[lm-announce] IMPORTANT - 2nd floor Spectris

[Sam Swift]

Hi,

Yesterday, Calum and I had to replace the quad dichroic mirror on the  
2nd floor spectris and thoroughly clean more or less every surface in  
the light path.   The good news is that this microscope is now  
working properly again.  The bad news is that it was obvious that  
some users are not being sufficiently careful in their use of  
immersion oil.  There is no reason for oil to find its way onto the  
dichroic mirrors or the back aperture of the lens.  The 60X was  
particularly filthy.  Please could all users of this microscope make  
sure they do the following -

1.  assume you are as guilty as everybody else and take this  
seriously - you could be responsible for ruining a £250,000 microscope.
2.  do not use too much oil
3.  wipe the oil from the lens every time you reapply oil - don't  
just keep adding more
4.  when you finish, make sure you clean the oil off the top of the  
lens and from the sides in case it has started dribbling down.   
Likewise, clean any oil from the stage, keypad and focus wheels (yep,  
they were covered too)
5.  check the microscope before you start - if the microscope isn't  
sparkling clean, let me know instantly
6.  the oil kept in the chamber is less viscous than oil at room  
temperature so it's much easier to throw it all over the place.  If  
you do drip oil everywhere, stop what you're doing and clean it up.   
Or, if you throw it into the murky depths of the microscope stand,  
you need to come and get me or Calum straight away.

Thanks,
Sam





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