Eyepiece retaining screw problem

[ivangallego24]

As I saw in the microscope manual, the eyepieces can be fixed by some small Allen screws that are in the eyepiece holders, but when trying with the corresponding wrench it does not seem to work, since the eyepieces can still be moved.

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[mrsonchus]

Hmm, have you shone a torch into the holes to make sure the screws are actually there? Also, there are two different types of allen-key sets, they tend here in the U.K. to be silver or black sets accordingly - someone here will definitely know the details. It could be that although it feels as though you're turning them (the screws) they're not turning and the allen-key is just spinning either inside (allen key too small) of on-top-of (allen key too large) the actual 'sockets' of the screw-tops...

[PeteM]

In addition to John's points -- which probably cover it -- they could also be stripped?

Note that some eyepieces have a recessed groove for hex screws. The idea isn't to keep them from turning, but to keep them from accidentally being pulled or dropped out. If that's your situation, they don't really need to keep the eyepieces from rotating.

In yet other cases, they are used to get the diopter adjustment fixed -- that looks to be your case? Worst case (if they're stripped) you can still adjust them and not worry about it if you're the only user. If a setscrew is missing, Amazon sells assortments of stainless screws with various lengths and from something like 1.5mm to 3mm for under $10 or so.

Similar set screws on eyepiece tubes are sometimes for final tweaks to centering the field and rarely for fixing a reticle in position.