BX40 Microscope Nosepiece Upgrade

Read the Edited Video Transcript for ‘BX40 Microscope Nosepiece Upgrade’

Hi, this is Chad with Munday Scientific. Today, we’re going to show you how to change a fixed nosepiece on an Olympus BX40 microscope to one that uses a dovetail connection.

You might want to make this change if you’d like to slide your nosepiece in and out or if you’re upgrading to a six-position nosepiece, which is very common in pathology applications.

We’re going to walk you through how to do this safely and efficiently.

First, this microscope already has objectives installed, and yours likely does too—so you’ll need to pay close attention. Start by removing the head of the microscope using a 3 mm Allen wrench.

If your head has eyepieces installed, be sure to remove them first and handle them carefully to prevent damage or dropping.

Next, lower the stage to its lowest position. Then, unscrew the objectives and remove them. This step is very important—if you leave the objectives on while loosening the nosepiece, their weight could cause them to crash into the stage and get damaged.

Mike, can you zoom in here? These screws holding the nosepiece in place are 2.5 mm metric Allen screws. You’ll need to loosen and remove them.

Continue the Process for ‘BX40 Microscope Nosepiece Upgrade’

As you’ll notice, this particular nosepiece bolts in—it doesn’t have a dovetail mount. The new nosepiece we’re installing does have a dovetail, which makes it easier to remove and service objectives.

If you don’t have a magnetic Allen wrench, you can pop the screws up slightly so they fall through cleanly. Just make sure you’re working on a clean surface so you don’t lose any screws.

We provide new screws with this conversion part. It’s manufactured locally and comes with a 3 mm Allen screw to lock the dovetail-mounted nosepiece into place. It also has a built-in stop to ensure the new nosepiece is installed in the correct position.

The part includes all the necessary screw holes to fit your original microscope body. Note: the screws you removed earlier are too long to reuse. If you try to use them, they’ll stick out and prevent the nosepiece from being properly secured.

Now, insert the new part. Use your 2.5 mm Allen wrench to install the new screws and tighten them down.

With the new mounting bracket installed, you’re ready to attach a dovetail-style nosepiece. Slide it in—it can be a little tricky from this angle—and make sure to loosen the locking screw all the way before inserting the nosepiece. Once it’s in place, tighten the locking screw.

Now you can reinstall your objectives and then reattach the head of the microscope.

Conclusion

And that’s it! You’ve successfully converted your BX40 from a fixed nosepiece to a dovetail-style nosepiece.

If you have any questions, feel free to email us at .

And you can find us at microscopemarketplace.com if you’re interested in purchasing any of these scopes.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to get more helpful video like this one.