MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Thanks Eddie, will do. This is one way to make 6 months seem like a very long time. :) Decided to go for an Original Cambridge Rocking Microtome for several reasons. Firstly a couple of people have mentioned the advantage of the extra screws that hold the knife, secondly I have a soft spot for well ...

Wow!
Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Having been bitten by the Rocking Microtome bug due to Seb's post: http://www.microbehunter.com/microscopy-forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=668 I went and jumped into the deep end. Bought on ebay in England, it is on its way to Germany, where I hope a friend of mine will bring it out to me in about 6 month...

I found also information that one can somehow convert roking microtome by means of which sections 0.02 μ thick can be cut,but there is a charge for the PDF article. This is the introduction to the Cambridge Rocking Microtome pdf I found on the web. Have not found Leaflet # 293A yet. http://i1368.ph...

As far as achieving a sharp focus is concerned it is always best to ensure parfocality between the camera port and the binoculars. That way the camera will be focused when the binocular eyepieces are. It is best to fine tune and test this with a fixed subject - like diatoms for example. As to the fi...

Yes, if what you are saying is that, with the microscope focused on a slide and the condenser properly adjusted, you focused the filament on the condenser's iris diaphragm. Had set up for Köhler. Will run though it again to make sure all is as it should be and cross check with the back focal plane ...

I had focused on the front aperture of the condenser which I believe is the equivalent of focusing on the back focal plane of the objective so all is well. Thanks everyone.

2. If behind the bulb there is a mirror, then in step e above, you look at the image of the filament and the image-of-the-image of the filament thrown by the mirror and adjust the two images to be side-by-side and in focus. The idea is to better fill the back focal plane of the objective with the i...

There is no mirror in this system, but the lamp is centerable. If there are no diffusers in the light path you should be able to see an image of the filament. When you have an image of the filament all you can do is center it. A little experimenting with the centering screws will show you the diffe...

Zeiss RA

Still fiddling about with the RA. Was reading up to make sure I had things as they should be when I came across this sentence: Center the image of the filament, then center the image of the reflection so that the vertical lines of the primary and reflection images are interdigitated. Got lost on ima...

This is a link to an article on a Rocking Microtome that appeared in 2013. (Old Forum)

http://www.microbehunter.com/forum/arti ... me-review/

Technically I believe it is Darkfield, even if arrived at in a non orthodox fashion.
I have seen that effect (rotating a Phase condenser) with low power objectives. Which did you use?

Impressed by your improved videos.
We are not going to lose you to a film club I hope!

The explanatory stills are very clear

While pressing the Alt key type 230 on the numeric keypad (I use a Windows machine).

M while pressing Alt (on a Mac) µ

I hope you like it. :)

I do. Thanks very much. That looks like quite a nice "hand" microtome. Good blade too.

75RR: As gekko pointed out, the last picture contains a statoblast. Statoblasts are buds that are highly resistant to the elements/drying and are produced in large numbers by the colony. They are useful in genus/species identification. Once gekko had mentioned it, it made sense - what with their pr...

... I'm getting a shiny-new and mouth-wateringly lovely rocking mocrotome. Until that day comes - we must soldier on. What did you remove the wax with after cutting? Video of the actual cutting would be interesting! p.s I've made a (12 min) video (see other post) showing the mold process but it doe...

Staining with Methylene Blue for about 30s shows promising tissue contrast & differential staining.

Nice staining and cut, I agree however that a rocking microtome is the way to go.
Seb28 has spoilt us.

Very nice photographs.
Glad you included the first one for context.
What are we looking at in the last one?

So that is how thin and perfectly even sections are meant to look like.
Night and Day to my efforts.
You have also convinced me of the value of staining.

Second image would make an excellent poster.

Will now keep an eye out for a rocking microtome.

First is excellent.

Ok. Can see it now though you have disabled the "Playback on other websites". Can only be viewed at youtube site. Firstly - well done. It is interesting to see and a good way to learn. Couple of questions: Are those two piece molds or did you cut them? Was the paper in them to reduce the diameter? A...

Not viewable.
A message says "Please sign in to view this video"
Suspect you have it in "Private". Try changing to "Public"

Very nice.

... individual quick change Pol objectives.

Are they bayonet mounted?

If I go any greener I'm going to develop chlorophyll...

Euglena Avatar ...?

Looks like you have two choices - you either spray-paint it or you risk a run-in with the fashion police.
You do not want to mess with the fashion police! ;)

Pretty good slices. Looking forward to the wax results.
Good tip about keeping the surface of the clamped samples wet. Thanks

Did you try to enhance the Chrysanthemum images with a graphics editor like Photoshop?

Gentle warming with the hair dryer freed it up enough to turn quite well. Good news. Found this link which has several links within it. There are a couple about maintenance and lubricants among others. I expect you probably have them ... this is just in case you missed one or two. http://www.micros...

The choice has be yours. You will after all have to "live" with it. All we should really do is point out things that you might want to take into account. Speaking of which - you should think not only about upgrade-ability but also the true cost of doing so. i.e. Phase Contrast not only requires a Ph...

Many thanks for the link.