I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

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Seta
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I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#1 Post by Seta » Mon Mar 29, 2021 11:12 pm

I was very happy when I received it, and I was eager to test it. First thing I noticed when I switched to this lens is everything became yellow/orange, like wrong white balance. I could not form any image even the working distance on the CF PlanApo 40/1.0 Oil is shorter and when looking through it had this yellow/orange cast like cloudy; when you look through other lenses view is crystal clear

Then I removed the barrel and the poor thing is all covered in oil, I guess some oil or oil vapours did get inside and it is probably beyond repair. What a pity, seems like a beautiful lens to work with.

I guess I will have to open an ebay case, waiting for seller to respond.

Image
Image

BramHuntingNematodes
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#2 Post by BramHuntingNematodes » Tue Mar 30, 2021 12:34 am

Bogus!
1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination

Scarodactyl
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#3 Post by Scarodactyl » Tue Mar 30, 2021 4:36 am

Bummer.
I'd try sending the seller a message directly before opening a case.

Seta
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#4 Post by Seta » Tue Mar 30, 2021 11:36 am

Scarodactyl wrote:
Tue Mar 30, 2021 4:36 am
Bummer.
I'd try sending the seller a message directly before opening a case.
3 messages already, not even a "Sorry"..I will wait until tomorrow morning because has 100% feedback; it was completely cleaned outside so he either knew or got scammed because the inside was full of oil.

Well, I had back luck this time; shit happens....

Greg Howald
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#5 Post by Greg Howald » Tue Mar 30, 2021 12:15 pm

What a challenge it would be to try to dismantle it and get it clean and put back together.
What a bummer of a way to start a brand new day which you had looked forward to with excitement and anticipation. I have had such bad luck with eBay that I don't go near it without having some one point out a good product here on the forum.
Good luck with your trials.
Greg

Seta
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#6 Post by Seta » Tue Mar 30, 2021 1:27 pm

Seller answered back and he will do a refund, I have to see if it is a full refund as I have to ship it back and I payed 42€ customs.

The worst part is looking at the poor lens, breaks your heart the poor thing... :(

I guess I am still looking for a 60/1.40..will try to get a good copy this time.. :D

apochronaut
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#7 Post by apochronaut » Tue Mar 30, 2021 1:58 pm

Ebay policies are slightly different in different countries. I buy a lot out of the U.S. and sometimes get dinged for customs. If the customs is managed by ebay through the global shipping program, the seller will have to cover the full refund but if the item was shipped outside of that program and you paid the customs, the seller is not obligated to cover them. Really good sellers will, though.
Ebay is quite secure if you understand and utilize their protection systems and read the listings properly. If you don't know your way around microscopes, don't know the right questions to ask and don't heed the way the listings are written, it is best to stay away.

brandon lamp
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#8 Post by brandon lamp » Tue Mar 30, 2021 2:07 pm

That's bad, You should be asking him for a refund......

Seta
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#9 Post by Seta » Tue Mar 30, 2021 4:59 pm

It was outside ebay Program, but still if the product goes back to US I should be reimbursed by customs..may take long time though...
apochronaut wrote:
Tue Mar 30, 2021 1:58 pm
... don't know the right questions to ask and don't heed the way the listings are written, it is best to stay away.
What would be those good questions for such a lens? Does it pour oil if you put it upside down?.. :D

I have been buying microscope lenses for years, but never an Oil lens (or one dipped in Oil) until last month. It is not immersion oil but someone trying to fix the spring in a not very clever way.

Seller has 100% positive feedback was described as excellent condition and so it seemed when I received it, only when you look through it you realise something is very wrong with that yellow cloud. From now on I will ask sellers to check that, I think he really thought it was in good condition.

I do not think it will ever go back to normal, these high NA lenses are very delicate and glass has to be very well aligned. Maybe can be fixed but I would not dare to try it.

Scarodactyl
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#10 Post by Scarodactyl » Tue Mar 30, 2021 6:57 pm

The amount of work to properly fix such a lens would probably be similar in cost to buying a new one.

apochronaut
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#11 Post by apochronaut » Tue Mar 30, 2021 8:16 pm

My comments about ebay were more in general, not directed at you. Some people get burned on ebay because they don't ask the right questions.

In the case of this objective. If the seller described it as in excellent condition, how would they know, since they clearly never looked through it? The listing was fraudulent from the getgo.
The seller is going to have to send you a shipping ticket. Often in such cases, the seller doesn't do so because the shipping is so expensive to receive back an unsaleable item. They are just throwing good money after bad. Ebay just refunds from their account and you are left with the item.

Seta
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#12 Post by Seta » Tue Mar 30, 2021 8:49 pm

apochronaut wrote:
Tue Mar 30, 2021 8:16 pm
My comments about ebay were more in general, not directed at you. Some people get burned on ebay because they don't ask the right questions.
In the case of this objective. If the seller described it as in excellent condition, how would they know, since they clearly never looked through it? The listing was fraudulent from the getgo.
The seller is going to have to send you a shipping ticket. Often in such cases, the seller doesn't do so because the shipping is so expensive to receive back an unsaleable item. They are just throwing good money after bad. Ebay just refunds from their account and you are left with the item.
I think the seller just trusted whoever supplied him with the lens, I guess from now on he will look through them.
Seller accepted the return, but I am waiting for him to issue the return ticket. As you say costs will be too high for a defective lens, I will wait and see what he decides.

Ebey policy is clear regarding returns of defective items "If the item is damaged or not as described, sellers must cover return shipping costs. "

LouiseScot
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#13 Post by LouiseScot » Wed Mar 31, 2021 7:11 pm

Seta wrote:
Mon Mar 29, 2021 11:12 pm
I was very happy when I received it, and I was eager to test it. First thing I noticed when I switched to this lens is everything became yellow/orange, like wrong white balance. I could not form any image even the working distance on the CF PlanApo 40/1.0 Oil is shorter and when looking through it had this yellow/orange cast like cloudy; when you look through other lenses view is crystal clear

Then I removed the barrel and the poor thing is all covered in oil, I guess some oil or oil vapours did get inside and it is probably beyond repair. What a pity, seems like a beautiful lens to work with.

I guess I will have to open an ebay case, waiting for seller to respond.

Image
Image
That's pretty miserable - I know how much you were looking forward to receiving the Apo. I hope you can get reimbursed. It's unfortunate that there are a lot of people on Ebay that are selling microscope accessories without knowing anything about the items or about the status of them. But I suppose that's what you get for using Ebay. Most of the time it's actually ok but it's always a case of 'buyer beware'.

Louise

ps everyone - always clean the oil off your immersion lenses as soon as you've finished using it!
A Nikon CF plan 20x; A Swift 380T; A DIY infinity corrected focus rail system with a 40x/0.65 Olympus Plan, a 10x/0.30 Amscope Plan Fluor, and a 20x/0.75 Nikon Plan Apo

Seta
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#14 Post by Seta » Thu Apr 01, 2021 4:28 pm

I asked another seller who had a planApo 60/1.40 (still looking for one) to look through it to check for cloudy/yellowy stuff.. it happens that objective suffers the same damage, oil inside and visible oil when removing the barrel, seller did not know either. I do not know what is wrong with people pouring oil inside objectives but I would advice to always ask the seller for this simple test when buying spring loaded objectives.

After agreeing to my refund request the seller has not answered back again and I am waiting for the return ticket; at the end Ebay will have step in, but I have to wait until the 8th to ask for their help...

PeteM
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#15 Post by PeteM » Thu Apr 01, 2021 4:53 pm

Seta wrote:
Thu Apr 01, 2021 4:28 pm
I asked another seller who had a planApo 60/1.40 (still looking for one) to look through it to check for cloudy/yellowy stuff.. it happens that objective suffers the same damage, oil inside and visible oil when removing the barrel, seller did not know either ...
Having now seen three cases of this myself with different oil objectives (including one where oil literally poured out the back) . . .- and then learning of your two . . . my earlier guess about people trying to lubricate stuck spring noses may be wrong. Surely there can't be that many people so stupid? A second guess is that the objective is so roughly handled and/or the front element lens seal so deteriorates that oil can seep around it. Then, they "focus" the lens into a drop of oil on the slide, compressing the spring. As they focus backward again, there is a sort of plunger and vacuum effect that sucks oil into the objective. Repeat multiple times. Eventually the image deteriorates so much that even students won't use it any more - and the lens has substantial oil left inside??

Anyone have a better knowledge/guess of how oil immersion objectives get oil immersed, both inside and out? Just had to return a 50x Nikon oil immersion yesterday.

Be interesting to know, from those with similar experience objectives oil-immersed inside and out if there were telltale signs of damage to the seal around the front element?

LouiseScot
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#16 Post by LouiseScot » Thu Apr 01, 2021 4:54 pm

Seta wrote:
Thu Apr 01, 2021 4:28 pm
I asked another seller who had a planApo 60/1.40 (still looking for one) to look through it to check for cloudy/yellowy stuff.. it happens that objective suffers the same damage, oil inside and visible oil when removing the barrel, seller did not know either. I do not know what is wrong with people pouring oil inside objectives but I would advice to always ask the seller for this simple test when buying spring loaded objectives.

After agreeing to my refund request the seller has not answered back again and I am waiting for the return ticket; at the end Ebay will have step in, but I have to wait until the 8th to ask for their help...
Hi again

If the worst comes to the worst, it might be worth contacting Nikon and asking their advice re-removing oil. There's always a possibility that it might simply dissolve away with a soak in the right (safe!) solvent. I'm sure Nikon would know. Also, there was a post somewhere on here with someone disassembling an objective but I'm afraid I can't remember who it was. Apochronaut will know, I think.

Louise
A Nikon CF plan 20x; A Swift 380T; A DIY infinity corrected focus rail system with a 40x/0.65 Olympus Plan, a 10x/0.30 Amscope Plan Fluor, and a 20x/0.75 Nikon Plan Apo

Seta
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#17 Post by Seta » Thu Apr 01, 2021 5:34 pm

Seller has made a refund and told me to keep the objective; I guess returning it was to expenssive. PeteM told me he has repaired a few objectives with similar problem including an APO one but this is too much for me. I do not think submerging an objective in solvents is a good idea, it should be disassembled and cleaned but if it needs precise alignment like Mitutoyo's need then is as good as dead.

Maybe someone here has a diagram of this lens?

apochronaut
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#18 Post by apochronaut » Thu Apr 01, 2021 5:54 pm

There are several scenarios with such a lens.
1) the oil has invaded minimally and it simply requires cleaning of the oil , out of the lens chamber and major reduction of the oil in the correction collar and retraction cylinder. That is a fairly easy scenario and is the most likely with a modern lens due to the imperviousness of the modern cements to dissolution in oil.
2) The oil has crept upwards in the lens column and needs complete dissassembly and cleaning. Still not insurmountable.
3) The oil has invaded lens cells . This is an almost impossible to do repair. Once inside a cell, if the cell is furled, you would need to find another identical objective with a different problem...for instance a seized collar or shattered front lens to donate a cell.
4) The oil is not the cause of the problem. It is something else. Not likely but possible and unlikely to be repairable.

I have fixed some objectives for a few others on the forum. If you want to send it to me, I will extend the same courtesy. It will just cost you postage....about 15-20 bucks each way. You are in Europe? Chances of a repair? About 60 to 40.

Seta
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#19 Post by Seta » Thu Apr 01, 2021 7:12 pm

apochronaut wrote:
Thu Apr 01, 2021 5:54 pm
There are several scenarios with such a lens.
1) the oil has invaded minimally and it simply requires cleaning of the oil , out of the lens chamber and major reduction of the oil in the correction collar and retraction cylinder. That is a fairly easy scenario and is the most likely with a modern lens due to the imperviousness of the modern cements to dissolution in oil.
2) The oil has crept upwards in the lens column and needs complete dissassembly and cleaning. Still not insurmountable.
3) The oil has invaded lens cells . This is an almost impossible to do repair. Once inside a cell, if the cell is furled, you would need to find another identical objective with a different problem...for instance a seized collar or shattered front lens to donate a cell.
4) The oil is not the cause of the problem. It is something else. Not likely but possible and unlikely to be repairable.

I have fixed some objectives for a few others on the forum. If you want to send it to me, I will extend the same courtesy. It will just cost you postage....about 15-20 bucks each way. You are in Europe? Chances of a repair? About 60 to 40.
Hi Apo;

Well, that would be fantastic; 60 to 40 is better than the 0 to 5 if I try it myself.
I am in Spain, Europe. I also sent a message tom Pau from Photomacrography.net, he lives in Valencia close to were I live to see if he has experience doing it; we will wait to see what he says.

How bad the damage is I do not know, when looking though it at different angles I would say the yellowy stuff is more towards the tip. When I tried it it would not form an image, it did form something closing the condenser iris when it was 3-4mm away from the slide, maybe the oil acts like an extra glass element?

I did manage to remove the retaining collar (it has no correction collar), the lens can be disassembled from the rear but the tool I have is not small enough and it slipped making a scratch in the barrel. I will not try again so I do not damage it.

Image

Image

Has two holes, I guess for a special tool
Image

Image
Image
Image

My guess is oil got inside through here, were that little retaining screw goes
Image

charlie g
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#20 Post by charlie g » Thu Apr 01, 2021 8:58 pm

Wow, seta, I am happy you were refunded your monies. No way should a seller pass off a high performance optic without personally inspecting it. The seller 'dead wrong' to not state: "not tested/ sold as is"...signals which would have spared you from buying this 'now paper-weight'...objective curiosity.


I currently am going through an eBay-dance, with a seller who is not responding to simple questions about optics for sale...err..it's only one day since I contacted this seller...but like you, I am eager to purchase items for my microscopy.

Thank you, seta, foe sharing this microscopy-misadventure. eBay indeed has come to my rescue on the few purchase deals gone sour for me. happy springtime'21 all, charlie guevara

apochronaut
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#21 Post by apochronaut » Fri Apr 02, 2021 1:32 am

From the size of the oil globule or what looks like one, it seems the oil might be high in the lens column. Usually it is a smaller less noticeable contamination when it is down near the front lens. Sometimes it is hard yo see at all.

Seta
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#22 Post by Seta » Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:33 am

PeteM wrote:
Thu Apr 01, 2021 4:53 pm
my earlier guess about people trying to lubricate stuck spring noses may be wrong. Surely there can't be that many people so stupid?
Hi Pete, I missed your post. Altough being no expert I would say is like you first said, it is way too much oil there to be just sucked oil drop by drop; just look at the first picture.
Also the colour does not make it look like imersion oil, which should be clear right?

To have that amount of oil on the lens barrel coming from the tip seems just not possible, it would have stopped working way sooner. Most of the oil was were first picture shows.

And like Einstein said "The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits." The spring gets stuck, " genius" uses 3 in 1; adds up.. :D This is why from now on I will ask sellers with spring loaded objectives to look through them first.
apochronaut wrote:
Fri Apr 02, 2021 1:32 am
From the size of the oil globule or what looks like one, it seems the oil might be high in the lens column. .
May be that " globule" effect is caused by the rear element, which is quite spheric, in case you mean that by globule.
To me the oil looks kind of dried inside but I am not sure, never seen anything like it.

jeffery163
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#23 Post by jeffery163 » Tue Apr 06, 2021 6:12 pm

Seta wrote:
Tue Mar 30, 2021 1:27 pm
Seller answered back and he will do a refund, I have to see if it is a full refund as I have to ship it back and I payed 42€ customs.

The worst part is looking at the poor lens, breaks your heart the poor thing... :(

I guess I am still looking for a 60/1.40..will try to get a good copy this time.. :D
Happy you are getting a refund

apochronaut
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#24 Post by apochronaut » Tue Jun 08, 2021 6:01 pm

I finally set aside a bit of time last night to tackle this.
There are 7 combined cells.The front one will stay and there is one stubborn meniscus lens still in there. The oil causes a vaccuum, so quick removal is not possible. However due to the oil, it will slowly slide down the barrel with gravity.

Only once, have I seen an objective so full of oil. It is right up and over the 5th cell.
It does look like the lenses are o.k. though, so once I get it cleaned up everything will be o.k. Hopefully there is not an interspace in the front lens cell.

In the picture you can see what looks like a crescent shaped shadow across the lens still in the barrel. That is not a shadow, it is oil. Each of the glistening highlights on the cells is oil.

To bring you up to speed, seta sent me this to repair. Seemed like a possible salvage for the minimum cost of one mailed box if unrepairable and a maximum of two mailed boxes repaired. At this point anyway, I think it was worth the postage.
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Seta
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#25 Post by Seta » Wed Jun 09, 2021 7:03 am

These are very good news indeed, thanks!!!
I would have probably permanently damaged the lens of I had tried to get that far myself
As you say it was full of oil, so much oil I did not have much hope you could get this far either..I am glad I was wrong.. :D

Phill Brown
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#26 Post by Phill Brown » Wed Jun 09, 2021 8:15 am

Nikon make most things to be repaired/serviced.
Even with the right tools some things are beyond tight or glued rather than thread locked.

apochronaut
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#27 Post by apochronaut » Thu Jun 10, 2021 3:20 am

The threads are kind of lousy but I got it fixed and working well. I don't think that set ring will come out too easily again but it shouldn't need to.

viktor j nilsson
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#28 Post by viktor j nilsson » Wed Jun 30, 2021 12:39 pm

Any updates on this? I'm very curious to see how it worked out! I just picked up a very risky as-is Nikon CFN PlanApo 100x 1.40 for £30, hoping that it would, at worst, be similarly oil-filled.

apochronaut
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#29 Post by apochronaut » Wed Jun 30, 2021 3:22 pm

I finished fixing it on Javier's birthday. It works perfectly by my standards. Didn't have a Nikon to test it on but with some other neutral eyepieces in a 160mm stand. It has a flat, contrasty, sharp image.
The repair was fairly straightforward. My chief concern was whether the oil would have softened or damaged the cement but that was not the case.
Things to watch out for. Poke the sealant out of the 4 holes at the bottom first. This allows the lens cells to drop out the back easily. I make a heavy cellophane tape twist with the back side covering the front lens, then twisted at each end so the adhesive catches the front housing up the barrel some. This protects the front lens. The front lens bezel stayed in the barrel and the back 1.40 orb was cleaned down the tube of the barrel. All the other lens cells came out the back and were cleaned individually.

The rear set ring is small and concealed on the 60X. It is very hard to get into the slots and turn it. I had to make a tool because my set ring tools were all too large or when fine enough, not quite angled properly. Once grabbed with enough purchase it came easily but it pulled a bit of thread. That made it very difficult to get it back in. If this happens to you, I would recommend running the ring in all the way and out all the way several times before installing the lenses, to reangle the threads to better conformity. I used a tiny amount of graphite as well. Once the threads are quite free, the lenses can be installed and the ring tightened up. Even with that precaution, the ring on the 60 went back in tight. It likely will not come out and go back in again if ever that is ever needed. Probably a dealer or service center would use a new ring. The brass is fairly soft.

The back two cells came out easily, the rest with some effort and gentle level tapping on a firm surface. This was caused by oil making a seal. The last couple of thin cells I aided by putting a soft tipped right angle hex key through one of the relief ports and pushing a little from behind.
There will be shims. Some are impossibly thin. Make sure they go back in exactly the same order and be careful not to scruntch the thin ones. Sometimes two thin ones will be stuck together with oil. Sometimes a thin one to a cell lip. It is hard to see them, so be careful to find each one. I remove them from each cell when I clean that cell and replace them when finished. When reassembling, the shims are dropped into the barrel separately, checked to make sure they are seated properly.
The 4 holes near the bottom plugged with sealent are not for alignment screws, they appear to be pressure release holes, so the lens cells can settle properly when assembled. Those are potential leak holes if they don't seal well and the user is overly liberal with the oil. I got concerned about them sealing properly, although I'm sure it will be used well but accidents can happen. First I thought of non- gassing silicone caulking but then worried about oil degrading it. I settled on epoxy. The original substance appeared epoxy like.
Anyway, it is on it's way back home.

LouiseScot
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Re: I received my Nikon CFN PlanApo 60/1.40 Oil, is completely ruined

#30 Post by LouiseScot » Wed Jun 30, 2021 3:43 pm

apochronaut wrote:
Wed Jun 30, 2021 3:22 pm
I finished fixing it on Javier's birthday. It works perfectly by my standards. Didn't have a Nikon to test it on but with some other neutral eyepieces in a 160mm stand. It has a flat, contrasty, sharp image.
The repair was fairly straightforward. My chief concern was whether the oil would have softened or damaged the cement but that was not the case.
Things to watch out for. Poke the sealant out of the 4 holes at the bottom first. This allows the lens cells to drop out the back easily. I make a heavy cellophane tape twist with the back side covering the front lens, then twisted at each end so the adhesive catches the front housing up the barrel some. This protects the front lens. The front lens bezel stayed in the barrel and the back 1.40 orb was cleaned down the tube of the barrel. All the other lens cells came out the back and were cleaned individually.

The rear set ring is small and concealed on the 60X. It is very hard to get into the slots and turn it. I had to make a tool because my set ring tools were all too large or when fine enough, not quite angled properly. Once grabbed with enough purchase it came easily but it pulled a bit of thread. That made it very difficult to get it back in. If this happens to you, I would recommend running the ring in all the way and out all the way several times before installing the lenses, to reangle the threads to better conformity. I used a tiny amount of graphite as well. Once the threads are quite free, the lenses can be installed and the ring tightened up. Even with that precaution, the ring on the 60 went back in tight. It likely will not come out and go back in again if ever that is ever needed. Probably a dealer or service center would use a new ring. The brass is fairly soft.

The back two cells came out easily, the rest with some effort and gentle level tapping on a firm surface. This was caused by oil making a seal. The last couple of thin cells I aided by putting a soft tipped right angle hex key through one of the relief ports and pushing a little from behind.
There will be shims. Some are impossibly thin. Make sure they go back in exactly the same order and be careful not to scruntch the thin ones. Sometimes two thin ones will be stuck together with oil. Sometimes a thin one to a cell lip. It is hard to see them, so be careful to find each one. I remove them from each cell when I clean that cell and replace them when finished. When reassembling, the shims are dropped into the barrel separately, checked to make sure they are seated properly.
The 4 holes near the bottom plugged with sealent are not for alignment screws, they appear to be pressure release holes, so the lens cells can settle properly when assembled. Those are potential leak holes if they don't seal well and the user is overly liberal with the oil. I got concerned about them sealing properly, although I'm sure it will be used well but accidents can happen. First I thought of non- gassing silicone caulking but then worried about oil degrading it. I settled on epoxy. The original substance appeared epoxy like.
Anyway, it is on it's way back home.
Fabulous! I'm so pleased for Seta :)

Louise
A Nikon CF plan 20x; A Swift 380T; A DIY infinity corrected focus rail system with a 40x/0.65 Olympus Plan, a 10x/0.30 Amscope Plan Fluor, and a 20x/0.75 Nikon Plan Apo

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