The BH-2 Microscope: Refurbished and Ready for Pathology
Read the Edited Video Transcript for ‘The BH-2 Microscope: Refurbished and Ready for Pathology’
Hi, this is Chad with Munday Scientific. Today we’ve got a great scope to show you—an Olympus BH2. This particular unit is set up for pathology. Michael’s going to come in, and we’re going to walk through it together.
The customer wanted a fixed binocular head for this setup. It’s going into a Mohs surgery lab, where they’ll only be performing procedures a couple of times a month. Because of that limited use, they didn’t want to invest in a newer microscope. The doctor starting at the clinic is already familiar with the BH2, and it’s the model they prefer—so that’s what we provided.
We have a fixed binocular head equipped with 10x eyepieces offering a 20mm field of view. We’ll remove the head to show you how it works. There’s a thumbscrew on the side—just loosen that, and the head lifts off under this flange here. Mike is showing how it fits into the groove and locks into place.
Michael, who’s filming, is our resident BH2 expert. He actually built and serviced this scope, so it’s completely ready to go.
This particular BH2 model, the BHTU, uses a 6V 20W lamp house. For reference, the BHS model uses a 12V 100W lamp house and has a removable nosepiece. On the BHTU, however, the five-position nosepiece is built-in and cannot be removed.
Continue with ‘The BH-2 Microscope: Refurbished and Ready for Pathology’
The objectives include a 2X SPLan Fluorite, which is the only 2X model made for this vintage of scope. The rest are DPlan objectives: 4X, 10X, 20X, and 40X. The customer also opted for an APlan objective in the mix.
It has a right-hand mechanical stage, which I currently have loose because we were doing some testing. I’ll lock it down now. The stage has been completely regreased, and we’ve installed new rails. Occasionally, older racks will develop tiny hairline cracks, which feel like you’re hitting a speed bump when moving the slide. We’ve replaced those racks to prevent that issue.
The slide holder is removable if you prefer to push slides manually—just take out these screws and set it aside.
There’s a flip-out condenser, which is used to fill the field of view at 2X magnification. We lowered it earlier using the substage condenser control knob. It has a pin that locks into this groove. I like to install it at a slight angle, and you’ll hear it click into place.
These screws are used to center the condenser, and this control adjusts the diaphragm to provide more contrast. You also have a field diaphragm here that opens and closes.
The rheostat control for adjusting light intensity is located right here.
As for focus, you have both coarse and fine focus knobs. There’s also a focus stop or brake, which allows you to set the upper limit of the stage height—this helps prevent crashing the slide into the objective lens. You can back it off for free travel if preferred. Some users like to use the brake, while others don’t.
There’s also a tension control knob. If you want more resistance on the focus knobs, you can tighten it here.
Let’s take a quick look at the lamp house. If you ever need to change the bulb, simply wiggle the lamp house out. It uses a 6V 20W bulb. Swap in the new bulb, reinsert the lamp house, and you’re good to go.
Conclusion for the Olympus BH-2 Microscope Breakdown
That just about covers it. This is a classic microscope that’s been completely refurbished. We’ve relubricated the focus mechanism, serviced the gearbox, rebuilt the nosepiece and the substage condenser, relubricated the head, checked for proper alignment, and replaced the stage racks. For its age, it’s in excellent condition.
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