Fitting Leitz hot-stage to Zeiss Standard GFL

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gpmatthews
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Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2004 11:54 am
Location: Horsham, UK
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Fitting Leitz hot-stage to Zeiss Standard GFL

Post by gpmatthews »

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Here is one of my current projects:

I was given a Leitz hot-stage, but of course it did not fit any of my stands. The only near fit was the Zeiss, but the diameter of the underside of the stage was too small to permit drilling and tapping to accept screws in the same fixing positions as a Zeiss stage. So, I took an old CD and drilled four countersunk holes to take fixing bolts epoxied in position to prevent rotation. Bolted the stage to the CD and included a sandwiched layer of double sided adhesive tape for additional strength. The whole assembly now fits the Zeiss stand and is surprisingly rigid.

I now need a 35 V, 0.7 A AC power source for heating the stage - the inputs are the two nylon shrouded terminals. In between these is the temperature control. The maximum temperature is 80C. Hopefully the CD will be OK at this temperature! The other two ports are for cooling fluid. I have a peristaltic pump suitable for circulation and am thinking about cooling methods. The cheapest is probably salt and ice and circulation of alcohol through a heat exchanger. Fahrenheit used salt and ice to obtain the lower fixed point in his temperature scale. The trough around the stage perimeter contains an alcohol in glass thermometer.

I also intend to cut a brass disc to insert in the centre stage aperture to improve thermal contact with specimens.

I don't know what I want to look at yet, but I just had to have it working!
Graham

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