Maintenance of a Tissue Culture Microscope to the Utmost

Why do things don’t often last the way they should? It may be attributed to improper use of these items. Sometimes the environment they are in can affect their function and can even cause their damage. Most of all, a lot of people just don’t know how to make use of them. So what’s the proper maintenance of a tissue culture microscope?

Set a good condition of the environment.

1. If you are selecting a room that you can use for any imaging experiments of live cells, it is very important to ensure that sufficient ventilation is available. This is to dispel any ozone discharged by lamps producing xenon and mercury. This is to also release fumes coming from organic solvents utilized to clean surfaces and sterilize the state of microscopes.

2. There should also be ample space surrounding the microscope to make room for appropriate ventilation and for cleaning tables, other scientific instruments, benches, and floors.

3. You can trace failures of equipment in air intakes which are may be clogged, put in a hard-to-access location, as well as those found near the floor.

4. The laboratory should be made clean. All items should be arranged in an orderly manner to minimize the levels of smoke, damaging vapors, and dust that can reduce the electronic and optical performance of the microscopes.

5. To avoid contaminating live cell cultures of microorganisms, the surrounding area and the stage of the microscope itself must be regularly wiped with antiseptic towels or 70 percent ethanol.

6. In cases of spills of any culture, which is very much unavoidable, you should immediately clean the area. It should also be disinfected thoroughly.

Reduce mechanical vibrations.

The central cooling (such as hair handlers) as well as heating units can create mechanical vibrations that have effects on the performance of microscopes. The air handlers can be found on the roof or attic of the building, incubators of low temperature, refrigerators, as well as traffic in near hallways. Other vibrations that are less obvious but can give severe impact on the stability of the microscope are those of refrigerators as well as other sources.

You can actually reduce low frequency vibrations of the room as well as the building through a couple of techniques. This includes isolation tables can control feedback. The most pricey alternative, these are usually filled with gas. You can also opt to use vibration isolation pads made of synthetic polymer. They are more affordable and more flexible. You can also select to combine the vibration pads with heavy sheets of aluminum about half-in in thickness. Another option is through isolation platforms that are pre-drilled. All these are known to reduce vibrations to hardly noticeable levels.

Unlike upright microscopes, the frames of a inverted tissue culture microscope are less sensitive to any form of vibration and considerably heavier. But they can still take advantage of the isolation. Vibrations of high frequency can immediately be remedied and minimized by adding additional mass to the table. This includes putting lead bricks. Of course, you can greatly reduce vibration levels if you can start working on your experiments with tissue culture microscopes during nighttime or early in the morning. There are hardly any people and sounds produced so your environment is much quieter.

Check used tissue culture microscopes.

These types of equipment are quite expensive, so people opt for used ones. You can buy them online or in local shops. However, you should be careful of the microscopes you are buying. They may contain optics that are already scratches, broken or missing parts, dirty or dusty internal optics, or heads that are missed alignments, which can cause double vision. They may also be not properly lubricated or delaminated.

Do not also buy those microscopes with components that are hard to find or expensive. This is because once these are damaged, it will be more difficult for you to replace them. Or it may appear that your maintenance costs are much higher then your purchasing price.

Do not purchase on an inexperienced dealer.

Remember that this microscope is a very sophisticated device. A lot of customers will call their dealers for after-sale queries as well as technical support. Do no buy from those sales representatives who don’t have adequate knowledge of the product. For example, some sales people will refer darkfield microscopes as phase contrast microscopes or vice versa—only that there’s a big difference. You may also be given a scope from a poorly knowledgeable salesman and yet can’t get the quality of images that you deserve. The best thing that you can do is to buy them from reputable microscope sellers.

Proper maintenance of tissue culture microscope doesn’t only stop when you clean the parts or the microscope itself. It also means preventing the occurrence of damaging by investing your money on worthwhile products from distinguished dealers.