Blow the air across both sides of the filter.ģ. Hold the filter and, using a dust blower with gentle to moderate air flow, blow air across the surface of the filter to remove any loose dirt. Hold the filter by its edge only and avoid touching coatings with hands.Ģ. Steps for cleaning the hard-coated interference filtersġ. Finger cots are not sufficient, as luck will always have an uncovered part of the hand leaving a mark on the filter. This prevents accidental finger prints or other contamination of the filter surface. If you have a soft-coated filter that requires cleaning, contact the filter manufacturer.Īlways wear gloves when handling filters. Hard-coated filters can be cleaned using swabs or lens tissue, whereas soft-coated ones should not. There are two types of interference filters: hard- and soft-coated ones. Discard the cotton swab or lens tissue after every use. Stubborn contamination may require several passes, or a stronger solvent such as methanol or acetone.ħ. Remove oily dirt using either a lens cleaning fluid or absolute ethanol on a cotton swab or lens tissue. Breathe on the lens to generate a layer of moisture, being careful not to release any droplets of saliva, before removing any remaining residue with a dry cotton swab.Ħ. This should remove all water-soluble dirt.ĥ. Then, wipe the lens using the spiral motion.
Dip a lens wipe or cotton swab into distilled water and shake off any excess liquid. Next, use a low-lint lens tissue produced especially for cleaning optics, or a cotton swab.Ĥ. Blow the air across the lens surface to avoid damaging it.ģ. Gently blow away loose dust that is on the surface of the optical glass with a dust blower, as if any dust left on throughout the cleaning process could scratch the optical glass or coating. Place the objective lens on a dust-free surface.Ģ. Steps for cleaning objective lenses - use a spiral motion, starting from the rim of the lens and moving to the centre.ġ. Do not use a zigzag motion, as this will only spread the dirt.
Clean the lens in a spiral pattern, starting from the rim of the lens and moving to the centre, then starting from the centre of the lens and moving out to the rim.
This part of the article refers to how to clean the objective lenses of your microscope.
If the dirt moves as the condenser does, then this is the optical surface that is affected. This will allow you to see any dust or dirt particles on the slide or cover slip.Ĭheck the condenser by moving it up and down and, if possible, by rotating the front lens. Move the specimen whilst it is under the microscope and focus firstly on the upper surface, then on the lower. This should always be cleaned by the camera manufacturer. If dust or dirt is on the camera, do not clean this. Unlike the other optical surfaces, if dirt is located on the camera surface or its protective cover, it will not move when the camera does. If using a camera, rotate this a small amount. If the spot moves, this confirms dirt is on the eyepiece lens. To check this, turn the eyepiece lens if you can. However, if you only see dirt at one power, it is likely to be on the objective lens. If you see a spot of dirt on your image when viewing at all objective powers, the dirt is likely to be on the eyepiece lens. It is important to see where dirt is located so that the affected optical components can be cleaned accordingly. Our first tip for cleaning the optics of your microscope is locating where the dirt is. Locate the dirt within the optics of your microscope Alongside Olympus UK’s Life Science team, we’ve compiled some hints and tips which explain the procedure for cleaning the optical lenses of your microscope. To ensure your microscope stands the test of time, cleaning the lenses should be made a regular part of the maintenance routine. A minute or two a day checking and potentially cleaning your lenses is a small effort given the importance of those optics.” Christian Wilms, Scientifica’s Research and Development Manager says: “No matter how much you invest in your imaging system, with dirty optics, especially objectives, you will not be able to acquire high quality data. Demonstrating the importance of cleaning the optics of your microscope.ĭr. If dust spots are left on optical glasses such as lenses, condensers and filters, they can become hard and may attract moisture, further compounding the problem. It is really frustrating if dirt or dust particles are visible when imaging your specimen. Keeping the optical system of your microscope clean at all times is essential for high quality imaging.