This is description of this part:
Single iris diaphragm blades for the Olympus BH2-SC microscope condenser and similar ones.
Basic parameters of a single diaphragm blade:
Blade width: 5 mm
Distance between the pins: 26 mm
How the distance was measured: from the centre of one pin to the centre of the other
How the pins are fitted: one on the underside, the other facing outward
Pin width: 2 mm
These particular blades were removed from an Olympus BH2-SC condenser taken out of an Olympus BH-2 BHS microscope.
I could not confirm this, but everything indicates that these blades will also fit the iris diaphragms in the following microscope condensers for Olympus BX microscopes:
- Olympus U-SC
- Olympus U-SC-2
- Olympus U-SC3
The microscope condensers listed above are sometimes referred to collectively as:
- Olympus Achromat 0.9 flip-out condenser
- Olympus 0.9 swing-out condenser
Before you decide to use these diaphragm blades to repair a condenser other than the one they were removed from - compare their appearance and dimensions carefully.
It is quite possible that Olympus, like many other manufacturers, used the same diaphragm blades in most microscope condensers of that era, for example:
- Olympus U-POC
- Olympus U-PCD
- Olympus U-AAC
- Olympus U-UCD
Damaged iris diaphragm blades are one of the more common faults in microscopes. It usually happens when:
- the grease in the mechanism that opens and closes the diaphragm has dried out and the user tries to force it
- a foreign body gets between the blades (for example a chip of glass from a broken slide)
- the diaphragm is closed too quickly or opened too far
In the BH2-SC / U-SC condensers the iris diaphragm sits inside the condenser housing, it is not a separate part screwed on underneath. It follows that if the iris diaphragm fails you can:
- leave the damaged diaphragm in place and not use the condenser to its full potential
- replace the whole condenser
- repair the diaphragm by replacing the damaged blades
These separate diaphragm blades are not a spare part for a microscope. They are parts for repairing the diaphragm in a microscope condenser - and that condenser can sit in various microscopes.
Here are examples of microscope models in which the condenser models are most often used whose iris diaphragms the blades offered here fit:
- Olympus BH-2: BHS / BHT / BHTU
- Olympus BX: BX40 / BX50 / BX51 / BX60
The most important microscopes used with the condenser models mentioned here are listed in the "compatibility" section, but this is by no means a complete list.
The last photos show the microscope condenser from whose diaphragm the blades offered here were taken.
A curiosity: it is possible that these blades also fit the iris diaphragm of the Meiji MA976 microscope condenser.
What is this part needed for?
- as a service part for repairing the iris diaphragm in a microscope condenser
