Apotome grid - weak or abused?

[Chris Wood-5]

We have a Zeiss Axioobserver Z1 in a multi-user facility, and one of the users
just came up to me with the remains of the strutured illumination grid (VH) in
her hand. Apparently she withdrew the slider, went to replace the VH grid with
the VL grid, and found the glass grid had separated from the metal frame. You
can see where the grid is glued to the frame in just two of the corners, and in
one of the corners there's a tiny sliver of glass still stuck to the frame that
has broken away from the main grid.

I'd like to ask the list if the same has happened to any other Apotome users.
Of course I can't rule out that the grid was mistreated, but I strongly suspect
that it was the heat from the fluorescence illumination that has stressed the
grid, causing it to crack and fail. When the slider it was removed from the
scope this last time, the grid was properly in place in it's mounting point, so
can't see that it suffered much physical abuse while mounted inside the
scope. If this is has happened to other users, to the extent that it might be
classified as a design fault, I just might be able to persuade Zeiss to replace
the defective part.

I'd also like to attempt to repair it, at least before accepting the near-
inevitable and buying a new one. The glass sits snugly in the frame, and will
sit flush with the sliver that remains glued to the frame, so I'm fairly confident
that I'll be able to realign it correctly. My question is - which glue should I use
to stick it back in the frame? Superglue would seem the obvious choice, but
will it resist the high temperatures in the illumination pathway?

Many thanks in advance for any advice,

Chris Wood
Instituto de Biotecnología
UNAM

[Mark Cannell]

Hi Chris

Superglue is not a good choice for glass. High temps also make epoxy
problematic. I'd be tempted to try high temp RTV sealant -the type used
to make engine gaskets it's usually red but should adhere to glass well.

My 2c

Mark Cannell

Chris Wood wrote:

> We have a Zeiss Axioobserver Z1 in a multi-user facility, and one of the users
> just came up to me with the remains of the strutured illumination grid (VH) in
> her hand. Apparently she withdrew the slider, went to replace the VH grid with
> the VL grid, and found the glass grid had separated from the metal frame. You
> can see where the grid is glued to the frame in just two of the corners, and in
> one of the corners there's a tiny sliver of glass still stuck to the frame that
> has broken away from the main grid.
>
> I'd like to ask the list if the same has happened to any other Apotome users.
> Of course I can't rule out that the grid was mistreated, but I strongly suspect
> that it was the heat from the fluorescence illumination that has stressed the
> grid, causing it to crack and fail. When the slider it was removed from the
> scope this last time, the grid was properly in place in it's mounting point, so
> can't see that it suffered much physical abuse while mounted inside the
> scope. If this is has happened to other users, to the extent that it might be
> classified as a design fault, I just might be able to persuade Zeiss to replace
> the defective part.
>
> I'd also like to attempt to repair it, at least before accepting the near-
> inevitable and buying a new one. The glass sits snugly in the frame, and will
> sit flush with the sliver that remains glued to the frame, so I'm fairly confident
> that I'll be able to realign it correctly. My question is - which glue should I use
> to stick it back in the frame? Superglue would seem the obvious choice, but
> will it resist the high temperatures in the illumination pathway?
>
> Many thanks in advance for any advice,
>
> Chris Wood
> Instituto de Biotecnología
> UNAM
>  

[chakravarthi]

We had similar situation three years back in our Apotome which was attached to the Axioplan 2 Imaging system.  
The grid fell inside the microscope body, we removed the grid (glass) from microscope and fixed to the Aptome grid metal frame using superglue. It is still working fine.

N.R.Chakravarthi
Technical Officer
Centre for Cellualr and Molecualr Biology
Hyderabad, INDIA.

-- Original Message --
From: Chris Wood <[hidden email]>
To: [hidden email]
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2009 17:24:11 -0500
Subject: Apotome grid - weak or abused?

We have a Zeiss Axioobserver Z1 in a multi-user facility, and one of the users
just came up to me with the remains of the strutured illumination grid (VH) in
her hand. Apparently she withdrew the slider, went to replace the VH grid with
the VL grid, and found the glass grid had separated from the metal frame. You
can see where the grid is glued to the frame in just two of the corners, and in
one of the corners there's a tiny sliver of glass still stuck to the frame that
has broken away from the main grid.

I'd like to ask the list if the same has happened to any other Apotome users.
Of course I can't rule out that the grid was mistreated, but I strongly suspect
that it was the heat from the fluorescence illumination that has stressed the
grid, causing it to crack and fail. When the slider it was removed from the
scope this last time, the grid was properly in place in it's mounting point, so
can't see that it suffered much physical abuse while mounted inside the
scope. If this is has happened to other users, to the extent that it might be
classified as a design fault, I just might be able to persuade Zeiss to replace
the defective part.

I'd also like to attempt to repair it, at least before accepting the near-
inevitable and buying a new one. The glass sits snugly in the frame, and will
sit flush with the sliver that remains glued to the frame, so I'm fairly confident
that I'll be able to realign it correctly. My question is - which glue should I use
to stick it back in the frame? Superglue would seem the obvious choice, but
will it resist the high temperatures in the illumination pathway?

Many thanks in advance for any advice,

Chris Wood
Instituto de Biotecnologa
UNAM

[Chris Wood-5]

Thanks for the suggestions, for the record, off-list I received a couple of tips
to try with UV-curing optical adhesive. I'm not sure if I can find any locally,
and I'm not sure I can wait the three months it would take to arrive from the
States, but I had a hunt around and Norland Products
(www.norlandproducts.com) seem to offer a wide range of different options.

I hope this is of use to the list in general, thanks to all who replied.

Saludos

Chris Wood
Instituto de Biotecnología
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México