Oil in objective, repairable?

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René
Posts: 467
Joined: Sun Oct 08, 2006 4:22 am

Oil in objective, repairable?

Post by René »

Hello all,

Got a hardly used 20x immersion objective at work which doesn't give a good image. Looking through it shows a bubble, I suppose that's air and the surrounding is filled with oil. So I called Olympus, asked them to repair it and they replied: sorry, no spare parts. That's ##### of course, but the time investment and lack of proper repair facilities might make it uneconomical for them. Anyway, I got myself something to play with.

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So it started of simple, screwed off the ring and removed the spring. Then it gets tricky: there's a slotted nut visible (arrow) but I have only about a mm of play between the back lens and the side. On top of that, the nut is a couple of mm below the surface of the back lens...
Does somebody have a suggestion how to carry on with this??

Thanks,
René

Pau
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Post by Pau »

I don't think it would be repairable, although with a so nice and expensive lens it's tempting to try :?

Maybe you could unscrew the outer sell and attack it from the external side. Some Nikon and Leitz objectives can.
Pau

genera
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Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2011 5:05 pm
Location: California, USA

Post by genera »

Under some circumstances some manufactures will do lens repairs.

Several years ago I won a Zeiss Plan Apochromat 100x/1.4 on eBay for a very good price. When I got the lens it was covered in oil to the extent that oil was actually dripping from it, the foam pad in the bottom of the vial was saturated, and the view was nothing much more than a cloud. Also, the spring loaded part of the barrel wouldn't retract.

I described the problems to Zeiss USA and asked if the lens could be repaired. They said they'd contact the factory. A few days later I received a message saying unequivocally, yes, it can be repaired. They also said the repairs won't cost more than $3600, and that shipping was included. I lost interest in repairing it pretty quickly.

The seller took the lens back and later resold it at a greatly reduced price.
-Gene

ChrisR
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Post by ChrisR »

You could machine (turn then mill) a tube with the appropriate dimensions out of suitable strong material, for each stage of the disassembly.
But I wouldn't expect any good result.
From what we have heard here and elsewhere, the manufacuting process has too many carefully controlled stages which they don't explain, and require special equipment.

Is it possible that an incorrect cleaning liquid has been used? It could be difficult to make an objective to seal against "everything", but not impossible - unless it's taken an impact?
Chris R

enricosavazzi
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Post by enricosavazzi »

Since this is a discontinued series of objectives, it is reasonable for Olympus not to accept the repair task. The unknown fluid might have done permanent damage to metal parts or coatings, and a simple clean-up and re-centering would not fix this. It is not completely far-fetched for them to suspect that repairs might require parts to be replaced, so they are just being proactive.

It is also quite possible that the centering jigs, equipment and documentation for repairing this specific model are no longer available, so they may be unable to commit to any repair, regardless of how extensive.
--ES

JohnyM
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Joined: Tue Dec 24, 2013 7:02 am

Post by JohnyM »

Afaik high end objectives are not really repaired anyway.
Best case scenario is that one lens group is replaced, worst case scenario, you get whole set of new optics in old skin. So mentioned earlier quote from Zeiss is quite fair, as i would expect that they would simply supply a new (mostly or fully) objective.

Once glued, those lenses simply cannot be replaced properly with sufficient accuracy. One need couple of optical devices (ie: interferometer) to replace whole group.

Simpler achromat objectives, are so cheap, that they are also cheaper to replace than repair.

So basically, once your objective is broken, expect to pay ~70-100% price.

Scarodactyl
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Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2018 10:26 am

Post by Scarodactyl »

I wonder if there would be a solvent that could remove the oil without ruining everything else. I have a 100x zeiss achro with oil in it that I don't care what happens to, it might be worth a test if there is any chance of it working.

enricosavazzi
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Post by enricosavazzi »

Solvent strong enough to dissolve silicone oil might also be strong enough to dissolve Canada balsam cementing the optical elements. The same might be true of heavy mineral oils.

Once the oil has made its way past the seal around the front element, it is in a no-no zone where it was never supposed to get. Since it did get there once, after cleaning the objective, chances are high that the seal is still defective and that the oil will get in again the next time the objective is used with immersion oil.
--ES

René
Posts: 467
Joined: Sun Oct 08, 2006 4:22 am

Post by René »

Hi all, thanks for your thoughts.

I didn't have the illusion that I could take such an objective apart and back together as new, but it is worth a try.

Got a Leitz objective in the past that gave not as good an image as I expected from the aperture, so I decided to take a gamble and disassemble it.

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That worked out remarkably easy: after unscrewing the top ring, a spring came out and a slotted ring became visible, just like this Oly objective. After removing that slotted ring, the lens elements could be pushed out from the other side without a problem. I couldn't really detect a problem with the elements, so I cleaned and reassembled it and the image got a lot better (pfew!!). It might have been the front element that had been dislocated slightly.

Image

Anyway, I have very little space in that Oly objective to get a spanner wrench in and remove the slotted nut... If all else fails, I think it will end up as a demo like this one :twisted:
Image

Best wishes, René

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