Switch on procedure

The instructions below assume that the standard six-position nosepiece is fitted to the DM6 microscope with three lenses installed: 20x, 40x and 63x. It also assumes that the SuperZ Galvo stage is fitted.

Turn on the PC and the Supply Unit. It doesn't matter which one you turn on first. Press the power button on the front of the PC and turn on the Supply Unit by switching on the Power and Laser buttons on the side of the Supply Unit and turning the key 1/4 turn clockwise to the vertical position. The PC can be turned on without switching on the rest of the system so you can analyse or copy data.

Slide down the hatch on the front of the microscope chamber. Make sure there is no sample on the stage. Turn on the LED if it is hard to see inside the chamber. Rotating the white dial clockwise on the top of the chamber will turn on the LED. You will hear a click when the switch turns on, after which the dial increases the brightness of the LED. It can also be switched on and off using the foot switch. If you turn the dial on and see no light, try pressing down the foot switch.

The DM6 is a fixed stage microscope, which means that the objective lens nosepiece moves up and down when the focus is adjusted and not the stage. This unusual design is used for techniques where the sample must be kept very stable, such as electrophysiological experiments; where probes might be inserted into the specimen.

The imaging software has a module called LASX Navigator, which allows one to acquire images from multiple adjacent and non-adjacent fields; to stitch together adjacent images; and to survey the sample with overview images. To use this module the stage must be initialised when the software opens. During the initialisation process the stage will move to its farthest limits, which could potentially damage microscope and specimen.

To avoid the possibility of damage to the objective lens, raise the focus so the objective lens is far away from the stage. There are no focus knobs on the microscope stand itself but there are coarse and fine focus knobs on the STP8000 controller. The inner of the two focus knobs is the coarse focus.
To prevent damage to the brightfield condenser as the stage initialises, lower the condenser by rotating its focus knob anticlockwise until the front lens is clear of the bottom of the stage.

Double-click the LASX icon on the desktop.