Mercury Lamp Precautions - Help Please

dolmadis · Post by **dolmadis** » Thu Dec 10, 2015 7:13 am

I am preparing for receipt of a Fluorescence lamp and filters for my PZO Biolar.

There is nothing in the kit to act as a shield at nose piece/stage level so I thought it would be best to purchase eye protection for UV to standard BS EN 170:2002 in the form of a visor or an over spectacles piece.

BS stands for British Standard as I live in the UK.

To my surprise having contacted several of the larger safety suppliers they are unable to supply to BS EN 170:2002BS EN 170:2002

So my next question is to Members; What do you use?

Not necessary for replies to relate direct to the UK.

Many thanks

John

Pau · Post by **Pau** » Thu Dec 10, 2015 8:25 am

I've adapted with a bit of DIY work a new old stock Nikon UV shield to my Zeiss Standard.
Some ones for sale at reasonable prices:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Olympus-BX-micr ... SwkNZUdrwx

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nikon-Light-Shi ... SwPhdVIrQN

Also very importat to be sure that your emision fiter is really effective cutting off UV

dolmadis · Post by **dolmadis** » Thu Dec 10, 2015 9:25 am

Thanks Pau.

These links will prove helpful.

I intended also to only use Canon Live View on a Trino that is 100% extinction to the trino chimney and eliminate eyepiece viewing or focussing.

I presume that precaution will reduce the risks further?

Regards

John

g4lab · Post by **g4lab** » Thu Dec 10, 2015 1:18 pm

Those light shields only started appearing about 15 or maybe 20 years ago.
Fluorescence microscopy before that did not have them and I personally used lots of scopes lit by arc lamps both mercury and xenon and never got a sunburn. Of course don't leave your hand in the beam or stare into it.

In my (not that humble) opinion it is possible to overdo safety things. Lexan polycarbonate safety glasses are widely available for almost nothing and they stop ultra violet very well. Clear Lexan filters are used in gemology to block the UV from fluorescent tubes that are lighting diamonds for color grading because fluorescence causes incorrect grading. And it is just plain Lexan from the plastics company. This has been spectrophotometrically confirmed. (reference on request)

The safety glasses spec (doesn not include UV transmission) is something like Z86 and the Lexan material used in most glasses that meet that spec (which I believe is impact resistance using a ball bearing projectile) is usually CR 84
https://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/ ... y-glasses/

Safety glasses with Amber tinting will reduce the UV even more and ones rated for use by welders would also probably satisfy the most stringent requirements.

I have replaced dozens of arc lamps and usually do the initial centering by taking it off and shining it on a wall across the room. As long as the arc lamp is safely ensconced in a lamp house I never worried much about the UV. Don't point it at your eyes or at anyone elses eyes. The main hazard of arc lamps is the quartz envelope popping , sending out white hote quartz shrapnel at near bullet speed. All lamphouses are designed to contain this occurence.

All that said I would not leave my hand on the stage. Make sure you have a working mechanical stage. You don't want to start a skin cancer. (this was a common occurence in surgeons using X-Ray image intensifiers in the OR. Even with leaded gloves)

The glass in the viewing system and the cement in the prisms also attenuates UV. The cutoff wavelength varies but very little UV-B gets through. Not that much UV A either.

(PS the above cavilier attitude only applies to lamphouses assembled by major microscope manufacturers. Additionally I do not extend that attitude to deuterium lamp spectral sources which give you a sunburn FAAST! They are also more tempting to be incautious with because they are not as dramatic as arc lamps. They don't explode and don't get white hot. But their spectral output RISES as wavelength decreases. They put out a lot of shortwave)

dolmadis · Post by **dolmadis** » Thu Dec 10, 2015 2:31 pm

Many thanks for the input Gene.

John

Cyk-Cyk · Post by **Cyk-Cyk** » Fri Dec 11, 2015 1:54 pm

I found face protection for dentist with UVA and UVB filters. It cost me about 8 EUR, Should be bi enough to cover whole stage and was much cheaper.

Now I need to find way to mount it.

dolmadis · Post by **dolmadis** » Sat Dec 12, 2015 12:50 am

Hi Lukasz

Is this what you mean please?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Denshine-Dentis ... +face+mask

If not could you post me a link to your purchase?

Many Thanks

John

Cyk-Cyk · Post by **Cyk-Cyk** » Sat Dec 12, 2015 1:07 am

Something similar. Mine is orange.
It's polish store and I'm not sure if they sent abroad, but maybe you have similar store where you live?

http://www.pd.sklep.pl/product_info.php ... zowa-p-417

dolmadis · Post by **dolmadis** » Sat Dec 12, 2015 1:14 am

Many thanks Lukasz.

I have a good friend in Poland.

BR

John