Olympus BH2 Condenser Mount

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houstontx
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Re: Olympus BH2 Condenser Mount

Post by houstontx »

I may have one of these adapters mounted to an olympus AC-2? Condenser. I was wondering why the bottom part was metal...i am away from it for the next week but can send photos when i return. It os for sale too.

dolmadis
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Re: Olympus BH2 Condenser Mount

Post by dolmadis »

houstontx wrote:
Mon Jul 06, 2020 1:26 pm
I may have one of these adapters mounted to an olympus AC-2? Condenser. I was wondering why the bottom part was metal...i am away from it for the next week but can send photos when i return. It os for sale too.
I have come back to this topic and I am wondering if you still have that adapter with photos to share and if it is good for me is it still for sale?

Thanks

John

houstontx
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Re: Olympus BH2 Condenser Mount

Post by houstontx »

Yes & I'll post some photos of it shortly.

Macro_Cosmos
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Re: Olympus BH2 Condenser Mount

Post by Macro_Cosmos »

For anyone who's interested in dovetail dimensions, look here: https://www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage9. ... up_id=2665
For example a ring like this: https://www.thorlabs.com/thorproduct.cf ... mber=SM2A7
You can download the PDF files and CAD files, this will allow you to hopefully engineer your own.

Thorlabs also offers Nikon, Zeiss, and Leica microscope compatible dovetail mounts for various components (camera, epi, trans, eyepieces, trinoc.......)

dolmadis
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Re: Olympus BH2 Condenser Mount

Post by dolmadis »

Macro_Cosmos wrote:
Wed Oct 21, 2020 9:18 pm
For anyone who's interested in dovetail dimensions, look here: https://www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage9. ... up_id=2665
For example a ring like this: https://www.thorlabs.com/thorproduct.cf ... mber=SM2A7
You can download the PDF files and CAD files, this will allow you to hopefully engineer your own.

Thorlabs also offers Nikon, Zeiss, and Leica microscope compatible dovetail mounts for various components (camera, epi, trans, eyepieces, trinoc.......)
I did not find the dimensions of a condenser dovetail for a BH2 at that source. It could be that there is an equivalent that I do not recognise though. If I missed it do please help out.

best and thanks

john

Macro_Cosmos
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Re: Olympus BH2 Condenser Mount

Post by Macro_Cosmos »

dolmadis wrote:
Wed Oct 21, 2020 11:07 pm
I did not find the dimensions of a condenser dovetail for a BH2 at that source. It could be that there is an equivalent that I do not recognise though. If I missed it do please help out.

best and thanks

john
Hi John,

I forgot to add, BH2 condensers dovetails and BX (and AX) aren't only the same, most condensers are interchangeable. (not applicable to CX)
Usually, BX components have a sort of matte finish, while BH2 ones have a glossy finish. There are minute differences of course. The BH2-UCD for example can be used on a BX microscope with UIS/UIS2 prisms. Same applies to the BH2 Aplanatic Achromat condenser, U-AAC is the BX model, the BH2 has no model number. This applies to the BH2 swing-out condenser and long wording distance condenser as well. As far as I know, phase contrast isn't interchangeable because finite objectives have different sized phase rings.

Here are a couple condensers designed for BH2 microscopes. Easy way to tell is their lack of a part number. I have several of these LWD condensers with NA 0.65, some are matte and some are glossy, none show the designation of U-LWCD. I think all the BX labelled parts with part number written on are matte.
2.png
1.png
And here they are on my BX microscope.
3.png
4.png
I'm not sure if the same applies to trinoc/epi-illumination/camera ports. No experience with them.

dolmadis
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Re: Olympus BH2 Condenser Mount

Post by dolmadis »

Thank you for explaining this to me.

BR

John

dolmadis
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Re: Olympus BH2 Condenser Mount

Post by dolmadis »

I have now sifted through the general link https://www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage9. ... up_id=2665

I see the SM2Y3 component that incorporates DY4 male dovetail and it is headed up "Condenser Port Adapter for Olympus BX or IX Microscopes".

If that is the BX condenser male dovetail then given what you have shown me then that is the same as the BH2 dovetail otherwise the BH2 condenser would not fit the BX.

So I wanted to check the dimensions of the DY4 male dovetail to give to a fabricator.

Drawings here https://www.thorlabs.com/thorproduct.cf ... mber=SM2Y3

These are not shown on the SM2Y3 drawings as far as I can see but that could be because I have no training in reading and interpreting technical drawings.

Would welcome some help here from any forum member who can interpret that for me.

Thanks

John

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Re: Olympus BH2 Condenser Mount

Post by Macro_Cosmos »

dolmadis wrote:
Thu Oct 22, 2020 1:36 am
If that is the BX condenser male dovetail then given what you have shown me then that is the same as the BH2 dovetail otherwise the BH2 condenser would not fit the BX.
Essentially yes. The 2 parts I showed above came from the BH2 era, designed for BH2 microscopes.
While I'm not 100% sure the two are dimensionally exact, I'm sure they are interchangeable.

Here is the NA1.4 aplanat sitting in the mount of a BH microscope.
222.jpg
You could contact thorlabs' engineer support on this, just to be 100% sure.

For the part you linked, here's the dovetail:
111222.png
Basically there's a short slot then an angled incline. The short slot is for the bracket. This means technically, you can just design a part with a slot wide enough and a radius large enough for the mount, you don't need to have this angled dovetail mount. It's there because I think they want the opening to be larger, to allow more light in as the light port has a fix radius. Designing such dovetail parts can be tricky however, 3D printing it first is always the better idea.

dolmadis
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Re: Olympus BH2 Condenser Mount

Post by dolmadis »

Macro_Cosmos wrote:
Thu Oct 22, 2020 2:45 am
dolmadis wrote:
Thu Oct 22, 2020 1:36 am
If that is the BX condenser male dovetail then given what you have shown me then that is the same as the BH2 dovetail otherwise the BH2 condenser would not fit the BX.
You could contact thorlabs' engineer support on this, just to be 100% sure.

For the part you linked, here's the dovetail:
111222.png

Basically there's a short slot then an angled incline. The short slot is for the bracket. This means technically, you can just design a part with a slot wide enough and a radius large enough for the mount, you don't need to have this angled dovetail mount. It's there because I think they want the opening to be larger, to allow more light in as the light port has a fix radius. Designing such dovetail parts can be tricky however, 3D printing it first is always the better idea.
Thanks again. Rather than design a new adapter based on a hand measured dovetail I would prefer to build something on the Thorlabs SM2Y3 provided, of course, firstly that the component fits the BH2 microscope dovetail.

I would be happy to prototype off of 3D printing but there are two issues.

The first is that BH2 Condenser Dovetail dimensions posted here may have uncertainty because of the difficulty of getting digital calliper blades into the right angle made by the dovetail with the base of the condenser. I have experienced that. And machined aluminium prototypes based on hand measurement have failed to fit.

The second is that even if I had good dimensions I have never felt confident learning .stl software !!

So I have dropped Thorlabs an email asking if they know if a SM2Y3 will fit a BH2 Condenser Mount.

I am not sure if Thorlabs will be able to confirm this. I may have to ask them if I can purchase and return if not but I do not know if they will do this.

Thanks for the help with this.

Best, John

houstontx
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Re: Olympus BH2 Condenser Mount

Post by houstontx »

Hi is this of any help?
Attachments
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20201021_203911adjusted.jpg

dolmadis
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Re: Olympus BH2 Condenser Mount

Post by dolmadis »

Hi

That would be very helpful to have to make a another start on this project. Those dimensions look good to me.

BR

John

dolmadis
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Re: Olympus BH2 Condenser Mount

Post by dolmadis »

dolmadis wrote:
Thu Oct 22, 2020 11:15 pm
That would be very helpful to have to make a another start on this project. Those dimensions look good to me.
PM Sent

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Re: Olympus BH2 Condenser Mount

Post by rjlittlefield »

dolmadis wrote:
Thu Oct 22, 2020 8:15 am
difficulty of getting digital calliper blades into the right angle made by the dovetail with the base of the condenser.
The standard way around this difficulty is shown at https://www.engineersedge.com/mechanica ... _14212.htm :
Image

The article speaks of "a gage pin of known diameter", but a pair of small drills or even ordinary wire also work fine.

--Rik

dolmadis
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Re: Olympus BH2 Condenser Mount

Post by dolmadis »

rjlittlefield wrote:
Fri Oct 23, 2020 10:14 am
dolmadis wrote:
Thu Oct 22, 2020 8:15 am
difficulty of getting digital calliper blades into the right angle made by the dovetail with the base of the condenser.
The standard way around this difficulty is shown at https://www.engineersedge.com/mechanica ... _14212.htm :
Image

The article speaks of "a gage pin of known diameter", but a pair of small drills or even ordinary wire also work fine.

--Rik
Thanks Rik. I must now brush up on some math. Thank you again, Best, John

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