My Epiphot TME.

[Alan Smith]

I purchased my Epiphot TME (an early version of the Epiphot 300) via Ebay a few months back. It needed some work as it had been in storage for a long time - though in a very nice flight-case. Apart from cleaning I stripped out all the on-board electronics and replaced them with a more modern system, and removed all the internal shutter and exposure control gear which is no longer required. I also upgraded it to 24V/100W halogen lighting from the installed 50W system after messing with LEDs which I didn't really like, and fitted a transmitted-light system. The onboard voltage display meter that came with the system was dead, and I found a voltage readout LED display (visible here) which fitted the empty space exactly. It has full BD-DIC capability, though the DIC prisms (4) are mounted on another fully-stocked head. I have the polarisers, but no lambda wave plate - there is space for a slide, or indeed any colour filters to fit into the 2 filter wheels. I would be happy to buy these parts if anyone has them. Quite a beast in terms of size and weight, but I am growing to like using it for the mundane metallurgy work I do.

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[Alan Smith]

BTW- if anybody knows how to remove the graticule slider I would be grateful for advice.

[Alan Smith]

The problem with microscope of course, it that they breed.

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[MichaelG.]

That looks a fine beast, Alan … and very stable for photography, I would think

… any thoughts about putting a touchscreen/viewfinder where the 5x4 holder is ?

MichaelG.

[Alan Smith]

Hi. I have a nice little 6" monitor that will just fit the space where the old large format film-back is, just waiting for a 12V power plug -and trying to work out the least invasive way to dix it in place. I can probably actually fix it to the (replaced with black ABS) screen of the film holder itself. I already removed the original ground glass screen because having stripped out all the old shutter mechanism I needed some light shielding there.

[Sure Squintsalot]

Was that ground glass useless as a viewing option? Was it not useful for showing others what you were looking at?

[Alan Smith]

Was that ground glass useless as a viewing option? Was it not useful for showing others what you were looking at?

Absolutely useless unless you are in a a darkened room with a relatively brightly lit FOV coming from the objective. The original function of the gg screen was to (in near-darkroom conditions) assist with focusing and composing images ready for inserting the Polaroid film holder. Otherwise I guess you could put a black cloth over your head and the scope to view the image on the screen, rather like the plate-camera guys of yesteryear.

[Alan Smith]

These little white LED's from EBay UK - alleged to be 15W and cost around 15 are dimmable on my system, and give light good enough for transmitted light work even using a 100x objective. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/385733414862

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[Alan Smith]

This is my other scope- a mongrel beast, bottom half Omax, binoculat head Swift, optics a mic of Nikon, Leitz, Amscope darkfield). I blew the last LED -a Chinese product of uncertain parentage and fit another of the little Ebay spotlights.
This is the animal after surgery...and I am very happy with the results.

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[Alan Smith]

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This is the view from beneath...

[Alan Smith]

Does anybody know what model of Nikon scope this might be please? And is there a trinocular head that might fit it?

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[PeteM]

Does anybody know what model of Nikon scope this might be please? And is there a trinocular head that might fit it?

Nikon Microscope.jpg

Alan, It appears to be a Nikon SMZ-2. Assuming the zoom ring moves freely and it's aligned, it's a fine stereo microscope. Unfortunately, adding a trinocular head won't be easy. This is a "Greenough" type scope and unlike the "CMO" versions, the heads are permanently attached. Nikon did make an SMZ-2T trinocular version. If you happened across one of those, perhaps at low cost due to problems below the head, you might be able to disassemble the scopes and swap parts.

I'd be inclined to buy a 3rd eyepiece, a cell phone holder, and a spare cell phone and swap that in and out when you want to take pictures or movies.

[Alan Smith]

Thank you @PeteM.

I scraped this off Ebay for just under £50 delivered, and have all the parts to rebuild the light. I might fix up the 3rd party illuminated base - I can make a new platen to fill the hole and replace the damaged mirror easily enough. So if something comes up in the way of a trinocular head at a reasonable price 'it will be mine, all mine'..

[Alan Smith]

The scope arrived yesterday. A bit dusty but considering this has been a university scope for many years, remarkably scratch-free. The lamp house if missing from the illuminated base-platen and the business end of the top-light as can be seen in to photo. But I have ordered a couple more of the LEDs described above that should fix that. The optics look good so far, and the Zoom ring works smoothly. So, looking at prices for others of its kind, probably a bargain for precisely £49.00 delivered.

[Alan Smith]

Upgrading and cleaning this up. The polarising stage was a very kind gift, and the lighting will be my favourite LEDS...

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