Need Focus Drive for Wild M8 Stereo Microscope

atariwarrior · Post by **atariwarrior** » Sun Mar 22, 2020 10:19 pm

I have a Wild M8 stereo microscope body that needs a focus drive. Does anyone have one that they are willing to sell?

Scarodactyl · Post by **Scarodactyl** » Sun Mar 22, 2020 10:23 pm

They are quite uncommon loose. You will likely have more luck picking up a focus rack from a different maker and adapting it on. Plus side, you can get a coarse/fine focus drive that way.

atariwarrior · Post by **atariwarrior** » Sun Mar 22, 2020 10:24 pm

I have tried looking for one but have had no luck. Can you recommend one that will work?

Scarodactyl · Post by **Scarodactyl** » Sun Mar 22, 2020 10:54 pm

There are a few options out there. I use one off an Olympus stereo on my wild m400, and Nikon smz-u focus drives also seem to come up fairly often (though these will likely be more annoying to adapt since they use a dovetail/setscrew connection rather than bolts). That said many focus drives with a 76mm hoop have the hoop as a separate piece attached with bolts, so it can be removed to accept an adapter to mount your m8. If you don't already have a base you might want to aim for one that comes with a focus drive as well and go from there.
I ordered one of these in an attempt to fine a cheap replacement for an m420: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Coaxial-Coarse ... 3412145067
The 76mm mount can be removed (held on with two bolts and I think two indexing pins), but the quality was very, very low. Fortunately it also arrived broken so I was able to get a refund, but I wouldn't recommend that type.
I have seen one of these Leica clones briefly in person, and the build quality seemed much higher: https://www.ebay.com/itm/76mm-Microscop ... 4240307398 I haven't tried one extensively though, and they're kind of expensive.