Hello everyone,
In our facility, the sample chamber lid of our ZEISS Lattice Lightsheet had some broken pins/contacts. We do not know how it happened, but some pins were stuck at their minimum height and weren’t contacting with the microscope anymore, causing an error in ZEN software (it couldn’t detect the lid anymore).
My colleague, who is responsible for the instrument, asked ZEISS if it was possible to repair, and ZEISS said we need to buy a new lid, which they quoted us at around 10 000USD.
Since I wasn’t really happy with this option, I went down the repairing route. Obviously if you try any of the stuff I document, it is your own responsibility, and ZEISS certainly will not approve of this.
Anyway, the lid uses pogo pins to create a contact between the removable lid and the microscope. There are 6 visible pins (they also use 2 other pins internally, more on that later) when you turn the lid around. Below is a picture from the lid I repaired (those are not the original pins).
To repair the lid, we first had to disassemble it to see what could be done. To start disassembling, you have to first remove the two Phillips screws that are closest to the six pins in the picture above. Then, you can start pulling on the whole piece that has just loosened, but be careful because there is also a thermocouple (I think) that is bound to the glass surface (this protruding finger on the glass surface). We pulled gently, and it detached eventually.
Once the part is loose and the thermocouple unbound, you can flip the part around to reveal a small PCB (see picture below also from after the repairs).
I don’t have it in the picture, but in the invisible part of the PCB to the right are two additional pins that make contact with the heater PCB bound to the glass surface. We did not touch those, and care should be taken not to damage them by manipulating the PCB.
Next, we want to detach the PCB from the black part. This is done by removing the two Phillips screws in the picture above. Then, you have to be quite careful because the PCB is double-sided taped to the black part as well, and it will not detach easily. We used a flat screw driver to carefully detach it, and even then, we broke almost all the pins in the process (it is not so important because as you will see they are easy to replace). What you have to be careful with also is that with every pin, there’s a small black plastic sleeve. It is important that you do not loose any of those sleeves. I am sorry that I do not have a picture, because I wasn’t sure I would be able to fix the lid, I didn’t bother documenting earlier.
Then, it was clear that all we had to do was remove the pins, and put new ones. I didn’t find an exact match (I also didn’t search for days…), but I ended up buying:
0908-6-15-20-75-14-11-0 from Mill-Max Manufacturing Corp. (DigiKey ED90389-ND)
I am not affiliated with either the manufacturer or the vendor. Every pin will set you back 1.32USD (unless you buy more than 10, which is cheaper), for a grand total of 7.92USD (+shipping).
Next, you need to remove the existing pins. What I did is grab a pin with a pliers, and melt the solder with a soldering iron (use safety gear always) while pulling with the pliers. After that, there is most likely still some solder in the via (hole) of the PCB. To remove the solder entirely, what I did is put the finest conical tip on my soldering iron, and melt the solder from one side of the PCB (held by a third hand). Then, I used one of these solder sucker from the other side of the PCB and it worked nicely. The via were then free of solder and you can see through them. I used a bit of isopropyl alcohol to clean the surface of the PCB and then I was ready to mount the new pins.
To mount the new pins, I kind of reassembled the board. I took the black metal part, mounted the black sleeves, and the pogo pins. Then, I reattached the PCB, including the screws. At this point, it looks nice, but the pins aren’t soldered. The issue is that the pin that I bought don’t have a lot of metal protruding on the solder side of the PCB. It was somewhat difficult to heat the pin so that the solder would attach nicely. You can see in my picture that I did a rather poor soldering job. However, the continuity test passed. Before reassembling the whole thing, one should reapply some thermal glue/compound to the thermocouple so it binds again to the glass.
After testing, on our setup, it worked really nicely. The pins protrude a little bit more, and I think they are easier to damage in the future because of that, but you only spend a dozen USD.
Anyhow, if someone has the same problem and is considering this fix, let me know, and I’ll be happy to help in more detail.
I hope this was useful, and let’s keep fighting for our rights to repair. Take care all,
Omni