Science & Laboratory - Page 9 - Recent Questions, Troubleshooting & Support

Olympus makes good microscopes so you have done well and stereo microscopes are so much nicer to use than singles. As far as cleaning the lenses goes, buy a good quality camera lens blower brush and also a can of compressed air like the ones used for computers. Blow any loose dust hairs etc off with the can of air and then use the brush for anything remaining. If there are fingerprints or grease on the lenses then clean them using camera lens cleaning fluid and lens tissue but make sure all debris and dust are removed first or you may scratch the lenses. In general try not to use anything more than air and a brush unless absolutely necessary. Another option for removing fingerprints etc is to use a "lens pen" with caution. The ones sold for cameras work well but may be too large. They make some smaller ones for cleaning camera sensors and those might work better for the relatively small microscope lenses or just cut the regular lens pen disk to make it smaller. It is just as important to make sure the lens is dust/debris free when using the lens pens. Low power stereo microscopes often allow you to put on a single magnifier lens in front of the main objectives to increase magnification. Do a bit of searching to find what are options for your model.

Have you seen this video with advice? http://www.benchfly.com/video/41/removing-a-stuck-centrifuge-rotor/ Another tip is to cool the rotor down (either by getting the refrigeration to kick in if it is a refrigerated centrifuge) or perhaps by filling the the rotor with tubes full of ice-water (or something colder...). Everything will shrink slightly, which means the rotor will become a slightly looser fit on the shaft.

Are you sure that the lid safety interlock switch isn't damaged/dirty? If the centrifuge can't detect that the lid is closed it will never start. Sometime it just needs an extra push down on the lid.

Say What?

It sounds like either the bulb is loose or the connection between the bulb socket and a wire is loose. To check both, Loosen the screw knob on the underside of microscope and open the panel to expose the bulb. Use a small screwdriver to loosen the screws holding (the two screws closest to the bulb) the prongs of the halogen bulb. Note that the prongs of the bulb are held in place by small brass plates which shift slightly when the screws are loosened. Remove the old bulb. Important: Do not touch the new halogen bulb with bare hands. Wear gloves or hold the bulb using tissue or lens paper. Body oils may damage the halogen bulb. Insert prongs of replacement bulb into top of socket (above the brass plate) and tighten screws slightly. (The brass plates will move up to hold the prongs in place.) Close door and hand tighten the thumbscrew knob. If this does not work, contact Premier for assistance: Premiere® Microscope Service, 7241 Gabe Court, Manassas, VA 20109 (703) 330-1413

The error E61 indicates that your water pump has failed or is not active. You should check the pump and replace it if needed. You should also check the steam generator sensor and replace it if needed. For more information, contact Euronda at Water inlet pump inactive or call (+39) 0445 329811 (Vicenza, Italy)

If this is a microscope, the part you are referring to is the stage control. You can get the part from C&A Scientific at http://www.cnascientific.com or by calling 703.330.1413

Troubleshooting Microscope Lighting

DIGITAL MICROSCOPEOne device for measurement and quality control Please see above

Soak in a product like lime away first. Glass lenses cant warp without heat. Plastic even crystal type can absorb minerals. Ultrasonic can help clean all of them. The lime away will remove almost all trace minerals, lye or powdered drain cleaner will remove organics. Gool luck let me know how these ideas woek for you.

I think the number you gave is the microscope serial number, to hope to get help you need to find the model number so people can help. At least post a picture. In general the microscope needs a light source to be bright enough to use. The transformer is meant to provide power to the light. If you use the microscope with a light shining through the object held by a glass slide then the light is below the stage which holds the object. Sometimes on simpler microscopes they have a mirror below the stage and you shine a bright light beam into the mirror and must adjust the angle to reflect the light through the slide. In more complex systems the light is built into the microscope. For opaque objects you must shine the light from above onto the object. If you can't find the official Nikon light source to connect to the transformer, you may be able to get non Nikon light sources. For my stereo microscope for example, I use a LED ring-light I bought on ebay for ~$25. This lights the objects from above and fits around the microscope tube just above the stage.

The serial number will be on the packaging that came with the software that you legally bought.

Your question is hard to answer without more detail, including movement rate and required magnification. For relatively slow moving objects you can use a movable stage (X-Y stepper motors tied to a computer). Usually the direction of motion is erratic or unknown, and some digital tracking software will have to be written to drive the steppers so as to follow the designated object of interest. This may be something you have to develop yourself, although there may be some "tracking" software commercially available (or adaptable). Note that you usually cannot take a video of the object as you track it, due to the quantum action of the stepper motors. However, this does not keep you from taking a series of stills (step - capture - step - capture - step ... etc.) and turning them back into a stop-action video. There are a lot of free or cheap programs out there to do that. If the motion of the object is rapid, then you have a much bigger problem. One project I did some years back had this problem, and we could not actively track the sudden motion with a microscope. What we did instead was to reduce the microscope magnification, and significantly up the resolution of the high-speed camera (and yes, that was very expensive). At 1500 FPS, we could capture the object as it moved rapidly across the stage, then post-process the resulting frames to center on the object. The obvious limit here is that the object needs to cover a relatively small portion of the overall picture - which limits the magnification you can use. Of course, the offsetting advantage of this method is that you pay more for the camera, but don't have to have a movable stage on the scope.

1. To hatch the eggs, first prepare a brine solution. Pour the entire contents of a vial containing sea salt into a quart of tap water. Add the brine shrimp eggs into the solution. Allow the solution to stand at room temperature (70 - 80F or 21 - 26C) for 24 to 48 hours and the eggs will hatch into nauplius larvae (this is the first stage of development after leaving the eggs). 2. Place some of the larvae into one of the compartments of the shrimp hatchery . 3. Place some fresh brine solution in another compartment. Add a small amount of yeast to this new solution. Then, using the eyedropper, transfer some of the larvae into this compartment as well. The yeast will serve as food and produce oxygen for the larvae as they develop into maturity. Without food and oxygen, the shrimp cannot develop and will die. Mature brine shrimp are known as Artemia Salina. Note: Using an eyedropper with just the right pressure to get a desired amount of liquid onto a slide can be harder than it looks. Take out a clean slide and practice squeezing a drop of water onto the slide until you feel comfortable that you can control the size of the drop that you're squeezing out. 4. Observe the life cycle of the shrimp as they grow: the dried eggs, the hatching eggs, the developing larvae, and finally, the mature shrimp. 5. The mature shrimp may be fed to fish in an aquarium if you so wish. However, first remove the shrimp from the brine solution and place them into fresh water. An increase in salt may harm the fish in the aquarium. NOTE: Use the color filter especially when looking at clear or dim specimens.

The electrode you have is a combination electrode with an integral calomel reference half-cell and built-in temperature probe. Since the temperature reading is good, the temperature probe is okay. It isn't part of the pH circuits anyway. (Your meter uses the temperature to calculate a temperature correction of pH.) Something else is going on with the electrode proper. Its funny behavior suggests to me that it has dried out internally. pH electrodes don't last forever. How old is this one? If it's an old one, it's probably time to replace it. If it's new and doesn't work, it may be under warranty. If you shop for a new electrode, get a gel-filled one. And go for one with a silver/silver chloride reference instead of a mercury one -- especially if you are using it on food or other samples that may be consumed. Another consideration about calomel electrodes: they take hours to recover from relatively small temperature changes. Ag/AgCl references aren't as sluggish. Finally, take care when storing the electrode. It should be stored under humid conditions to keep it from drying out. The best way is to put a small piece of cotton or glass wool soaked with distilled or deionized water inside the plastic end cap. For shorter-term storage, e.g., overnight, you could immerse the tip in pH 7 buffer.

you need the software for that microscope from the manufacturers web site suitable for win 8 64 bit

It sounds like a fuel vapor lock, check that the fuel line to the carb is not coming contact with any metal surfaces of the engine for this will boil the fuel in the line before it enters the carb. If this is the case, just stand the fuel line off from where it is touching. I hope this helps....GOD BLESS....Randy...

What model? Could be the battery need to be changed. at http://www.tobaccogeneral.com/accur8-355-mnf.htm tobacco is selling out their accura8