Common defects of old microscopes

During the past couple of years I’ve seen numerous microscopes that were is a desolate condition. Here are some of the problems that I observed. It may pay off to consider these problems when shopping for a used microscope.

Changing the Lamp

Microscope lamp

This article explains how the lamp of a microscope is exchanged. It may not apply to all microscope types.

Cleaning the Microscope

What are some of the things to look out for when cleaning the microscope? What solvents should or should not be used? This article gives an overview.

Equipment Recommendations

Vascular tissue of Aristolochia sipho.

What are some of the features to look out for when purchasing a new set of biological microscopes?

Types of Objectives

Sunflower stem, cross section.

This article gives you an overview of different types of microscope objectives, but I must note that a particular objective can fall into several categories at the same time. For educational work, parfocal, achromatic, bright field objectives are very common.