How to Use a Microscope - Key Precautions - Maintenance and Care
1. The correct method for placing a handheld microscope is to hold the arm of the microscope with your right hand and hold the frame with your left hand. Do not lift the eyepiece diagonally with one hand to prevent it from slipping out. When using a microscope for observation, the microscope should be placed in front of the body, slightly to the left, so that the left eye can observe and the right hand can draw.
2. Rotate the light converter to align the low magnification objective lens with the through-hole. Pay attention to maintaining a distance of 2 centimeters between the front end of the objective lens and the stage. Open your eyes, gaze at the eyepiece with your left eye, align the larger aperture on the shutter with the light hole, rotate the reflector to reflect the light through the light hole into the tube. A bright white circular field of view can be seen from the eyepiece. If the light is too strong, you can adjust the aperture to a smaller size or use a flat mirror.
3. Tablet pressing is the process of fixing glass slide specimens, such as slices, smears, or slides, onto a stage using metal compression clamps. When pressing, make sure the specimen on the slide is facing the center of the light hole, especially when the specimen is small. Otherwise, the specimen will deviate from the field of view and cannot be found when focusing.
4. Focusing observation
When observing with a low magnification objective lens, regardless of the type of slide specimen being observed, the first step is to use the low magnification objective lens for observation. After aligning the light, place the slide specimen on the stage, press it down with a pressure clamp, and align the specimen in the slide specimen with the center of the light hole. Then rotate the coarse focus screw clockwise to slowly lower the lens barrel until the objective lens approaches the slide specimen (usually 2-3mm away from the cover glass). When the lens barrel is lowered, the eyes must be fixed on the objective lens from the side to avoid the objective lens touching the glass slide specimen, crushing the cover glass, and damaging the lens. Then observe with the left eye into the eyepiece, while rotating the coarse focus screw in the opposite direction to slowly raise the lens barrel until it is aligned with the focal point and the object image is clearly seen. Rotate the fine focus screw again and adjust it back and forth to make the image seen clearer. If the object is not in the middle of the field of view, the slide specimen can be moved by hand while observing until the object to be observed enters the middle of the field of view. It is worth noting that the object seen from the eyepiece is an inverted image. Therefore, the direction of movement of the glass slide is exactly opposite to the direction of movement of the object image in the field of view.
