My old Reichert

What equipment do you use? Post pictures and descriptions of your microscope(s) here!
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imkap
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My old Reichert

#1 Post by imkap » Sun Feb 27, 2022 1:05 pm

Hi, here is my new scope...
Thanks everyone from this post for info :D
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=14991

After a few days of cleaning and greasing it is like new now, all the parts work perfectly. The stage is very nice and smooth. Disassembly was simple and straightforward, as it is a pretty simple machine. it has no prisms. I didn't want to polish the whole tube as then I'd need to lacquer it too. It is a shame mirror has some fungus inside, not sure it is repairable, but I don't think it affects the performance much. The clamps are missing so for visual use I cannot tilt it back as everything falls down from the stage.

I'm still not sure how to properly use the mirror, any advice or links are very welcome... I think with different positions one could have different effects...

I think it was designed very thoughtfully, all the mechanisms are very interesting. You can tilt it all the way down (90 angle) and it still stands on it's base quite firmly. Fine focus is very nice for up to 200x, didn't try further mag.

Image

head of a dead Mysida 3x Wild Fluotar and Zeiss KPL 8x
Image

BramHuntingNematodes
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Re: My old Reichert

#2 Post by BramHuntingNematodes » Sun Feb 27, 2022 4:42 pm

It is very beautiful, and the image is quite good too

Mirrors are tricky as the require good coordination between your light source and them. A focusable lamp, ideally with a field iris but not entirely necessary, on some kind of positionable mount has been necessary for me. The ancients used the sun, sometimes diffused by clouds, which has the advantage of being intense and well collimated. Heliostats can be employed to help with the perpetual relative movement.

I have never been able to produce any good oblique or other lighting effects at the mirror level. It usually registers as either good or not good and that is all. Others may have some special techniques, but oblique is best obtained with the condenser, I think.

I have constructed several lamps for this purpose including one that used a Hastings loupe as the field lens. Having the light source, filament or led, be as small as possible helps.
1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination

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imkap
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Re: My old Reichert

#3 Post by imkap » Sun Feb 27, 2022 11:06 pm

BramHuntingNematodes wrote:
Sun Feb 27, 2022 4:42 pm
It is very beautiful, and the image is quite good too

Mirrors are tricky as the require good coordination between your light source and them. A focusable lamp, ideally with a field iris but not entirely necessary, on some kind of positionable mount has been necessary for me. The ancients used the sun, sometimes diffused by clouds, which has the advantage of being intense and well collimated. Heliostats can be employed to help with the perpetual relative movement.

I have never been able to produce any good oblique or other lighting effects at the mirror level. It usually registers as either good or not good and that is all. Others may have some special techniques, but oblique is best obtained with the condenser, I think.

I have constructed several lamps for this purpose including one that used a Hastings loupe as the field lens. Having the light source, filament or led, be as small as possible helps.
Thanks, I'll try the sun first. Probably not in the park in front of my building :D ,but wait a few weeks until I have time to go to the cottage. I bought it to stay there anyway, I think it will be of great use.
It is interesting with my bike light you can get some kind of darkfield easier then bright, it is not real darkfield but some combination of the light through the condenser and probably scattered light landing on the object from whatever side :D Anyway I like the scope and the image is very nice.
Now I'll have some use from the spare objectives I got with my GFL, although I still miss a 10x, especially with this microscope. I got a Leitz 3x objective with it and a PZO 8x ocular. Lens on both are in great condition. I'm thinking about selling them and getting a 10x. Not sure how much they are worth, so maybe not worth the hassle of selling on eBay...

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imkap
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Re: My old Reichert

#4 Post by imkap » Sun Feb 27, 2022 11:23 pm

There is a hole with a screw here behind the stage on the body of the microscope. I don't know why it is there, probably for attaching something. Anyone knows? Thanks
20220228_001740[1].jpg
20220228_001740[1].jpg (63.36 KiB) Viewed 4783 times

apochronaut
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Re: My old Reichert

#5 Post by apochronaut » Sun Feb 27, 2022 11:50 pm

Your Leitz objective is not likely a 3X. . It is a # 3. It was a common practice by European mfg.to number their objectives ,some right up to W.W. ii and beyond. Leitz did., about until roughly when they switched over from lacquered brass to chrome/nickel. For a while they had both the # plus a ratio, such as 3 on one side and 10:1 on the other side of the barrel. 1 was usually a 2 or 3 X, 2 a 4 or 5X, 3 a 10X, 4 a 20X , 5 a 40 to 45X, 6 a 50 to 60X, 7 a 60 to 70X and 8 usually an immersion type or around 90 to 100X and often marked with a f.l. in inches, oddly : such as 1/12 in. Sometimes there was a 1/15 in. too or a #9 at 115 to 125X. I have seen 1/25 in. objectives. The actual magnifications were a bit different, depending on the maker. Textbooks and training procedures, would refer to the use of objectives by number, not magnification, as in : change to the #6 objective . There was an understanding of such and such an improvement in the closeness if the view or such and such an increase in resolution , as a result of the use of certain combinations of eyepiece and objective. Numerical apertures were not stamped on the objective but there was an implication that a numbered objective corresponded to such and such an angle of illumination and therefore a certain resolution capability. Manufactuters would publish a chart af angular apertures for the various objectives and in the 19th century it would contain reference to the diatom species the striae or punctae of which the objective could resolve.

The eyepieces were numbered as well.

The Leitz objective requires a 170mm tube extension . The Wild , 160. I have a nice Leitz #4 (20X) and a never used 62X # 7 , both in brass that are perfect mates with that #3, as well as some leitz numbered eyepieces, if you are interested in them.


The hole is likely for a mounting pin to carry a lamp for incident use. Rotating stages were usually reserved for chemical or petrographic microscopes.

charlie g
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Re: My old Reichert

#6 Post by charlie g » Mon Feb 28, 2022 4:26 pm

Hi, imkap, please never use direct sunlight with a microscope...you could damage your eyes. In north hemisphere vintage texts advised using northern window for daylight illumination ( not sunlight). I guess with an opaque white mirror like my portable vintage meoptra praha microscope has...sunlight illumination possible ( I would not chance it).

Your vintage Reichert is collecting sibling stands I see. I love my Reichert/Austria Biozet stand. 1954/1964 "How to Know Know the Fresh Water Algae", G.W. Prescott on pg 12 advises using northern daylight with microscope as algae pigments appear most natural in daylight illumination. thanks for your microscopy, imkap. charlie g.

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imkap
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Re: My old Reichert

#7 Post by imkap » Mon Feb 28, 2022 10:12 pm

apochronaut wrote:
Sun Feb 27, 2022 11:50 pm
Your Leitz objective is not likely a 3X. . It is a # 3.
The Leitz objective requires a 170mm tube extension . The Wild , 160. I have a nice Leitz #4 (20X) and a never used 62X # 7 , both in brass that are perfect mates with that #3, as well as some leitz numbered eyepieces, if you are interested in them.
Hi, thanks for this great info. I was a bit busy these days so didn't have time to sit on a computer and write something .

You're right it is a 10x objective I just put it on my GFL with a printed 9mm RMS extension (BTW. the threads aren't perfect but usable) and it is a 10x. So great we have it now. I might be interested in others, you can PM me if you like.

My 3x Wild fluotar is also 170mm so they are parfocal(ish).
apochronaut wrote:
Sun Feb 27, 2022 11:50 pm
The hole is likely for a mounting pin to carry a lamp for incident use. Rotating stages were usually reserved for chemical or petrographic microscopes.
I thought it might be something like that, I think I'll try to make a lamp holder for some lamp... I couldn't find how the original looked like, it would be interesting to see. Reichert made many microscopes after this one, so when searching I get more modern results. Not sure which keywords to use? :|
charlie g wrote:
Mon Feb 28, 2022 4:26 pm
please never use direct sunlight with a microscope...
That is a good tip :D thanks... Probably one could do it with darkfield or oblique filters but as you said better not risk it...
charlie g wrote:
Mon Feb 28, 2022 4:26 pm
Your vintage Reichert is collecting sibling stands I see.
Yes, it is kind of addictive, but there are worse addictions so this is ok... With this inflation it is better to have microscopes than money :D Rich buy real-estate I buy micro-estate...
It is fun to find a nice old usable thing and then make it work as new again...

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imkap
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Re: My old Reichert

#8 Post by imkap » Mon Feb 28, 2022 11:35 pm

Here is a photo of a poor Mysida left on the slide since yesterday, with E. Leitz 3 (10x) on a GFL... I think the (microscope) image is quite good. The slide isn't but I think this objective will be very usable. I should go out and find some specimen and put on slides... It is bad weather, so all we have left are dead Mysidae...

Image

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Re: My old Reichert

#9 Post by BramHuntingNematodes » Wed Mar 02, 2022 12:53 am

If you do it right you don't need to look through the eyepiece rather the image will be projected on the ceiling! The sample might disagree that the sun's rays are useful and either away rather quickly. In any case I would agree that beaming an image of the sun directly into your eye does sound a bit precarious.
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apochronaut
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Re: My old Reichert

#10 Post by apochronaut » Wed Mar 02, 2022 1:50 am

It's a good way to get a blinding revelation though!

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Re: My old Reichert

#11 Post by apochronaut » Thu Jul 28, 2022 4:36 pm

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Re: My old Reichert

#12 Post by twinklingshare » Tue Nov 01, 2022 8:22 am

Beautiful one!

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