MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Hi, nice to hear that you found an interest in the microscopic world! Here is a database where you will find a possible applications and a lot of information on your stains: http://aeisner.de/ You might have to stress Google translator or DeepL a bit. Generally it is a good idea to keep in mind that...

Gasman wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 15, 2020 9:57 pm

she(he?) was a regular.

regularly promoting this product, nothing else.

I wouldn't be astonished it this were some kind of spy software...

Hi Steve, there was no one recommending Altami studio in this forum, but user amanda1 tried to do some product placement here for a while: http://www.microbehunter.com/microscopy-forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=5656&p=50989&hilit=altami#p50989 I wouldn't use a software that is advertised like this, if it...

Hi Jerradin, oblique lighting provides an asymmetric hollow light cone that leads to more contrast and resolution. The effect depends on the direcion, so you might have to turn the stop for the best effect. At first you should set up the bright field light so that the back lens of the objective is f...

Hi together, as long as the specimen is close to the cover slip it will be fine for the objective. But what about the condenser? It is calculated for usual slide thickness and won't work offer optimal illumination when you increase the distance between condenser front lens and specimen this much. A ...

Hi Kirby, the drying mountant at the edges has enough tack to hold the cover slip in place when the slide is hanging horizontal and nothing contacts the cover slip. The mountant layer can easily be thick enough to make it impossible to focus on the specimen when it sinks down to the slide. The addit...

Hi Tony,
in my view it is best to store slides flat but cover slip down. If the mountant is not fully hardened this prevents that the specimen moves away from the cover slip and sinks down to the slide. For mountants that harden dependably this is not necessary of cause.

Bob

Razor blades are fairly thin for sectioning and will probably chatter quicker than comfortable, so I wouldn't spend much energy on getting such a holder.
Sharp, a lot thicker and very sharp are cutter blades by the company OLFA, e.g. LBB 50.

Hi Doron, for your single diatom mouts I had another idea: You might set the diatom in a tiny drop of Pleurax on a cover slip and cure it. Then mount the cover slip on the slide with a different mountant that doesn't need a bubbling curing action, like an UV glue. This way you would be sure that the...

Hi together, just to complete the topic: Cargille didn't respond to my friendly e-Mail so I have to expect that the oil contains at least PCB, possibly other harmful substances the didn't want to discover. I brought the oil to our local recycling center, with an added sticker "contains PCB". I would...

Hi together, the combing action of these gears involves a sliding action and doesn't hold up well without lubrication. Brass (copper/zinc) is not as nice as bronze (copper/tin) as a friction partner. Stripped gears are often the result of dropped instruments or of forcing gummed up movements (move, ...

Hi Doron, nice to hear of you progress! According to your note 2: Michel Haak suggests polyacrylamide, not polyamide. I'm no chemist and don't know how far this is apart. http://www.diatoms.eu/de/node/77 The high curing temperature of Pleurax really narrows down the number of possible candidates for...

Hi Pete, the graph shows the analysis of a silver brazed steel part, I made for a group meeting on the material steel and materials science methods and had these graphs made at our university. I like measuring instruments a lot and would enjoy to have a SEM with EDAX scanner, but this is just overki...

Professionals have a tendency to cut corners when it improves their income. So I would expect that they would be willing to use a powerful cleaner, even if there are gentler methods available. But even the careful amateur sometimes has to use rougher methods when nothing else helps, like with mouldy...

Hi together, the safety data sheets often are an interesting source of information. Apparently Lens Clens 1 consists of these dangerous components: Solvent content: Organic solvents:46.0 % Water:45.9 % VOC content:46.0 % Solids content:2.8 % CAS: 67-63-0RTECS: NT 8050000Isopropyl alcohol Flam. Liq. ...

Hi Jerradin, this would be an easy test: -Take a slide, mark it with a blue waterproof pen -Take the cover slip you had problems with (or any other), makr the underside with a black waterproof pen -Mount with drop of water -Can you focus on both marks with the 60:1? -Adjust water layer and try again...

Congratulations to your new microscopes! The Standard Junior differs from the GFL in these areas: -function of the focus gear, interlocked on the Junior, working the stage, the more modern setup -condenser mount, Junior has sleeve mount, GFL has ring dovetail like the later Standard RA,14 on -illumi...

Hi Glen, my wife had a similar Olympus and it had quite a strong shutter shock. Compared to metal working machines microscopes are much less ridgidly constructed with 3 contact point connections etc. This doesn't hold up to these shocks. So it probably is necessary to buy a camera with EFSC to furth...

This is how you know when it's time to call it a night Hi Kirby, this is a sentence Johann Diedrich Möller should have adhered to. He was a very early case of burn out syndrome and unable to work for a couple of years. :shock: Your accident is a pity but since it is a strew slide you probably can r...

Car engines have filters in the main oil stream, so there should be no particles in the oil above a certain size. A lawn mower might provide interesting samples as they don't have an oil filter at all.

Hi Niklas, one criteria to identify the metals will be the colour of the reflected light. So it probably will be necessary to wash the murky oil away to keep it from staining the image. One problem can be that particles can look very different depending on oxydation of the surface. Steel particles c...

Hi Markus, your microscope will give you an nice overview of botanical sections and even show a bit smaller details. Differentiating staining makes it easier to identify different functional structures and also offer a more attractive view. I like Etzold FCA stain and Wacker W3A stain. You will find...

Using a phase telescope works very well too. The early Leitz Planapo 100:1 are delaminated often. Another damage that can happen is a loose, missing or not oil proof front lens of oil immersion objectives. Epi objectives have often been banged into specimens or have been in comtect with aggressive s...

Hi Jerradin, meiofauna animals tend to cling to the sand grains. One way to get then off is to paralyse them with a 7,5% MgCl2 solution. If your sample is more silt than sand you can put a layer of sand on the sample, store cool for 1-3 days, remove only sand, extract animals with MgCl2. Generally y...

@Donn: since you have an MPI-2 you can compare it to the images and measurements I have posed here. My MPI-3 seems to be an uncommon version. The objectives in the PZO kit were not meant for visual contrast optimisation but for measuring uses. You can try any objective you have and see if you can fi...

Hi John,
with a tungsten carbide knife it might be possible to section them and very little work has been done on staining them!

Bob

Probably the cheapest option: The film from some 3D cinema glasses. They sre circular polarizers do have to be used the right way round. On a binocular microscope s good place for the analyser is below the bino inside the tube head. This gives better results than on top of one of the eyepieces

Hi Patta, Zeiss West was a result of the outcome of WW 2. Before the end of the war Zeiss had the Winkel Zeiss plant in Göttingen, working independently from the plant in Jena. I think they used 39mm objective parfocality, it should be in the Mikrofibel. Leitz objective, tube length and intermediate...

Hi Steve,
in former times cedar oil has been used. The advantage of modern oils is that the don't gum up quickly. After use the front lens is just wiped with a dry tissue and that is good enough for weeks or months. Less vleaning is less stress for the oil seal around the front lens.

Bob

In "Ponds and Rock Pools" a walking stick is seen as indispensable: http://www.mikrohamburg.de/Tips/SCHERREN-GESAMT.pdf