Repair resource?

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saltineSandwich
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2022 7:19 am
Location: Utah, US

Repair resource?

#1 Post by saltineSandwich » Fri Sep 16, 2022 4:24 pm

Is there a resource for microscope repair and general maintenance? I would love to learn how to properly disassemble, oil, and grease the various mechanisms.

PeteM
Posts: 2982
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 6:22 am
Location: N. California

Re: Repair resource?

#2 Post by PeteM » Fri Sep 16, 2022 10:29 pm

Three sources come to mind - you might do a Web search for others:

- A few microscope dealers or ex-dealers offer two day (etc.) courses - mainly oriented to hospital in-house repair. There's a very slight chance, should you have a friend well placed in support staff of a nearby hospital, that they'd let you sit in on one??

- Dealers used to have fairly extensive dealer training. Judging by the number of microscope dealers going out of business in my region, I'd guess that the local sales and service model of business struggles to be profitable.

- A degree from the School of Hard Knox, perhaps followed by graduate certification in Objective drops and oil intrusion.

Depending upon which microscope(s) you own, it could be there is a parts and repair manual available of the sort once supplied to dealers.

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

Re: Repair resource?

#3 Post by dtsh » Fri Sep 16, 2022 11:19 pm

PeteM has all the resources I'm aware of.
I'll second his comment that knowing the manufacturer and model is quite helpful.

My training was through a branch of the School of Hard Knox. I'm a curious person and there are few mechanical objects in my possession that don't eventually get at least partly disassembled at some point. It really helps if you can find an exploded parts diagram for the instrument like AO provided for many of their instruments, but even without one, a methodical approach will usually do. I grew up being told, "If one person put it together, another person can take it apart.", with the implication being that the second could also repair. These days it's probably robots in some instances, but the gist remains. I take pictures at every step when I'm disassembling something for the fiirst time and I often work with the scope inside a large tub as I have had the occasional surprise of bearings raining down or springs popping out. If a part doesn't come out easy, it might be there's another piece that needs removed first; if you have to pry, chances are good you'll need replacement parts. I feel it's worth saying that you have to accept the possibility that the instrument may be damaged further as that's always a possibility when attempting a repair and if you can't accept that risk, don't touch it.

There are some videos on youtube, but the coverage is limited to a few models.

Chances are fairly good someone here has worked on whatever you've got, so pictures and a request for help detailing what you have and need to do can be helpful.

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