Hello from Baden-Württemberg

What is your microscopy history? What are your interests? What equipment do you use?
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lsolbach
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2022 9:42 pm
Location: Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Hello from Baden-Württemberg

#1 Post by lsolbach » Thu Aug 18, 2022 7:21 pm

Hello everyone,

my name is Ludger and I'm living near Stuttgart in the south west of germany. Microscopy is the latest addition in my zoo of optics related hobbies. I started 25 years ago with a telescope and from astrophotography I broadened my interests to landscape and architectural photography. In the course of the last year I did more macrophotography and to look at the subjects before photographing them, I got a used Leica-Wild M3B stereomicroscope from EBay. After that my interest in conventional compound microscopes rose and I got myself a new Swift 380B in a bargain and now I've also got a used Zeiss Axioskop 50 with phase contrast and fluorescense from EBay again. You see, this quickly escalated. :-D

I really like the Axioskop and I'm happily photographing ascorbic acid crystals at the moment. The beauty and diversity of the crystallization patterns amazes me all the time.

I have not used the phase contrast yet, because the phase annuli are not aligned properly and I have yet to figure out how to align them. Any help here is appreciated.
I did not try the fluorescense also, as the HBO lamp was broken. But a replacement is on its way.

All in all I never thought how interesting microscopy would be, as my only prior experience with microscopy was a toy microscope as a child.

Happy microscoping,
Ludger

PeteM
Posts: 2983
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 6:22 am
Location: N. California

Re: Hello from Baden-Württemberg

#2 Post by PeteM » Thu Aug 18, 2022 8:01 pm

A "centering telescope" will be useful to align your phase condenser, if your microscope doesn't have something like a "Bertrand lens." The centering or phase telescope replaces and eyepiece and can be focused on various elements of the optical path, right down to the overlpa of a phase ring inside the objective and a phase annulus inside the condenser. The annulus is typically adjusted, at least in Zeiss finite scopes, with two screws coming in from the side. Not sure in your case, but you may need a pair of adjusters if yours are missing.

lsolbach
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2022 9:42 pm
Location: Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Re: Hello from Baden-Württemberg

#3 Post by lsolbach » Thu Aug 18, 2022 8:27 pm

Hello Pete,

thanks for your reply.
I already found a centering scope which should arrive in the next days. I wasn't sure about the centering screws of the condensor. The condensor is a 0.9 HD, Ph with a swing in lens (44 52 36). The picture in the english Axioskop 50 manual available on the internet was not very specific there. I will give it a try with a small screwdiver as soon as the centering scope has arrived.

One thing that I found out is, that in the place of the Ph1 annulus there seems to be a darkfield mask. It is transparent just on the outer edge of the mask instead of a small transparent ring in the middle. There is still a lot to discover. :-D

Ludger

Hobbyst46
Posts: 4277
Joined: Mon Aug 21, 2017 9:02 pm

Re: Hello from Baden-Württemberg

#4 Post by Hobbyst46 » Thu Aug 18, 2022 9:10 pm

lsolbach wrote:
Thu Aug 18, 2022 8:27 pm
Hello Pete,

thanks for your reply.
I already found a centering scope which should arrive in the next days. I wasn't sure about the centering screws of the condensor. The condensor is a 0.9 HD, Ph with a swing in lens (44 52 36). The picture in the english Axioskop 50 manual available on the internet was not very specific there. I will give it a try with a small screwdiver as soon as the centering scope has arrived.

One thing that I found out is, that in the place of the Ph1 annulus there seems to be a darkfield mask. It is transparent just on the outer edge of the mask instead of a small transparent ring in the middle. There is still a lot to discover. :-D

Ludger
Please note, that centering the condenser is separate from alignment of the phase ring. On the popular turret condenser of Zeiss Standard microscopes (the line that preceded the Axio; finite optics - 160mm tube) The phase ring is aligned by means of two knobs. Both of them point to the front. The centering is done by means of two backward-pointing thumb screws situated at about 120 degrees from each other. That condenser has no Ph1 - it has brightfield, darkfield, Ph2 and Ph3 (and some empty ports). Perhaps the Axioskop condenser is similar. A different condenser model for the Standard has Ph1, Ph2 and Ph3 ports.

lsolbach
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2022 9:42 pm
Location: Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Re: Hello from Baden-Württemberg

#5 Post by lsolbach » Mon Aug 29, 2022 7:03 pm

Got the centering telescope, but after replacing the HBO 50 bulb and testing the fluorescence, the power supply for the HAL lamp was broken. There seems to be a short circuit somewhere in the power supply. I don't know, if there's a causal connection with the HBO or just coincidence. :|

I've got a replacement from ebay and now the HAL works again. So back to the phase contrast. With the centering scope I can see the alignment of the annuli is not too bad but slightly of center. The holes for the "provided key" are marked in the manual, alas I have no provided key. Tried the smallest screwdriver and my smallest allen wrench, but they didn't catch.

Does anybody know what the "provided key" should look like?

Ludger

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