Glass Slides: beveled edges/clipped corners, vs. stage wear?

[Karl in NY]

My newly acquired Swift 1000-D (with mechanical stage) shows extreme finish-wear in one corner, worn through paint, primer, and causing a high polish to the alloy of the stage. This is only in lower right-hand corner, as viewed from operator's position.

Wondering if it's the result of not initially positioning the slide using the geared control knobs and just using thumb pressure. This was a one-owner 'scope and never used in an .edu environment, and is otherwise unblemished.

Wondering if beveled-edge slides with clipped corners would prevent this, as I'll be dissembling, and spray painting the top surface of the stage. I don't have enough experience to know if this is a typical wear pattern, but there is no physical contact between the mechanical arms and the top of the stage, so I'm just assuming it's from repetitive thumb pressure used at low powers where the geared positioning of the slide is not really necessary. BTW, this came out of a veterinarian's office, and was in service at least 20 years, by one person.

[75RR]

... as I'll be dissembling, and spray painting the top surface of the stage.

I would recommend leaving it as it is. Stage surfaces need to be extremely flat and even, something that spray painting will not accomplish.

[KurtM]

^^^ I agree. If it were me I wouldn't even think about painting the stage for two reasons: first, I'd say it's probable that it will cause slide handling problems. Secondly, the wear on the stage isn't any sort of blemish - it's evidence of the long and productive service the instrument has rendered before it came to you. It's easy to slather paint on, but darn hard to make convincing wear patterns. I'd be proud of it and the story it tells (very cool that you know the provenience of your scope!).

[Karl in NY]

I know what you're saying...in the firearms-collecting field this is either described as "shows honest wear" (by seller) vs. "deduct 40%" (by buyer).

Curious about what causes this pattern of wear on a microscope stage, however.

I also have a 2nd option besides ignoring it: stripping stage of all finish, and having it hard-anodized, as opposed to spray painting. Adds a uniform 0.0005" to 0.006" to the surface, and can be both blacker and less reflective than original paint finish, and I can have it done at no charge by a relative in the business.

[Crater Eddie]

Can you post a photo of the stage?
CE

[Karl in NY]

I don't have a photo hosting account, and this site apparently won't host user files, just a link to a photo URL...I tried to find something similar with Google images, but didn't find anything close.

[ebenbildmicroscopy]

I have been a microscope machinist/repairman since 1999 and, over the course of that work, have repainted probably 50 stages from primarily Nikon and Olympus scopes that were used heavily in a hospital laboratory setting. They were painted originally at the factory and usually with paint that contained a hardener that was cured in an oven at around 200 degrees F. I always repaint with a liberal coat of black primer enamel, which will reveal defects in the stage surface, followed by several "dusting" coats of black satin enamel, followed by a cure in the oven... here's your problem - making sure you get the stage leveled and plumb (for lack of a better term) in relation to how it was assembled at the factory. Be careful to replace any shims you encounter during disassembly.

Also note that hard anodizing will scratch and wear off just like the original paint did. Anodizing is particularly prone to scratching.

[wporter]

I'll have to second the practice of repainting stages, at least if you want to. In my much more limited experience than ebenbild, I've had success by using Dupli-Color Engine Enamel with Ceramic, in black satin. Dries very hard, and since it withstands temps up to 500F, could be baked in an oven (I haven't done this, but would try something like 250F for an hour or two), preferably after air-drying for a couple of days. Now the caveat: none of mine have been returned to service for years of hard clinical use, so take it for what it's worth.

However, I wouldn't do it on an aluminum stage if the metal is exposed; the anodizing might be a better solution, but as ebenbild says, anodizing can be scratched, so do some experiments by rubbing the edge of a slide on some expendible anodized surface to see if that would be a problem.

Karl, you can attach images as part of your post, by using the file attachment area under the message composition box. There is an image max size, so you may have to reduce images ahead of time to 1024x1024 pixels (plenty good enough for this forum).