The early Nikon DIC systems didn't include a prism for 10x. It should also be noted that the very earliest ones were for Nikon short-barrel objectives.

Around $500 should get your friend a good condition BH2 (BHT or BHTU) with 4x, 10x, 40x, and 100x DPlan objectives. If there's nothing local, another $100 to have it carefully packed and shipped. This will be a similar setup to your BHS -- but with a 20-watt tungsten-halogen bulb (plenty for brightf...

I'm not aware of a parts diagram. Just keep track of how things come apart - snapping a photo or two the first time can be useful.

One guesstimate -- if there's still movement after sorting out the other heat effects -- is that the bellows might be moving. It wouldn't take much with a high-power objective. Most similar-looking bellows I've had have a bit of space between the rail and sliders. Obviously, there has to be some or ...

Could be several things. The likeliest, in my experience, is congealed grease inside the focus knob tube. There are also adjustments for how tight the rack fits to the pinion and how tight the ball or roller bearing gibs fit. These aren't hard to disassemble, clean, lightly grease, and reassemble. Y...

My version of the Vistec (Leica) 20x Plan Apo looked the same as the link but has a .60 NA aperture and focuses fairly close to the slide.

Not sure what the working distance of the linked one is, but the marking on it after the .17 coverslip as a "B" and not an "8."

FWIW, the 20x Plan Apo with this strange flange sometimes shows up cheap: https://www.ebay.com/itm/266499278843? Some versions have a higher numerical aperture but the same "B" DIC classification. It's possible to machine off the flange and mate the back end of the objective to a shortened and sligh...

It sounds like there is backlash somewhere in the system, perhaps with grease gradually giving way to hard-on-hard contact. It is a common problem with microscope focusing systems, as an example. Sometimes, the focus continues to slip if there is a sort of clutch in the system. Sometimes the backlas...

It might have been used in earlier semiconductor fabrication - UV lithography for masks.

You'd be paying for 3 axes of control, and likely have to write your own interface. I'd expect the Z-axis stepping function resolution and repeatability to be on par (with a good 3D printer) with focus-stacking rigs. You'd likely face additional problems constraining the x and y axes and keeping the...

Lothar, I've sent you an email with a possible "plan B" if you don't find an eBay seller. Regards, Pete

I'd be delighted to look that good at 4.5 billion+ years old :-)

You probably don't want the second Zeiss Jena (East Germany after the split) one. Not that they're bad scopes, but parts will be harder to find in the US. The Zeiss Winkel would fit the bill, except that it will be a bit trickier to retrofit it with LED than the Zeiss Standard ones with the illumina...

Beautiful.

Hi, I bought the DIC Nikon Optiphot, I'd like to upgrade the 20X. I see 2 different "Plan Apos": https://www.ebay.es/itm/305180062987 https://www.ebay.es/itm/125415394870 Which one of them would work with DIC? I use the higher numerical aperture 20x (with the large knurls) on an Optiphot 2 or Micro...