Please note, you must be an educator in higher ed or maybe high school to qualify to recieve the MCI
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|Certain problems real or apparent, may be encountered while operating your microscope. Here is a trouble shooting guide to help you if you are having difficulty focusing a sample.
The sample can be focused at 10X, but it is difficult to find or blurry at 40X.
This is often caused by immersion oil on the 40X lens. Wipe the 40X lens with lens paper to remove the oil and refocus. This can be prevented by never viewing a specimen with the 40X objective after adding immersion oil to a slide.
The sample can be focused at 10X but when the 40X lens is rotated in place it contacts the slide.
In most cases this is caused by the slide being place on the stage upside down †with the smear facing the stage. Check your slide carefully to make sure it is placed on the stage correctly.
The fine adjustment knob does not turn in the direction required for sharp focusing.
This indicates that it has been turned to the limits of its threads, either upward or downward, as the case may be. Screw it back to about one-half the thread distance (About four turns), use the coarse adjustment to raise or lower the objective lens sufficiently to bring the specimen into view; then refocus with the fine adjustment.
What I am viewing does not look like bacteria.
Check to make sure you are in the correct focal plane that you are focusing on the smear and not dust on the lenses. To verify this, move the slide while looking at it. Anything in the smear should move in the field of view.
What I am viewing does not look like bacteria. Part II
If you are in the correct focal plane, there may be problems with smear preparation. Did you heat fix too much? Was the amount of culture applied sufficient? Did you stain the slide correctly? Many apparent microscope problems can be attributed to poor slide preparation.