March 12, 2018 - EduSupplies

Tips for Microscope Maintenance - Part 2

Your teachers and students may have many issues while working with microscopes. These tips will help you assist them in addressing the issues and acing the scientific world

How to change the focal length of a Dissection Microscopes?

Some dissection microscopes have screw on the back of the pole, this allows you to move the head up or down which changes the focal length. (Watch the video)

The best storage method for your microscopes

The best way is to cover your microscopes and store them with the most compact (See photos).

The eyepiece grub screw goes missing?

The grub screw holds the eyepiece into the eyepiece tube, this stops the eyepiece from being removed. If the grub screw goes missing, we recommend you to use a black electrical tape around the edge.

Rolling stage

If there is not enough tension on the course focus, the stage will roll down and the subject will go out of focus. Hence, adding tension can be different from model to model. (See the video)

Microscope covers go missing?

We suggest that if the microscope covers go missing or have holes in them, freezer bags would be a temporarily simple and inexpensive replacement.

to be continued…

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Tips for Microscope Maintenance - Part 1

Your teachers and students may have many issues while working with microscopes. These tips will help you assist them in addressing the issues and acing the scientific world

Do not turn the slide upside down

You may be questioning “Who could be silly to turn the slide upside down?” In deed, it does not seem like an issue for you, your teachers or senior high students. However, with students just starting to learn with microscopes, it could become a typical issue.

If your students place the glass slide upside down, the glass thickness of the microscope slide will keep the subject too far away from the objective to focus. Your students will be able to focus on 4 times and 10 times only but not 40 times or above.
Hence, you should ensure that your students are aware of this issue.

Keep the objective clean!

The objective can get dirty over time due to collecting a lot of oils from wet subjects such as onions. As a result, the dirty microscope objective impairs the resolution and generates soft and low-contrast images.

Lock the stage/ rack stop!

It is tricky that microscopes from different manufacturers are equipped with various types of stage stops. The stage stop prevents the slide from being lifted up close to the objective and touching each other. This definitely helps eliminate the risk of breaking in the slide and damaging the objective.

Equally important, the microscope objective will not be able to focus if you set the stage stop wrong.

Therefore, you should ensure that the stage stops of the microscopes are set right and locked before handing the microscopes to students.

Replacing objectives

If you need to replace an objective, you should ensure that the objective matches others. For example, if the 40 times is longer than the 10 times, the microscopes will become very hard to use. Alternatively, you can change all the objectives altogether.

Missing the stage clip of a microscope?

A cheap and convenient option when your the stage clip goes missing is to temporarily use 2 rubber bands at each end of the stage to hold the slide in place.

Set condenser height

If the condenser has been moved down, it will give a different depth of field. Thus, being set the same on all microscopes is crucial.

High Height

Low Height

Don't change the Halogen globe by your hands!

Halogen globes burn very hot. If you place your fingers on the glass when changing the globe, the oil from your hand will cause a hot spot on the globe.

Hence, it’s best to use a tissue or cloth to change the globe.

to be continued…