The 7 Mechanical Components of a Light Microscope
Including mirror base, mirror column, mirror wall, mirror barrel, nosepiece converter, stage and collimating helix etc.
the
(1) mirror holder
the
The base part is used to support the stability of the whole microscope.
the
(2) mirror column
the
The upright short column between the mirror base and the mirror arm plays the role of connection and support.
the
(3) mirror arm
the
The arcuate part at the rear of the microscope is the part to hold when moving the microscope. Some microscopes have a movable tilt joint between the mirror arm and the mirror column, which can adjust the backward tilt angle of the mirror barrel for easy observation.
the
(4) lens barrel
the
The cylindrical structure installed at the tip of the mirror arm connects the eyepiece on the top and the objective lens converter on the bottom. The international standard barrel length of the microscope is 160 mm, and this number is marked on the casing of the objective lens.
the
(5) Objective lens changer
the
The freely rotatable disc at the lower end of the lens barrel is used to mount the objective lens. During observation, the objective lens with different magnifications can be exchanged by turning the converter.
the
(6) Stage
the
The platform below the lens barrel has a circular light hole in the center. For placing slides. The stage is equipped with a spring clamp to fix the specimen, and there is a pusher on one side to move the position of the specimen. Some pushers are also equipped with scales, which can directly calculate the distance moved by the specimen and determine the position of the specimen.
the
(7) Quasi-focus spiral
the
There are two types of helixes, large and small, mounted on the mirror arm or mirror column. When rotating, the mirror barrel or the stage can move up and down, thereby adjusting the focal length of the imaging system. The large one is called the coarse quasi-focus spiral, and the lens barrel rises and falls by 10mm every time it rotates; the small one is the fine quasi-focus spiral, and the lens barrel only rises and falls by 0.1mm after one turn. Generally, when observing an object under a low magnification lens, quickly adjust the object image with a coarse quasi-focus spiral so that it is in the field of view. On this basis, or when using a high-power lens, fine-tune with the fine-focus screw. It must be noted that the general microscope is equipped with left and right alignment spirals, which have the same function, but do not rotate the spirals on both sides at the same time, to prevent torsion due to uneven strength of both hands, resulting in spiral slippage.
