PZO DIC on a BHT microscope, possible?

[PeteM]

Yes, polarizer on top of the field lens.

In the year since last posting in this thread, I've picked up a PZO head to accompany the PZO DIC condensers i have. Works fine on a BHT after making adapters, though I may eventually move it to a Zeiss WL, where it will look a bit more like an OEM scope.

[dolmadis]

Yes, polarizer on top of the field lens.

In the year since last posting in this thread, I've picked up a PZO head to accompany the PZO DIC condensers i have. Works fine on a BHT after making adapters, though I may eventually move it to a Zeiss WL, where it will look a bit more like an OEM scope.

Congratulations. I have heard of and seen a few cobbled together BH2 to PZO DIC.

But safe stable installation, via proper adapters is a big step forward.

Not being one of those with such skills would you be able to share the details for a fabricator to follow for me?

Thanks, John

[fero]

Thanks PeteM, would be nice to see photo of your setup

[zzffnn]

Would be nice to see your photos, PeteM.

I plan to glue my PZO head unit onto my Nikon Optiphot stand in a few month, using epoxy putty. It will have the correct tube length, but will be semi-permanent.

Too bad I have invested too much in my Nikon system, otherwise I would have started with Olympus.

[Scarodactyl]

Any particular reason for epoxy vs a less permanent adapter?

[PeteM]

I retrieved the PZO/BHT from storage. Here are a couple of quick photos before heading out for the day.

I used a black BH trinocular head for the top - and thus needed a BH/BH2 female dovetail. That I robbed from an old Olympus Epi illuminator and screwed in place after figuring the right tube lengths. One nice thing about this old fitting is that the dovetail size is screw-adjustable to fit other heads.

For the bottom, I took an Olympus dovetail from a broken head and screwed that in place - again mindful of tube distances. This could be any size dovetail, easy machining.

ZZ.. I'd recommend using a screw attachment rather than epoxy. Hopefully there's someone who can help with a bit of machining? Just a lathe to machine things to the right thickness and a drill press to spot some holes for screws.

Pictures of the condenser mod already posted a year or so ago. Cheers, Pete
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[zzffnn]

Any particular reason for epoxy vs a less permanent adapter?

Thank you very much, Scarodactyl and PeteM. Unfortunately, I don’t have a machinist friend to do that for me. Even if I do, such modification may be too much to ask as a favor. For a commercial machinist, the profit of this work is too small to be worth it.

Also for my Nikon rig, dovetails don’t match at all. Nikons are much wider, if I remember correctly. So unless I extensively changes out the dovetails, the tube length will be off quite a bit.

Modeling putty (not sure if it is epoxy, but it is a two-party solid paste to mix together) will ensure correct tube length. I don’t think I will have another scope to use DIC with, so I guess permanent fixation should be fine. Worst case scenario (which I don’t imagine it would ever happen), I can still carefully chip away the solidified putty.