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Cleaning Your Microscope

Customer often ask what they can do to keep their microscopes clean and in good working condition.  Listed below are some questions raised along with our suggestions:

Question: What can I use to clean the lens on my microscope?

Answer: Lens cleaning fluids are the best. Use lens paper if available - the type for reading glasses works well.  We suggest not using kleenex-type tissue as it is very "dusty" and will leave a lot of lint on the lens.  Make sure the first tissue is wet with lens cleaner in case there are bits of glass from the slides on the lens that scratch it.

Question: What do I use to clean the body of the microscope?

Answer: We have tried many products over the years but have found that 409 cleaner seems to do the best job and does not damage the finish. Try not to get it into the bearings on the stage or focus assembly as it will dilute the lubrication.

Question: Lint seems to be a real problem on the eyepieces. How do I remove it without always having to use lens cleaner and papers?

Answer: Get some canned air from a computer or office supply store.  Spray the compressed air at the eyepieces and that should remove most of the dust.  Do not shake the can as you spray because you will cause the propellant in the can to come out of the nozzle and coat the lens.  If you do, you will have to use the lens cleaner to remove this coating.  Just hold the can still and spray.  Remember that a lot of the particles you see on the eyepieces are from your eyes.  They are flakes of dead skin that drop off your eyelids every time you blink.

Question: It is hard to see through the 40X or the 100X objectives. What could be the problem?

Answer: On most microscopes the 40X and 100X objective's front lens is slightly concave in design.  This causes problems when users go to clean the objective.  If you only use lens paper and cleaner you will not get to the contamination that has built up in the concave portion of the objective.  Our recommendation is to use a soft cotton swab (Q-tip) to clean the objective.  First, wet it with lens cleaner and make a soft drilling motion into the concave portion of the front lens.  Next, use a dry swab and make the same motion to dry the lens.  You may have to perform several repetitions of this procedure to truly clean the lens.  If this does not help then you may have oil inside of the objective itself, and it will either need to be sent to the manufacture for repair or you might have to replace the objective with a new one.  The reason the oil penetrates the objective is due to either not cleaning off the oil after usage or leaving the objective in oil on the slide after reading it.  Always clean the oil off the objective after each use.

About the Author

National Microscope Exchange has been in business since 1991, selling and servicing abbe refractometers, refractometers,inverted microscope and microscopes. The service staff has 30 years of experience with microscopes, and is the authorized United States service facility for Atago brand refractometers, microscopes.

do objects on a slide move the opposite way the microscope shows them moving?

like if an organism actually moves left on a slide does the microscope show if moving right? I think this is true, but I want a second opinion. Thanks!

yes, on most microscopes, the lenses turn the image around, much like the lens in your eye does.

Kobe under a microscope
The Los Angeles Lakers find themselves in an unfamiliar position at a moment in time that is as unique as Ron Artest's choice in hair style.

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