BX53 internal mirror cleaning

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Macro_Cosmos
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BX53 internal mirror cleaning

Post by Macro_Cosmos »

Today, I finally had enough with seeing that small fibre on the mirror of my BX53 transillumination port. I looked everywhere and can't find a source on cleaning these modern microscopes. Decided to give it a shot myself.
Turned out to be a very simple task, simply loosen 4 screws on the bottom, the internal optics slider comes out.
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I used a sensor cleaning swab, bent it, added some droplets of Eclipse cleaning liquid designed for sensors. I figured that taking the mirror out would almost ruin the thing's calibration. That did a solid job. The small dust particles and that annoying large fibre is now gone.
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Then, the translation stage (focus knobs) decided it was a good idea to stop working. I heard some sound inside the microscope. So I took that cover at the front where the light port is off. It's held in by one screw. Turned out, the shaft that's supposed to hold one of the gears fell out. Luckily it didn't make its way to some place I'm less than comfortable in exploring, I fished it out with tweezers.
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Circled in green above is an exposed thread, which certainly locks the shaft in. I put a M3 nylon tapped setting screw in to secure the shaft. Is there supposed to be a setscrew in that location? I purchased the microscope as "new" from a friendly local.
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Could this be an oversight during assembly? I see no signs of tampering on the screws. I know there's many creative ways to not leave marks, but the seller wouldn't do something like that.
Anyhow, glad it was an easy fix and now my light path is clean.

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