The Craftmans Shop > New from Old
An Encounter with a Surgical Operating Microscope.
Pete W.:
Well, I managed to get set up and take some photos of the complete microscope (except that the Pedal Unit got cropped out!
Pete W.:
An essential first step in any refurbish exercise is to perform a survey.
The photos in the previous post show the base and column, the carriage and microscope head and the control unit and the power supply for the lamp. The Control Unit is the upper of the two boxes clamped to the lower part of the column.
When received, the outlet shroud on one of the connectors that mate with the Control Unit was broken and the metal part of that connector was bent out of line. This was the connector on the cable from the microscope head. It has five poles (i.e. male contacts). One pole was a ground and I speculated that the other four were devoted to the focus motion (one pair) and to the zoom motion (the remaining pair). However, exploring with the ohm-meter only found one pair, raising the spectre of broken wires or open circuit motors. It would have been a great help if I'd had matching female contacts with which to tip my meter test leads, trying to reliably contact one pin at a time in a connector shell only 13 mm in diameter was a challenge! The first photo shows this connector as received.
awemawson:
So Pete when are you installing the Theatre Light and scrubbing up :lol:
(an end view of that plug would help in identification)
Pete W.:
I gave the lamp power supply a functional test. It has a mains power input with fuses and two double-pole sockets on its top face and a four position control knob and two lamps, green & red (maybe LEDs), on its front face. The double-pole sockets are for the output power to the lamp (6 Volts at 30 Watts). The four switch positions give 'Off' and three levels of lamp excitation - in position #4, the green light is extinguished and the red light comes on. This is because position #4 over-runs the lamp bulb to give the right colour temperature for photography but at the expense of bulb life. (There is no camera with this Op-Mi6.)
I then removed the Control Unit from the column and removed its back-plate.
I took a look at its contents (see the first photo), gulped and moved on to the Pedal Unit. :bugeye: :jaw: :bugeye: :jaw:
The exterior of the Pedal Unit didn't reveal much so I partially dismantled it.
Step #1 is to turn the Pedal Unit upside down and remove two M4 cap-head screws and washers from their recesses on the unit centre-line. As received, one of these was missing.
Step #2 is to withdraw the pivot rod for the rockers, now no longer secured by the two screws of step #1. The end of the pivot rod is accessible through a hole in the end of the housing cover.
Step #3: Turn the unit right-side up - the two rockers can now be removed. This reveals the plungers of the six switches protruding through holes in the cover.
Step #4: The cover is secured to the base casting by four blind tubular nuts on the upper surface and four more M4 cap-head screws and washers in recesses in the underside of the unit.
The second and third photos respectively show the Pedal Unit as received and with the rockers and cover removed.
Pete W.:
--- Quote from: awemawson on August 13, 2018, 02:22:16 PM ---So Pete when are you installing the Theatre Light and scrubbing up :lol:
(an end view of that plug would help in identification)
--- End quote ---
Hi there, Andrew,
Funny you should mention theatre lights! In order to get the illumination for the photos of the complete instrument, I had to commision a 400W halogen work-light, on telescopic pylon. I bought it some time ago, I can't remember whether it came from MSC or from CPC. The halogen tube came un-fitted and, inevitably, I touched it with my fingers while inserting it into the lamp-holder. I washed it off with VCR head-cleaning fluid. I bounced the light off the ceiling which seemed to avoid shadows.
There's a small crack in the quartz tube so I ordered a couple of replacements from RS, just in case! :zap: :zap: :zap:
This microscope has been dominating our living room since March! The photography required that I clear the mantelshelf so I could anchor the top of the background bedsheet.
My lovely but shy assistant has been OK with it so far but I know the job is on borrowed time. :hammer: :wack: :hammer: :wack:
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