An optical microscope is a kind of very sophisticated equipment, in instrumentation, microscope manufacturer requirements in strict accordance with the instructions to use, but the actual using microscope, users to easy to operate, often simplifies the operation procedure, operation or use a lot of serious errors, has created a variety of man-made fault microscope.  The light microscope cannot be used properly.  This is not desirable.  

5 serious optical microscope errors 

First, in the use of some conventional microscope, such as a biological, stereoscopic microscope, etc., as a result of the microscope optical lens is bare, people can touch, some experimental personnel will touch the eyepiece, intentionally or unintentionally, or optical lens part of the objective lens, this is not desirable, in general, microscope price is very high, which is the most valuable part of optical lens.  

The optical lens for the microscope is the heart, the center of the instrument, and it’s also the most vulnerable, to fog, oil, water, and sweat, all of which can cause damage to the optical lens.  In the factory manual of optical microscopes, it is clearly stated that the optical part of the microscope should not be touched. In light cases, the lens of the optical microscope will be polluted, and in serious cases, the lens of the microscope will be permanently damaged.  

Second, for biological microscopes, you can only look at slices of living things.  Sometimes, given some special items, only temporary simple slices can be made without covered glass packaging, and often the samples are liquid materials.  At such times, some operators will move the microscope or tilt the microscope, which is a serious mistake.  Because of the liquid sample, when the microscope is tilted, the liquid sample will flow out to the loading platform or condenser part of the microscope.  

Serious damage to the condenser of the microscope is not worth the cost.  It is advisable not to move or tilt the microscope when using such temporary sections.  

Third, when loading the slices, the first thing to do is to focus the microscope.  This is especially true for high-power objective lenses, which are very close to the specimen, even touching the surface of the specimen, for inexperienced operators.  It’s not uncommon to crush a finished microscope specimen, which can damage the objective section of an Olympus BX43. 

The correct way to do this is to focus with both hands, instead of just looking at the eyepiece, when looking at a specimen with a high power objective.  But at the same time of focusing, pay attention to observing the specific specimen and objective lens, to avoid the objective lens crushing section and damage to the objective lens.  

Fourth, when using the focusing system of the microscope, if the speed of rotation is too fast or the strength of the use is too large, the light will cause the shaking or instability of the microscope, serious will cause damage the focusing system of the microscope, which is also a partial undesirable operation, is a very bad habit.  The manufacturer’s instructions specify that when adjusting the focusing system of the microscope, the force must be small and gentle.  

Rotate slowly if focusing is difficult due to the hardware of the microscope.  Do not use brute force to twist the knob, but should contact the microscope factory technical engineers for on-site maintenance.  

Fifth, after the use of the microscope, many users will directly leave the laboratory, which is also very wrong, the right approach is to clean the microscope, the first is to wipe the microscope objective lens, especially 100 times the oil lens, to avoid the objective lens is contaminated.  

If the environment is humid, especially in the south, the lens is easy to fog and mildew, so it is required to place the microscope in a special microscope storage box after use and put a desiccant in it, so far, the storage of the microscope is complete.  

This is a brief description of the five most common errors and corrections in the operation of microscopes. In practice, there are many more errors.  There are a lot of little things we should pay attention to.