Commercial Grinding Rest

Funny how when i look on ebay ,anything at all microscope related with leica name is a fortune. Must have been a dumb scrapyard or lucky find.

They make the wimpy rack and pinions stand on my stereo microscope look like toys.Is that the actual size they look massive compared to the grinder?

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The punch-line to this is, obviously, that it make enormous sense to 'rescue' these items and put them to some use.

At the price Colin paid; it is either that, or the ultimate indignity of landfill or the melting-pot.

For those who want to understand what all the fuss is about:

**LINK**

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artmay06/ma-orthoplan.html

**LINK**

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artoct09/The_Leitz_Orthoplan_and_Ortholux_II_Research_Microscopes_Ver_4.pdf

A few old price lists can be found on-line, and they make very interesting reading !!

MichaelG.

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P.S. ... in some respects the older 'Black Enamel' Leitz range is even better.

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Mark,

As I said in my first response ... People are scrounging, or buying cheaply, complete microscopes, and stripping the most valuable components to sell. It's evidently not worth their while to strip the stand. It's all rather obscene, but that's the way of the world these days.

MichaelG.

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I finally managed to find a copy of this photo:

... That's a stylish 'scale bar' if I may say so.

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Image lifted from **LINK**

https://greenmicroscope.wordpress.com/

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MichaelG.

Hi Colin,

No need for you to explain; my post was no more than an excuse to make a dreadful pun. The 'Groan...' referenced that, not what you did with an old microscope stand. True I would Like(a) to own a Leica in good working order, but you converting a scrap stand deserves applause rather criticism. Unlike my failed attempt at word-play, which clearly deserves criticism rather than applause!

Regards,

Dave

Here is one of the unadultered Leica stands - and I notice that they are not branded Leica but Leitz Dialux 20 EB - a brand that was taken over by Leica in 1997. a pdf guide is available here:

http://www.science-info.net/docs/leitz/Dialux-Gray-20-A.pdf

The photo shows my conversion of one of these to use a digital microscope. All three of mine came from a firm PHLS in Wales and all three came with all the bottom stand illumination lens etc - all of which I have kept, although I haven't tested whether the illumination power supplies work. I notice that eBay.com is selling a stand alone similar to mine for $199 - wish I'd picked up the other five now. I will not butcher the other two -I promise.

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For the sake of clarity [or pedantry?] ...

The original company was Ernst Leitz, whose products included Leitz microscopes and Leica cameras.

The brand-name 'Leica' became well known, and was subsequently used for more of the products.

Clive Hartland can probably explain in more detail. ... but here's a Wikipedia page:

**LINK**

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Leitz_GmbH

MichaelG.