Old microscope called back to duty

[Skybird]

I received a gift yesterday from an older couple that I currently help out with their computers, it is an old microscope bei Leitz, a heavy laboratory model from somewhere in the 50 or 60s, I estimate.

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/9589/img0922p.jpg (http://img153.imageshack.us/i/img0922p.jpg/)
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It is fully functional, but has seen no use for many years, and so there is not only some dust to be cleaned, but the mirror and lenses are a bit smeary and need cleaning, also the metal application with the scaling to move the object on the viewing table, to give it new polish and new shine:

http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/6763/img0925o.jpg (http://img202.imageshack.us/i/img0925o.jpg/)
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So, how to do this best, I mean what agents to use?

I seem to remember to have read that a mixture of 90% ether and 10% ethanol works well for glas and lenses.

How to polish that greyish metal parts, I assume it is stainless steel?

And then there is an iris , it also is functional, but itr moves heavy and the oil or grease that it maybe used half a century ago, has dried and makes operation possible with only much resistence from the material. How to tchnically clean an iris and by what agents? And does an iris get a drop of oil on the surfaces at all? Somehow I do not like the idea.

Funny, first astronomy in autmun, now maybe this, another old hobby from my teen days. :DL

And while we're at it, there is little or no rust at all - but how to get rid of the occaisonal flying rust on steel surfaces without using sandpaper? Is there an agent that does the job?

[vienna]

I did a quick search on Google ("restoring old microscopes") and found a website, www.microscopy-uk.org (http://www.microscopy-uk.org), and it has an article on restoring a stero microscope; perhaps it will be helpful to you since the 'scope in the article has issues similar to yours. To find the beginning of the article, type ""Restoring an American Optical Cycloptic stereo microscope" into the Google search box and the entry for the start of the article should be the second entry down.

Edit: I also found a site that sells manuals and brochures for Leitz micrscopes of all types and ages: http://www.classicoptics.com/manuals/leitz/leitz-manuals-page1.html (http://www.classicoptics.com/manuals/leitz/leitz-manuals-page1.html).

[Rhodes]

Can you not use lens cleaning liquid to clean the glass?

My father has one old leitz microscope, for the 40s or 50s, a model for geology that has several compensation filters for observation of slides preparations of rocks and minerals. It is quite big and heavy. He still works with it, showing the kids the structure of rocks in classes.

[Sailor Steve]

What a cool find!

[August]

What a cool find!

+1

I love old precision devices like that.

[Gerald]

These things you had when you were a bit "younger", :yep:

[Geno_Mariner]

Wow, that's pretty cool :D

[Skybird]

Thanks guys. I meanwhile learned that alcohol may not be a good solution, since in the old days the lens putty they used often was alcohol-soluble.

[Jan Kyster]

Be careful - that's one very expensive piece you got there! :up:

I would seek professional advice/service.

[Schroeder]

Thanks guys. I meanwhile learned that alcohol may not be a good solution, since in the old days the lens putty they used often was alcohol-soluble.
I hope you didn't find that out the hard way.:dead:

[Penguin]

I love this 50s technology! Stuff that looks and feels made to last!

In the matter of lens cleaning we have one big advantage today: microfibers! In combination with with a blower/compressed air you'll get anything that sticks on a lens off! For small areas, or parts which are bad to reach, you can also use a q-tip with a microfiber pad on it - you'll get them at a photo store, sony makes them, but I'm sure there are many other manufacturers - or you'll build it yourself.
Another disadvantage of alcohol is also that it can also destroy some coating which you find on certain lenses/filters. So, as you already noticed, use it only as a last resort - and very carfully. I prefer methylen when it comes to that.

[Rockstar]

An interesting and unusual gift hope you conquer the cleaning process. Anything in particular you plan on using it for?

On a side note, I would definitely have someone clean up the optics and lubricate whatever parts have need of it. But I would leave the finish as is and just clean it with a soft cloth.

[Skybird]

I'll try those lens-pads made of micro-fibre, and maybe destillated water (not drowing the lenses, of course, and not risking rust). How to polish the steel parts a bit, I still don't know. Maybe I just use Ballistol on it, and that's it. The ocular's wall also nees some cleaning from old oil or grease or whatver it is that is forming a - now dry - film on the metal.

The only thing I have no idea about, is the iris. Maybe an oil bath, then drying it?

The nice thing is that anything in the constuction is easy to understand and that there are fingertip-screws, all the mechanical things are easy to dismount.

If I give it away for cleaning - where is the fun in it, then? :) Also it may cost as much as if I buy a modern new one. I had my old optics for my Eos 600 cleaned some years ago, it was surprisingly expensive.

6x ocular and 3 optics: x25, x45 and x95. Together with my new Fenix PD30R5 flashlight (I love it like my other Fenixes, the Chinese maybe make the best flashlights on the worldmarket today, I have to give that to them, and certainly the flashlights with the best cost-efficiency-quality ratios) and occasionally a front-emitting diffusor, the light conditions and brightness of the viewing field are excellent, absolutely excellent.

I hope you didn't find that out the hard way.:dead:
No! ;) I have read the advise.

[Takeda Shingen]

That indeed is pretty awesome, Sky! :up:

[Rockstar]

Send progress pics lets see the mess you are making :)