Olympus BX40 TL mounting problems

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Macro_Cosmos
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Olympus BX40 TL mounting problems

Post by Macro_Cosmos »

Hi everyone,

I have an Oly BX40 microscope that I would like to install a tube lens on. I'm currently using the ITL-200 which is held in place via a post and gaffers tape. :roll:
I acquired the original U-TLU oly tube lens. To my surprise, I can't just mount it onto the port of my microscope. I don't plan on getting a trinocular head, the price is insane on those units, shipping will cost a lot as they are heavy and bulky.

The diameter of the binocular head male dovetail is 46mm, the diameter of the U-TLU is 41.9mm. The slope seems to be 60 degrees on both. I do have a way to mount the ITL-200 nicely onto the microscope, but I'd like to use the Oly TL for correct magnifications.
Is there an adaptor I'm missing here or something I can get off the shelf? I checked a some 30 pages PDF that has mounting details, didn't seem to find what I was looking for. Mounting the Oly TL to the camera is simple, somehow I'm having trouble with something I thought would be trivial. :oops:

EO's website shows the TL fitted with some kind of weird adaptor: https://www.edmundoptics.com/p/olympus- ... gth/29244/
I however don't think it's what I want. The adaptor is mounted on the female dovetail part of the TL.

Any help is appreciated! Thank you!

Scarodactyl
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Re: Olympus BX40 TL mounting problems

Post by Scarodactyl »

That 42mm mount is for the finite BH series. Presumably this was meant for adapting infinity objectives to a BH series stand without using the whole metallurgical B2-UMA illuminator. There probably isn't an official part to convert this, but it should be straightforward to have one made. I imagine RAF camera would be an affordable (if slow) route for instance.
Last edited by Scarodactyl on Mon Jun 29, 2020 9:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Tom Jones
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Re: Olympus BX40 TL mounting problems

Post by Tom Jones »

I'm not sure why your TLU has a small dovetail, unless Olympus made one for the BH-2 series (without the "U" prefix maybe?) I don't know about. Some of the BH-2 parts had the "BH2" as part of the actual designation but it wasn't put onto the part itself.

The U-TLU is a BX series component designed to replace the trinoc head if visual use is not required. The "U" prefix is the BX series designation. I just measured the dovetail on mine and it's 46 mm, exactly the same as the BX heads, and it fits my BX-40's,-50's, and -60 just fine. The BX camera adapters mount on top of it.

Macro_Cosmos
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Re: Olympus BX40 TL mounting problems

Post by Macro_Cosmos »

Thanks for the help!
Tom Jones wrote:
Sat Jun 27, 2020 6:49 pm
I'm not sure why your TLU has a small dovetail, unless Olympus made one for the BH-2 series (without the "U" prefix maybe?) I don't know about. Some of the BH-2 parts had the "BH2" as part of the actual designation but it wasn't put onto the part itself.

The U-TLU is a BX series component designed to replace the trinoc head if visual use is not required. The "U" prefix is the BX series designation. I just measured the dovetail on mine and it's 46 mm, exactly the same as the BX heads, and it fits my BX-40's,-50's, and -60 just fine. The BX camera adapters mount on top of it.
Yeah this is indeed puzzling, especially with your new information. Mine is indeed 42mm. The dovetail has what looks like a wide heatshrink wrapped around to protect it even. So it has been modified, a custom 42mm dovetail was made and mounted to the tube lens. I have to applaud the quality, it has internal threading and anti-reflectance coating treatment to eliminate stray light.

So let's see... ~42mm, the dovetail protected with some kind of heatsrhink shroud.
180tl.jpg
Remove the ring...
22.jpg
Tah-dah!
33.jpg
So... what exactly is this?? The U-TLU I have came with an adaptor of indistinguishable quality to OEM components. Actually, one can say that the quality is better -- look at the grooved internals with anti-reflection coatings. Looking at Thorlabs here, their SM2 tubes lack this.

The box says U-TLU-1-2, same as the one illustrated on eBay here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/BRAND-NEW-OLYM ... SwAfheDp-N

Ehhhhh... I'm laughing so hard right now. Well, I have an exceptional 46mm > 42mm dovetail adaptor, I can use the U-TLU on that whack frankenscope at the lab now. It's a BH-2 fitted with infinity objectives which boggled my mind. The supervisor says it's pretty much broken (just the camera really) and for show. Don't know what to say. Problem solved for sure.

Macro_Cosmos
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Re: Olympus BX40 TL mounting problems

Post by Macro_Cosmos »

Yeah, the quality of this adaptor is exceptional, it's better than OEM parts for sure.

Look at all the reflections from my keyboard that's always on shrooms! Will have to flock the internals of this TL.
tlu1.jpg
And now the adaptor...
tlu2.jpg
Whoever made this had photography in their mind. I'm gonna ask the friend I acquired it from, chances are he made it.

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