How to clean the microscope

26/04/2022
image
To clean the microscope, you can go with the following steps:
1. Get knowledge of where need cleaning
-1 Front lens of objective
-2 Cover glass of camera sensor
-3 Cover slip and specimen slide
-4 Condenser lens
-5 Other glass surfaces

2. Where not need cleaning
-1 Filter cubes
-2 All inside optics of a microscope

3. If you find dirt on the image, there are possible 3 locations for the dirt: Microscope objective, Camera and Slide.

-1 Put the slide on a white paper or bright background and check if any dirt on it.

-2 Turn the camera and inspect the image
  1. If the dirt is changing accordingly with the image, it’s in camera.
  2. If no change for the dirt, it should be in objectives or slides.

-3 Turn the eyepiece, objective or adapter
  1. If the dirt is changing accordingly in the image, it’s in eyepiece, objective or adapter.
Take off the eyepiece, objective or adapter, put against a white paper or bright background, and find the dirt

4. There are different kinds of dirt:
-1 Loose or not permanently attached dirt
  1. Glass (broken slides, cover slips, etc.)
  2. Skin, dander
  3. Pollen, etc.

-2 Attached dirt
  1. Water soluble
  2. Solvent soluble
  3. In practice often a mixture

5. How to clean
Aim of cleaning
  1. Complete elimination of dust and dirt for perfect image quality
  2. No remaining residues on the optical parts
  3. No damage of optical parts

6. General cleaning procedure
-1 Locate dirt
-2 Inspect dirt
-3 Remove dust
-4 Remove water soluble dirt
-5 Remove solvent soluble dirt
-6 Inspect result
-7 Repeat from 3 to 6 if necessary

7. Remove dust
Use soft brush or blower to clean the dust

8. Remove attached dirt
-1 Never use rubbing materials, papers, microfibre cloths
-2 Never clean dry
-3 Always start to clean water soluble dirt
 
If grease or equivalent found, use with solvents. Make sure all solvents used for cleaning are absolutely clean.
-1 PA solvents (ultra pure)
-2 Distilled or demineralized water
-3 No ammonium containing glass cleaner like Sidolin, Sparkle, etc.

9. Remove water soluble dirt
-1 Use only pure water
-2 Use a cotton stick, stick should only be moist, not dropping water
-3 Clean from the centre toward the edge in concentric circles
-4 Inspect result, if necessary, repeat the process again

10. Remove solvent soluble dirt
-1 Use Lens Cleaner
-2 Use a cotton stick, stick should only be moist, not dropping water
-3 Clean from the centre toward the edge in concentric circles
-4 Inspect result, if necessary, repeat the process again

 
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