LOMO ST-12 (ЛОМО СТ-12) Repair

So I recently got a LOMO R-15 (ЛОМО Р-15) microscope, that badly needs some cleaning and servicing. So let’s start with the XY stage which is a LOMO ST-12.

As can be seen from this image it is slightly rusty and really dirty.

I basically started by disassembling it and cleaning all parts in the process. There was quite a lot of excess grease and oil on it implying that someone had a go with this before.

About the scales: The scales are just printed so care needs to be taken in order not to dissolve the paint.

In my case I couldn’t fully get the rust/oxidation off the slide holders, I didn’t wanted to grind the coating off the metal so I just let the small spots alone. Upon reassembly I added small traces of oil to the sliding/moving parts.

On thing to note is that these three screws are of differing lengths, the long ones go into the outer ones and the short one into the middle one. If you put one of the long ones into the middle one it will interfere with the threaded rod.

So after this cleanup my ST-12 does no longer look as awful as it was.