For all of us struggling to get our simple, mundane equipment aligned and running... NASA guys need only half a year to get all those mirrors & detectors to line up! Anyone who has witnessed a rocket launch knows that the shaking (even at the distance of of mile) is pretty serious.

Motorising the scope is only a matter of figuring out the pins, most consist of 2 stepper motors and 4 limiters, so that's only 14 pins, which is why many use 15-pin connectors (DB15/VGA or DB15 2 rows type), one would be ground. Simply disassemble the stage and take a multimeter to the 8 pins you'...

Great info, thanks a lot. I have some modest skill with things mechanical and optical, been fabricating metal spares, done mods etc. to some older hardware (Zetopan, Phomi, PZO Biolar etc.). But these more modern things can be as you say very challenging esp. with electronics, IRB fine tuning even w...

Nice idea and rendering! Spirogyras have a fair bit of variability. Tighter and more loosely wound, smoother and more convoluted ribbons like you have etc. Here all are single strands but even in the same location one can with some luck find double and triple strand types. Beautifully intertwined in...

Nice image and a great project indeed. I wish you luck with it. I have been shown a IRB model that might become available when the lab upgrades. So that is without "E". I don't much care or know about electronics. Do you know how much simpler i.e. "mechanical" that IRB model is? Or does one always h...

Trichina (Trichinella spiralis here) is a nematoid that can encapsulate itself in a muscle. Once the meat is eaten the capsule dissolves in the stomach, the larva multiplies and burrows to the tissues of the new host. Trichinous meat can be major problem. Has e.g. wiped off a few polar expeditions -...

Very nice work on these weird creatures. Maybe with a palette that striking you can't hide and will quickly be eaten...

Excellent advice given above. Perhaps I may chime in a bit from my experience. Been doing several of these conversions now, for Reichert, PZO, Zeiss and Lomo units. The key to get the ball rolling for me was the word BuckBlock. Easy to make the unit using those circuits and a potentiometer. Sometime...

Interesting reading & excellent info, thanks john w! Yes, indeed uniform background in my sample. Its a shame I can't anymore get info on its making. Just comparing the color in BF to e.g. www.hindawi.com/journals/scientifica/2015/802980 pics makes me think it likely isn't pure Picro Sirius Red. Muc...

Thanks Chris R.
Cheers, Karl

Excellent work! Indeed a striking species to watch. This was a very clean and beautiful set-up but when dirt is around it is still fascinating to follow: how it goes about its poking, its exploration method. Collective mind of some strange kind...

Thanks Pau. Indeed there is much else than tendon in these slides, ligaments, muscle, adipose stuff. Often a bit ripped - I can imagine cutting these parts must be tricky given such varying toughness in tissues. Don't have access to good microtome nor expertise to operate one, but would be nice to s...

I knew collagen can be intensely birefringent but in res. papers and in my previous slides never got much feeling for it. They were mostly rather dull. Then by chance got a new (but not recently made) tendon etc. slide and it blew the lid off. It was also surprise since from the outset it seemed pre...

To avoid micrometering every cover glass in a batch... there is apparently an emerging ISO standard 1.5H which guarantees 0.17-0.18mm. It seems to have come with superresolution microcopy stuff but everyone could benefit (at hi mag). Not as easy to find but several outlets exits, ThorLabs, Zeiss etc...

These things are so refreshingly oldfashioned. Timeless, opposite to all the modern visual garbage and quick fix nonsense!
Thanks for showing.