Hi; I'm Duncan

[duncankunz]

Greetings from Arizona, pardners!

I'm an old aerospace bureaucrat, retired from The Boeing Company and returning to the joys of my youth -- which is why I'm here!

I grew up in Micronesia, where my old dad acquired a beautiful late 1930's Spencer hospital microscope. From age ten to about eighteen I wore out three pairs of eyes chasing things smaller than I could see. Alas, the microscope disappeared when I went off to school, and life happened. Yesterday my new toy from Amazon came, I acquired a good microbiology text at the used bookstore, and I'm on my way again!

My interests had been marine microbiology (not surprising, raised up in the middle of the Pacific) and all manners of marine and aquatic biota. I do want to learn (or re-learn) the various taxa and also get back into preparing slides, but for now it's finding up a couple of good books (I had two of them as a kid, both published in the UK) and just getting my hand back in. I'm glad I found this place, because I have forgotton so much (and didn't know all that much in the first place) that I'm sure my stay here will be the equivalent of a year at the University.

Duncan
Mesa, Arizona USA
duncankunz@cox.net

[charlie g]

Welcome,Duncan! charlie guevara, finger lakes/US

[Charles]

Welcome Duncan!

Show us your new toy!

[zzffnn]

Welcome, Duncan!

Have you thought about getting a Spencer scope like your 1930 one? I am guessing it may not cost you much more than a new one. And many forum members here hold the opinion that an old professional Spencer may not be optically inferior than new hobbyist scopes. Build quality is significantly better too.

You may find the above comment interesting, since it came from a young microbiologist who vastly prefers CD over vinyl, yet sometimes likes NOS vacuum tubes better than transistor amplifiers.

[Crater Eddie]

Welcome home!
CE

[JimT]

Welcome. Great place to learn a lot. Also check out this site:

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/

JimT

[gekko]

Welcome, Duncan!

[duncankunz]

Welcome, Duncan!

Have you thought about getting a Spencer scope like your 1930 one? I am guessing it may not cost you much more than a new one. And many forum members here hold the opinion that an old professional Spencer may not be optically inferior than new hobbyist scopes. Build quality is significantly better too.

You may find the above comment interesting, since it came from a young microbiologist who vastly prefers CD over vinyl, yet sometimes likes NOS vacuum tubes better than transistor amplifiers.

Interestingly enough, I saw a late 1930's Spencer scope for sale locally for $100. Stay tuned; if I can get approval from the chief financial officer, I may grab it Monday!

[zzffnn]

Maybe you can tell the CFO that the new scope is for her. When you get that old scope, you can share the fun together

That 1930 scope is probably a black Spencer 33/35. It can accept many 160 tube length objectives, probably even the modern DIN 45 mm parfocal 160TL objectives (my 1956 series 4 grey can focus with 45 mm objectives). It is a versatile scope that can take many cheap/used but quality parts from eBay, such as a darkfield or phase condenser. Those parts usually sell for less than new parts from AmScope or Omax.

[duncankunz]

Welcome Duncan!

Show us your new toy!

But of course!

[gekko]

Very nice!

[Crater Eddie]

Looks like a nice instrument. Hope you have a lot of fun with it!
CE

[Charles]

Looks good Duncan! That should give you many hours of fun!