Microscope Slide Dispenser

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linuxusr
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Microscope Slide Dispenser

#1 Post by linuxusr » Mon May 31, 2021 1:48 pm

Our most important tools are the slide and coverglass; the pipette or dropper. A microscope slide dispenser is very useful. A member here recommended emsdiasum.com or Electron Microscopy Sciences. This is an advanced site for LM and EM but favoring EM. Buy from them and they will send you a pack of all their catalogs, including the 96 page EMS Tweezers Catalog (far better to have a precision tweezers than one of the cheapies found in dissection kits.) This is the dispenser I purchased: https://www.emsdiasum.com/microscopy/pr ... rage.aspx

With this dispenser, the clear plastic cover gives you a visual of slides remaining and protects from dust. Simply turn one of the two base knobs and a slide presents itself for grabbing. Do you use a slide dispenser?

Now, my bugaboo is that the equivalent does not exist for coverglasses. I bought some Schott coverglasses with a poor packaging design and I have broken a few. Further, it is very difficult, particularly with a slip < 0.17 mm to get just one! If anyone has found a great way to dispense slips, I'd like to know.
Nikon AlphaPhot 2 < Zeiss Primostar 3, Full Köhler; Axiocam 208 Color < UHD LG
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Hobbyst46
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Re: Microscope Slide Dispenser

#2 Post by Hobbyst46 » Mon May 31, 2021 2:02 pm

My coverslips are usually 18mm diameter circles.

I just rub the coverslip with wet fingers to grab a single one. Then, holding it between thumb and forefinger, I rinse it anyway and put aside to dry, separate from its sisters. A little care, that is all. No dispenser.
When it is clean and dry I place it in the packed well of a 12-well plate. "Packed" means that I place 2-3 Eurocent (or similar size) coins in it, and on top of them a 4x4 standard plastic Lego piece. This way, the cover slip lies on the Lego pillars, at a shallow point relative to the top surface of the plate. So it can be easily pulled out or returned by means of twizzers. The plate cover protects it from dust. So, 12 clean coverslips are safely stored in the plate.

Some folks advocated the use of a "vacuum pen" - an inexpensive small vacuum device - to catch a single coverslip. I bought one and it was real junk, stopped functioning after the third trial, so watch it if you opt for this possibility.

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lagoonatic
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Re: Microscope Slide Dispenser

#3 Post by lagoonatic » Mon May 31, 2021 6:06 pm

I have found that the packaging for Electron Microscopy Sciences micro cover glasses facilitates ease of taking single covers.
Here is EMS's webpage for them: https://www.emsdiasum.com/microscopy/pr ... aspx#63750

I don't know what it is that was done differently with the package, but I find I am able to get a single cover and have it at the right angle for placing on a sample. The catalog number for the 22x22 #1 slips I use is 72200-10.

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linuxusr
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Re: Microscope Slide Dispenser

#4 Post by linuxusr » Tue Jun 01, 2021 12:46 am

lagoonatic wrote:
Mon May 31, 2021 6:06 pm
I have found that the packaging for Electron Microscopy Sciences micro cover glasses facilitates ease of taking single covers.
Here is EMS's webpage for them: https://www.emsdiasum.com/microscopy/pr ... aspx#63750

I don't know what it is that was done differently with the package, but I find I am able to get a single cover and have it at the right angle for placing on a sample. The catalog number for the 22x22 #1 slips I use is 72200-10.
Very nice and I like the case.I will try. Although an advanced site, for the subset of stuff EMS has for amateurs, they are superior.
Nikon AlphaPhot 2 < Zeiss Primostar 3, Full Köhler; Axiocam 208 Color < UHD LG
Aller Anfang ist schwer.

farnsy
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Re: Microscope Slide Dispenser

#5 Post by farnsy » Sat Jun 05, 2021 7:49 pm

For slides, I use a basic holder that cost $6. The dispenser seems like a great idea, but it doesn't double as a drying rack.

For cover slips, I did not find a great commercial solution, so I made my own that works just the way I want it to. These days I put a small square of paper towel at the bottom to absorb any water drops to fall down.

Both of them work as drying racks and storage/transportation.

ldflan
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Re: Microscope Slide Dispenser

#6 Post by ldflan » Wed Oct 20, 2021 11:26 pm

I use the same slide dispenser. It's pretty good, though I need to glue the knobs on because they keep falling off at inconvenient moments. Definitely speeds up the process of floating sections on silanized slides.
If you are using a section adhesive like Haupts or something, I suppose it would probably not work well to hold and dispense those.

As for coverslips, I agree that vertical packing of square and rectangular slips is the best general solution I have seen. Most high quality rectangular and square coverglasses are packaged that way.

EMS sells a coverglass rack called the "Wash N Dry Coverglass Rack" that (though darned expensive for such a little thing) is very useful for silanizing coverslips and for staining sections adhered to them. Much, much better than the old glass cover slip racks. It's OK as a dispenser, I guess, but that's not the main function. (By the way, if you get one you will need a set of 250ml low form beakers to accommodate the largest coverglasses. Also, trying to lift the rack out of a jar with forceps, as shown in the picture, doesn't work very well at all - I made a little handle out of stainless wire that doubles as a kind of bar that can folded down to hold the coverslips in place in the rack.)

Leonard

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