Confocal Microscopy List

Alignment of MRC 1024 scan head

Classic

List

Threaded

5 messages Options

Tina Carvalho

Alignment of MRC 1024 scan head

Search the CONFOCAL archive at
http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal

Hi, All-

We've given our old BioRad MRC 1024 confocal to another department and,
not surprisingly, it got misaligned during the move. Over the years I had
done a lot of things to it and I kind of know my way through the scan
head, but I never had to do an alignment of the mirrors. Does anyone have
an Idiot's Guide to the alignment?

We have the old OS2 Lasersharp software, not the NT version, nor Radiance.

Season's greetings to all from warm and sunny Honolulu!
Tina

****************************************************************************
* Tina (Weatherby) Carvalho * [hidden email] *
* Biological Electron Microscope Facility * (808) 956-6251 *
* University of Hawaii at Manoa * http://www.pbrc.hawaii.edu/bemf*
****************************************************************************

Stephen Cody

Re: Alignment of MRC 1024 scan head

Search the CONFOCAL archive at
http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal

Dear Tina,

See section 4.7 in MRC-1024 "User Operating Manual" The alignment is
quite well described. Refer to Fig 1.5 as well.

As taught to me by Allan Anderson (ex Bio-Rad now at
www.clearstatesolutions.com ) My only suggestion is that rather than
move M1 to centre the laser in the alignment prism, particularly after
moving your whole system, try centring the laser in the prism my
physically adjusting the position of the whole microscope.

You should find three circular metal covers on the base plate. Remove
these. Below these covers you'll see part of a circular stainless steel
disc, with a single screw visible. Slightly slacken the screw in each
disk. Then place an Allen key in the centre of each disk (Bio-rad
supplied you with a set of silver Allen keys for this purpose). With the
Allen keys located you should be able to rotate the disks with the Allen
keys to move the whole microscope back and forth (relative to the
scanhead), so as to centre the laser in the alignment prism.

After the microscope is aligned as best as you can clamp it into
position again by tightening the screws, and replace the covers. The
mirror "M1" adjustment may be used to fine tune the alignment as per
section 4.7.

The reason why it is better to do this after moving the system is that
it is highly possible your microscope was bumped during transit, and it
is not a great idea to misalign the scanhead to accommodate a misaligned
microscope.

Cheers

Stephen H. Cody
Microscopy Manager
Central Resource for Advanced Microscopy
Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
PO Box 2008 Royal Melbourne Hospital
Victoria, 3050
Australia
Tel: 61 3 9341 3155 Fax: 61 3 9341 3104
email: [hidden email]
www.ludwig.edu.au/labs/confocal.html
www.ludwig.edu.au/confocal

Tip: Learn how to receive reminders about you microscope booking:
www.ludwig.edu.au/confocal/Local/Booking_Hint.htm

-----Original Message-----
From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On
Behalf Of Tina Carvalho
Sent: Friday, 21 December 2007 7:50 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Alignment of MRC 1024 scan head

Search the CONFOCAL archive at
http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal

Hi, All-

We've given our old BioRad MRC 1024 confocal to another department and,
not surprisingly, it got misaligned during the move. Over the years I
had
done a lot of things to it and I kind of know my way through the scan
head, but I never had to do an alignment of the mirrors. Does anyone
have
an Idiot's Guide to the alignment?

We have the old OS2 Lasersharp software, not the NT version, nor
Radiance.

Season's greetings to all from warm and sunny Honolulu!
Tina

************************************************************************
****
* Tina (Weatherby) Carvalho * [hidden email]
*
* Biological Electron Microscope Facility * (808) 956-6251
*
* University of Hawaii at Manoa *
http://www.pbrc.hawaii.edu/bemf*
************************************************************************
****

This communication is intended only for the named recipient and may contain information that is confidential, legally privileged or subject to copyright; the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research does not waiver any rights if you have received this communication in error.
The views expressed in this communication are those of the sender and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research.

Tina Carvalho

Re: Alignment of MRC 1024 scan head

Search the CONFOCAL archive at
http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal

Hi, Stephen-

I'm going through all my old, unfiled emails, and I see that I did not
thank you for your reply (back on Dec. 21). I forwarded this to the people
that inherited our old confocal, and I haven't heard back from them since
we also determined that they probably also needed a new laser. But
thanks! They were delighted to have a response and an idea where to
start. This reminds me that I should give them a call...

Mahalo!
Tina

> See section 4.7 in MRC-1024 "User Operating Manual" The alignment is
> quite well described. Refer to Fig 1.5 as well.
>
> As taught to me by Allan Anderson (ex Bio-Rad now at
> www.clearstatesolutions.com ) My only suggestion is that rather than
> move M1 to centre the laser in the alignment prism, particularly after
> moving your whole system, try centring the laser in the prism my
> physically adjusting the position of the whole microscope.
>
> You should find three circular metal covers on the base plate. Remove
> these. Below these covers you'll see part of a circular stainless steel
> disc, with a single screw visible. Slightly slacken the screw in each
> disk. Then place an Allen key in the centre of each disk (Bio-rad
> supplied you with a set of silver Allen keys for this purpose). With the
> Allen keys located you should be able to rotate the disks with the Allen
> keys to move the whole microscope back and forth (relative to the
> scanhead), so as to centre the laser in the alignment prism.
>
> After the microscope is aligned as best as you can clamp it into
> position again by tightening the screws, and replace the covers. The
> mirror "M1" adjustment may be used to fine tune the alignment as per
> section 4.7.
>
> The reason why it is better to do this after moving the system is that
> it is highly possible your microscope was bumped during transit, and it
> is not a great idea to misalign the scanhead to accommodate a misaligned
> microscope.
>
> Cheers
>
> Stephen H. Cody
> Microscopy Manager
> Central Resource for Advanced Microscopy
> Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
> PO Box 2008 Royal Melbourne Hospital
> Victoria, 3050
> Australia
> Tel: 61 3 9341 3155 Fax: 61 3 9341 3104
> email: [hidden email]
> www.ludwig.edu.au/labs/confocal.html
> www.ludwig.edu.au/confocal
>
> Tip: Learn how to receive reminders about you microscope booking:
> www.ludwig.edu.au/confocal/Local/Booking_Hint.htm
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On
> Behalf Of Tina Carvalho
> Sent: Friday, 21 December 2007 7:50 AM
> To: [hidden email]
> Subject: Alignment of MRC 1024 scan head
>
> Search the CONFOCAL archive at
> http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal
>
> Hi, All-
>
> We've given our old BioRad MRC 1024 confocal to another department and,
> not surprisingly, it got misaligned during the move. Over the years I
> had
> done a lot of things to it and I kind of know my way through the scan
> head, but I never had to do an alignment of the mirrors. Does anyone
> have
> an Idiot's Guide to the alignment?
>
> We have the old OS2 Lasersharp software, not the NT version, nor
> Radiance.
>
> Season's greetings to all from warm and sunny Honolulu!
> Tina
>
> ************************************************************************
> ****
> * Tina (Weatherby) Carvalho * [hidden email]
> *
> * Biological Electron Microscope Facility * (808) 956-6251
> *
> * University of Hawaii at Manoa *
> http://www.pbrc.hawaii.edu/bemf*
> ************************************************************************
> ****
>
>
> This communication is intended only for the named recipient and may contain information that is confidential, legally privileged or subject to copyright; the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research does not waiver any rights if you have received this communication in error.
> The views expressed in this communication are those of the sender and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research.
>
>

****************************************************************************
* Tina (Weatherby) Carvalho * [hidden email] *
* Biological Electron Microscope Facility * (808) 956-6251 *
* University of Hawaii at Manoa * http://www.pbrc.hawaii.edu/bemf*
****************************************************************************

Tina Carvalho

Re: Alignment of MRC 1024 scan head

Search the CONFOCAL archive at
http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal

Oops, that "Reply" is just too easy to push before checking where it
goes... Message meant for individual only...

Aloha, Tina

****************************************************************************
* Tina (Weatherby) Carvalho * [hidden email] *
* Biological Electron Microscope Facility * (808) 956-6251 *
* University of Hawaii at Manoa * http://www.pbrc.hawaii.edu/bemf*
****************************************************************************

Stephen Cody

Re: Alignment of MRC 1024 scan head

In reply to this post by Tina Carvalho

Search the CONFOCAL archive at
http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal

Dear Tina,

Thanks.

BTW this is still via the public forum.

Steve

Stephen H. Cody
Microscopy Manager
Central Resource for Advanced Microscopy
Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
PO Box 2008 Royal Melbourne Hospital
Victoria, 3050
Australia
Tel: 61 3 9341 3155 Fax: 61 3 9341 3104
email: [hidden email]
www.ludwig.edu.au/labs/confocal.html
www.ludwig.edu.au/confocal

Tip: Learn how to receive reminders about you microscope booking:
www.ludwig.edu.au/confocal/Local/Booking_Hint.htm

-----Original Message-----
From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On
Behalf Of Tina Carvalho
Sent: Wednesday, 6 February 2008 7:59 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: Alignment of MRC 1024 scan head

Search the CONFOCAL archive at
http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal

Hi, Stephen-

I'm going through all my old, unfiled emails, and I see that I did not
thank you for your reply (back on Dec. 21). I forwarded this to the
people
that inherited our old confocal, and I haven't heard back from them
since
we also determined that they probably also needed a new laser. But
thanks! They were delighted to have a response and an idea where to
start. This reminds me that I should give them a call...

Mahalo!
Tina

steel
> disc, with a single screw visible. Slightly slacken the screw in each
> disk. Then place an Allen key in the centre of each disk (Bio-rad
> supplied you with a set of silver Allen keys for this purpose). With
the
> Allen keys located you should be able to rotate the disks with the
Allen

> keys to move the whole microscope back and forth (relative to the
> scanhead), so as to centre the laser in the alignment prism.
>
> After the microscope is aligned as best as you can clamp it into
> position again by tightening the screws, and replace the covers. The
> mirror "M1" adjustment may be used to fine tune the alignment as per
> section 4.7.
>
> The reason why it is better to do this after moving the system is that
> it is highly possible your microscope was bumped during transit, and

it
> is not a great idea to misalign the scanhead to accommodate a
misaligned

> microscope.
>
> Cheers
>
> Stephen H. Cody
> Microscopy Manager
> Central Resource for Advanced Microscopy
> Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
> PO Box 2008 Royal Melbourne Hospital
> Victoria, 3050
> Australia
> Tel: 61 3 9341 3155 Fax: 61 3 9341 3104
> email: [hidden email]
> www.ludwig.edu.au/labs/confocal.html
> www.ludwig.edu.au/confocal
>
> Tip: Learn how to receive reminders about you microscope booking:
> www.ludwig.edu.au/confocal/Local/Booking_Hint.htm
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]]

> Behalf Of Tina Carvalho
> Sent: Friday, 21 December 2007 7:50 AM
> To: [hidden email]
> Subject: Alignment of MRC 1024 scan head
>
> Search the CONFOCAL archive at
> http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal
>
> Hi, All-
>
> We've given our old BioRad MRC 1024 confocal to another department

and,

> not surprisingly, it got misaligned during the move. Over the years I
> had
> done a lot of things to it and I kind of know my way through the scan
> head, but I never had to do an alignment of the mirrors. Does anyone
> have
> an Idiot's Guide to the alignment?
>
> We have the old OS2 Lasersharp software, not the NT version, nor
> Radiance.
>
> Season's greetings to all from warm and sunny Honolulu!
> Tina
>
>

************************************************************************
> ****
> * Tina (Weatherby) Carvalho * [hidden email]
> *
> * Biological Electron Microscope Facility * (808) 956-6251
> *
> * University of Hawaii at Manoa *
> http://www.pbrc.hawaii.edu/bemf*
>
************************************************************************
> ****
>
>
> This communication is intended only for the named recipient and may
contain information that is confidential, legally privileged or subject
to copyright; the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research does not waiver
any rights if you have received this communication in error.
> The views expressed in this communication are those of the sender and
do not necessarily reflect the views of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer
Research.
>
>

************************************************************************
****
* Tina (Weatherby) Carvalho * [hidden email]
*
* Biological Electron Microscope Facility * (808) 956-6251
*
* University of Hawaii at Manoa *
http://www.pbrc.hawaii.edu/bemf*
************************************************************************
****

This communication is intended only for the named recipient and may contain information that is confidential, legally privileged or subject to copyright; the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research does not waiver any rights if you have received this communication in error.
The views expressed in this communication are those of the sender and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research.