AO Industrial Series

[dtsh]

I've became aware of the "Industrial Series" in my quest for a 20x for my brightfield scope, an AO 10 Series which I started looking at on the recommendation of members.
I'm used to the universe providing me with "just missed it" opportunities, so I was surprised to find myself in posession of a 1022, 1077, and 2556 to consider.
I've seen psneely's site, but it seems on these objectives he's got very little info so I poked around some of the catalogs, but I didn't manage to find much on them aside from a mention in one of the One-Ten catalogs.

I haven't examined the 10x or 40x yet, but initial comparisons suggest that i20x 2556 is closer to the 1022 in performance, but with the working distance of the 1077. Which in my case is somewhat unfortunate as I need as much WD as I can get due to the absrd thickness of all the McMaster slides I've ever found. Also of note is that it appears the FOV on the 1077 is a bit smaller than the others as well. I'm working on getting some images through the scope, but was hoping to get some guidance and perhaps some design history on this series to help guide me in deciding which one I will use.

AO_Industrial.jpg (92.48 KiB) Viewed 1850 times

[hans]

There is this attributed to Gregg Kleinberg on the "AO History" page of P.S. Neeley's site:

The AO 3000, which was a modular "industrial body" with reflected light, was based on the Series 10 architecture. The only main difference was that the higher power objectives were not cover slip corrected. The AO 3000 was used for many OEM applications (manufacturer uses a modular optical system, in this case from AO, in their own proprietary designed assembly, test, or manufacturing system). Also, the 3000 was very popular for laser beam delivery, for trimming thick film electronic substrates - essentially a tuning step in the manufacturing process. Some special objectives for laser applications were "air-spaced", meaning the lens elements were not bonded with glue - the laser wavelengths would eventually cook and burn the cement, rendering the objective useless.

I wonder if they are similar to the larger diameter no-cover objectives seen on "EPIStar" stands but without the coaxial darkfield illumination path?

[dtsh]

There is this attributed to Gregg Kleinberg on the "AO History" page of P.S. Neeley's site:

The AO 3000, which was a modular "industrial body" with reflected light, was based on the Series 10 architecture. The only main difference was that the higher power objectives were not cover slip corrected. The AO 3000 was used for many OEM applications (manufacturer uses a modular optical system, in this case from AO, in their own proprietary designed assembly, test, or manufacturing system). Also, the 3000 was very popular for laser beam delivery, for trimming thick film electronic substrates - essentially a tuning step in the manufacturing process. Some special objectives for laser applications were "air-spaced", meaning the lens elements were not bonded with glue - the laser wavelengths would eventually cook and burn the cement, rendering the objective useless.

I wonder if they are similar to the larger diameter no-cover objectives seen on "EPIStar" stands but without the coaxial darkfield illumination path?

Thanks for that, I had missed that blurb. With luck I'll get thngs setup today and start taking some terrible pictures for comparison.

[apochronaut]

Those were used on the 2560, 3000 and DICV. The DICV objectives would have an S suffix because they would need to be strain free.
I'm pretty sure they would be no cover objectives, since their primary application would have been fairly flat circuit boards.

The laser delivery objective catalogue #'s began with a K. K1610 for instance was one used on the series 3000.

[Charles]

Here is a listing for the AO/Reichert/Leica EpiStar 2560 Epi and Epi DIC metallurgical microscope objectives and their specs:

EpiStar 2560 Objectives.JPG (91.4 KiB) Viewed 1785 times

[apochronaut]

There was also a 2555S, 2556S, 2557S, 1866S and 1867S too. The 1866, 1867, 2565, 2566, 2567, 2568 and strain free versions are all no cover.
That was not always marked on the objective. AO utilized catalogue specs. and dealers a lot to ensure optical compliance.

[hans]

...I had missed that blurb.

Easy to miss the many blurbs scattered around the site. I remembered seeing it when I was considering buying an EpiStar a few months ago. If you decide you don't want the no-cover objectives let me know, I have some interest in looking at electronic stuff.