A great thing. Maybe?

[ChrisR]

You know how, in the days before Digital, the best photos were the ones in your head between the time when you pressed the button, and saw the reality on paper?

Here's my favourite bit of "kit". I can say that because I don't have it yet

Edited: Ebay link removed and the ebay pictures substituted




Using a watch-key would be fiddly, I have ideas of using clutch cable or similar to turn the little (approx 1.5mm) square shafts, brought to 4 knobs on a small panel. Anyone done anything like that? Anyone got a better idea?
I imagine it can, or does, rotate about the vertical axis in there somewhere, not too hard to arrange, if not.
Then, sat on a microscope base, I have 6 axes.

Of course if anyone has information about what would have sat on top of it, I'd like to know.

[Craig Gerard]

Chris,

Nice gizmo

You could ask Nonius of Delft if they have any info on the piece...

I expect it is a rare bird.

Keep us informed

Craig

[g4lab]

This is a specimen holder for X ray diffraction studies.
It is intended to hold small single crystal specimens in a micro X Ray beam very solidly and still for fairly long periods of time while a detector scans a usually cylindrical space to pick up the diffraction pattern generated by the interaction between the X rays and the specimen.

Because once the operator gets the specimen where he wants it he doesn't have to move it , convenience may not be the first design goal for one of these. Some of them sit on a rotating stage.

There is another company that makes this stuff or did in the US and the name is something like Charles H. Supper and they are/were in New York or New England. Massachusetts maybe.


I think if you were interested in one of these, you might be better served with a specimen stage from a scanning electron microscope that has been decommissioned. These have a similar multitude of motions and also have micrometer equipped knobs to operate those motions. They do appear from time to time you know where.