[lm-announce] DeltaVisions - please read

[Sam Swift]

Dear All,

Our friendly ImSol engineer has been here for the past few days  
cleaning the DeltaVisions.  It was a little disappointing (although  
not a massive surprise) to find that immersion oil had penetrated the  
deepest recesses of this equipment.  On a positive note, they have  
all now been restored to their former glory and the images coming off  
them are absolutely blooming fantastic.  So, with a view to  
maintaining this heavenly state of imaging bliss, please take on  
board the following -

1)  The microscopes are absolutely pristine, enjoy using them in this  
perfect condition

2)  We need to try harder to keep them like this.  LMF staff are  
always happy to clean stubborn oil from lenses and dichroic mirrors,  
but can't strip the scopes down and clean oil that has gone beyond  
this point without breaching the terms of warranty.  Please make sure  
it doesn't get there in the first place.  To do this - don't use too  
much oil.  Don't keep reapplying oil without removing the last lot  
first.  If you spill oil, stop what you're doing and clean it up  
immediately.  If you can't get to the part of the microscope where  
the oil went, tell us immediately so that we can clean it before it  
goes any further.  Do clean the lenses, stage etc of oil with lens  
tissue during and after your session.  Always remember that these  
extraordinarily expensive microscopes work best when they are clean  
and kept in good condition; the onus is on you, the user, to take  
good care of the equipment that you have available to you.  This  
sounds obvious, but the microscopes would not be in the condition  
they were in if everybody was doing these things.

3)  If you arrive to use a microscope and it is less than perfect,  
come and tell us.  We can clean it up and check the alignment, and go  
and have a "friendly" word with the person who left it in that state  
in the first place.

4)  If you notice that somebody has left screwed up balls of lens  
tissue on the desk, or a blob of oil on the stage, take a minute to  
clean it up before you start. They may be at fault for leaving things  
in a mess, but there's no point in you letting it ruin your session.

5)  And most importantly, please remember that we are here to help  
with any aspect of your microscopy that you want a hand with -  
choosing fluorophores, advice on sample preparation, choosing which  
system to use, training, discussions about the theory behind it all,  
quantitative imaging, calibration... etc etc etc.  We carry  
blackberrys so all you need to do is drop us an email and we'll read  
it straight away.  If it's an urgent problem we'll come and find  
you.  Please don't expect us to be at our desks or waiting by the  
phone - we have 100 regular users on 14 microscopes split across 3  
floors, your email will find us even if you can't.

Thanks!
Sam