file (or better yet, your freecad file) if you are willing to share.

What were the gooseneck illuminators you originally tried? My initial inclination is to use a clip-on book light like this but it sounds like you found this type of thing to be inconvenient (I'm also not sure how high quality the LED is). I won't be taking photos with this scope, but I do want a good light for it, and I'm always up for a 3D print.

Alternatively, is there a flashlight that fits in the hole where the illuminator used to go? Maybe another 3D printing project we can race for (or collaborate on).

dtsh
Posts: 977
Joined: Wed May 01, 2019 6:06 pm
Location: Wisconsin

Re: AO Cycloptic Illuminator

#6 Post by dtsh » Tue Jun 08, 2021 3:25 am

farnsy wrote:
Tue Jun 08, 2021 3:03 am
I just picked up a cycloptic myself on ebay. Hasn't arrived yet, and I'm in that place where I'm thinking about what kind of lighting would be best--this is a really nice idea. It's 12V, so have you rigged a cheap dimmer to it? I would definitely be interested in your stl file (or better yet, your freecad file) if you are willing to share.
I am embarassed to say that I thought I had included them already. Pick the LED ring carefully to ensure you get the brightest lumens you can; they work but more light would be better especially at higher magnifications.
Since I can't seem to be able to upload non-images here, I created an object on thingiverse for the files.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4880773
farnsy wrote:
Tue Jun 08, 2021 3:03 am
What were the gooseneck illuminators you originally tried? My initial inclination is to use a clip-on book light like this but it sounds like you found this type of thing to be inconvenient (I'm also not sure how high quality the LED is). I won't be taking photos with this scope, but I do want a good light for it, and I'm always up for a 3D print.
They are a 6W (3W each) pair of the usual ones, for reference here's a link to what appear to be the same thing:
https://www.amazon.com/AmScope-LED-6W-P ... B007LBELH4
farnsy wrote:
Tue Jun 08, 2021 3:03 am
Alternatively, is there a flashlight that fits in the hole where the illuminator used to go? Maybe another 3D printing project we can race for (or collaborate on).
There probably is, but I don't know of one offhand.

I look forward to hearing what you think of it, I've been pretty happy with mine.

farnsy
Posts: 209
Joined: Mon Jun 17, 2019 9:03 pm
Location: Fort Worth, Texas

Re: AO Cycloptic Illuminator

#7 Post by farnsy » Tue Jun 08, 2021 6:34 am

Thanks, dtsh! After my scope shows up I'll give this stuff a trial and see where we stand. Really appreciate you sharing your hard work with me (and anyone else who wants it).

apochronaut
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Joined: Fri May 15, 2015 12:15 am

Re: AO Cycloptic Illuminator

#8 Post by apochronaut » Tue Jun 08, 2021 10:41 am

For anyone interested there are quadrant selectable off the shelf units with an over 70mm i.d. rated at 6000K, as well as smaller ones. They can be bought for around 80.00. The nice thing about them is that like the illuminators made for the higher end modern stereos, they are broken up into quadrants, with each quadrant controlled by a switch, so you can turn on all or any one, two or three of them to achieve shadowing or oblique. 2 1/2 watts per quadrant. The entire unit is on a dimmer, so all quadrants dim together.

The only problem with them is that the spatial orientation of the switches that control the quadrants is backwards for left to right, if you orient back and front properly. I addressed this with the factory but who knows whether it will get changed.All one has to do is swap a couple of wires around in the control box , or live with it the way it is. It is basically oriented as though you would be operating the microscope from the column side.
I think the Leica version , with selectable quadrants is over 1000.00.

farnsy
Posts: 209
Joined: Mon Jun 17, 2019 9:03 pm
Location: Fort Worth, Texas

Re: AO Cycloptic Illuminator

#9 Post by farnsy » Tue Jun 15, 2021 7:33 am

dtsh, thanks for posting this. I printed it out and it's working great with my cycloptic. I don't need to use the tightening piece because it stays on very well by friction. I put a little 12V dimmer on its power source and now it's dimmable. Nice!

I think I agree with you that it could be brighter. You can always use more lumens on these things! I wonder about getting the bigger size and using two concentric ring lights at once. At present I am using a lamp for sideways supplemental light and it's plenty, but the lamp is somewhat in the way.

Anyway, I really appreciate you sharing your design.

dtsh
Posts: 977
Joined: Wed May 01, 2019 6:06 pm
Location: Wisconsin

Re: AO Cycloptic Illuminator

#10 Post by dtsh » Fri Jun 25, 2021 4:20 pm

farnsy wrote:
Tue Jun 15, 2021 7:33 am
dtsh, thanks for posting this. I printed it out and it's working great with my cycloptic. I don't need to use the tightening piece because it stays on very well by friction. I put a little 12V dimmer on its power source and now it's dimmable. Nice!

I think I agree with you that it could be brighter. You can always use more lumens on these things! I wonder about getting the bigger size and using two concentric ring lights at once. At present I am using a lamp for sideways supplemental light and it's plenty, but the lamp is somewhat in the way.

Anyway, I really appreciate you sharing your design.
I hadn't really considered the thought of a 70mm and a 90mm together (assuming the 90mm would fit over the 70mm).

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