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Thread: Microscope confocal scanning galvanometer

  1. #1
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    Default Microscope confocal scanning galvanometer

    Hello all,
    I am a junior faculty at a relatively small-ish university in the Southwest. I am in the process of assembling a customized microscope to enable confocal instrumentation. One of the key requirements for the "imaging" in a confocal microscope is the ability to scan. Most of the commercial microscope confocal scanners use scanning galvos as well (Olympus, Zeiss and Nikon). However, these instruments run $300K+, something I have no budget for (did I mention I am a "Junior" faculty with a limited budget? :-) )

    Anyway, long story short, I am in a fairly advanced stage of the microscope build as we speak. My stumbling block has been the scanning galvo. Commercial solutions run $2-$3K, which I probably could afford. However, I also needed additional components which is when I hit on the brilliant idea of purchasing an older gen confocal from ebay for parts. It has worked FANTASTICALLY well. I purchased an Olympus Fluoview 300 (introduced 20 years ago) for a total sum of $1K. It has a BEAUTIFUL set of XY Galvos inside with the mirrors. I have attached some pictures I took today. As far as complexity goes, it seems to be a standard type of a galvo.

    At this point, I am wondering if it is worthwhile to put in an effort to revive these galvos or just bite the bullet and purchase one. So basically, I would need to be able to somehow 1. Drive the galvo 2. Provide enough power to the galvo without ANY specs on the item. Is it even feasible? Any resources? I would appreciate ANY honest feedback you may have.

    Thank you all! I am an optics nerd and am looking forward to participating and reading on this forum...
    - Quantrix
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  2. #2
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    Those are likely older Chiba from Japan. Note, Confirmed Chiba style connector, not Cambridge Custom, Ignore my first post.

    PSU will likely be +/- 24V unless a rare option was invoked for +/- 15.

    Please Ignore my prior comments about non standard Cambridge, I have edited my post.

    I'd replace with Scannermax Saturn or worse case Scannermax 506 for far more speed/ far more accuracy. . (2x, maybe 3x) I'd also talk with William (Bill) Benner at Scannermax first.

    I'm on short term Medical leave, but at work I maintain a newer unit, FV1000! Never popped the cover on the Galvo portion, because well, Factory Service, and the Fiber Alignment, Laser Box is usually what I need to do on FV1000.

    My surplus FV300 parts unit I have at home has General Scanning G120, of all things. Which would be a step backwards for you. It was cheap at a hamfest, impulse buy. I just have the head, fibers and PMT assembly, not the electronics.


    Chiba:

    https://ccj.citizen.co.jp/en/product/galvano


    https://ccj.citizen.co.jp/en/pdf/galvano_pdf

    https://scannermax.com/

    OK, the Chiba pinout is very similar to a Cambridge 6850 amplifier. Most Galvos that use a LM3886 amplifier like the Chiba boards do use 20 milliamps for the position sensor LED. Odds are you can interface those to a older Cambridge amp, or older Chinese clone amp. I have quite a few of both laying around. You'd have to tune them.

    Midwest of England, or Midwest USA? I'm in Ohio.


    Steve
    Last edited by mixedgas; 01-10-2023 at 14:55.
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    Hi Steve!
    Thank you for the quick and detailed reply! Yes, this is the exact information I was hoping for. I kind of expected that the scanner technology has advanced quite a bit in the past 20+ years, so it would perhaps be worthwhile to invest in a good scanning galvo like the ScannerMax. In fact, I have been talking with Ryan at ScannerMax for over a month now. However, the galvos looked in such PRISTINE condition, I thought at the least I should inquire into this possibility. At least I learned that these are the Chiba galvos. I was fully expecting to receive a Cambridge 120 Galvo, but was pleasantly surprised to see a different build and model.

    Oh well, no harm done. I have salvaged SO many parts - scan lens, 3 lasers, and other optomechanical stuff. I am hoping to salvage the mirrors from this galvos since they are working superbly well with my laser wavelengths - 375 nm and 405 nm as well. Waiting to hear from Ryan to move ahead.

    Thank you for your help. Hope you feel better soon!
    Regards
    Rama

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    Hi Steve,
    Noted your edits and thank you for the same! I am coming back to optics and lasers after a 15+ year gap...Am delighted to discover this forum yesterday and will be exploring in detail. Thank you for the Chiba galvo PDF. Fascinating stuff. Will be re-reading it multiple times.

    Also, appreciate your willingness to share a driver board as well. I think that would definitely be a project I would like to take up to learn more. I am not an electronics engineer, but this seems like a good learning opportunity.

    I am in New Mexico (Southwest). Hope you are doing well weather wise in Ohio. Travel to down there is on cards one of these days (lots of colleagues)
    Regards
    Quant

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    One more thing Steve.

    I am pretty sure I have a 5 mm mirror on the galvos. The PDF indicates that it is possibly glued on there. From what I see inside, I think that is true.

    Any tips on how to safely remove the mirror so that I can send it to ScannerMax?
    Regards
    Quant

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    Quote Originally Posted by mixedgas View Post
    When you love your job at the university, you tend to do whatever is needed to get parts to keep all this old gear running. Including the home collection.

    Steve
    I FULLY hear you!!!!



    Have scrounged SO many parts from eBay and am putting it ALL to fantastic use!

  7. #7
    mixedgas's Avatar
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    Compared to bio, Galvo amps are a predictable, easy problem to solve. I have many, many, manuals, let me know if you need a pdf or two beyond what I am about to link:

    https://eliceirilab.org/sites/defaul...d%20Manual.pdf

    https://neurophysics.ucsd.edu/Manual...%20Scanner.pdf

    https://neurophysics.ucsd.edu/Manual...%20Scanner.pdf

    Skywise has been kind to host this for me for decades:

    https://www.skywise711.com/lasers/scanner/scanner.html (schematics for 6850 amp)

    Steve
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  8. #8
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    Heat gently the epoxy with soldering iron while grasping mirror with soft cotton lined paddle tweezers, use cotton, not optical tissue. Semiconductor wafer tweezers are perfect.

    Has a tendency to ruin the scanner bearing if you overdo it with the heat.

    Pull gently but firmly, continuously.

    Don't remove the remaining epoxy from the mirror, let Ryan or his tech do that and say Steve says hello.

    Steve
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  9. #9
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    Heat the shaft / mirror junction, not the mirror face.

    Steve.
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  10. #10
    mixedgas's Avatar
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    I just sent you a PM with my source of medical surplus microscopy parts in Cleveland.

    That should let you find what you need in the future.

    Hospitals toss their confocal systems every three to five years.

    The vendor wants to sell the core microscope parts, they are not too interested in supporting and shipping a whole confocal that may be dead.

    He's not a technician, but he will take pictures of what he has.


    Good Luck!

    Steve
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