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Steffen


I apologize for not getting back to you sooner.
I hope this message saves you a lot of time and effort.  Here are a  
few pointers.
1)      A flexible system that separately warms the objective as well  
as the dish.
It is important that the two systems do not conflict with each  
other.  The objective warmers job is to prevent heat loss from the  
specimen only.  It should not be used to warm the specimen. That is  
the job of the specimen warmer. A properly engineered objective  
heater system will not damage the objective.  I have thermographed  
dozens of objectives to characterize their thermal profile when  
heated and cooled.  It is important to know how an objective  
behaves.  Once you know how heat propagates through the objective it  
is easy to thermal regulate it. If you don't know its thermal  
characteristics you are shooting in the dark and subject to making  
mistakes.  That is why I posted this information on my web site.

I have investigated this subject for fifteen years and post the  
results on our web page complete with descriptions, control  
algorithm, pictures of many brands and types of objectives,  
thermographs, time-lapse thermographs both with and without thermal  
isolation of the objective from the nosepiece.  http:// 
www.bioptechs.com/Products/OBJ_HTR/obj_htr.html
Please refer to this website and if you have any further questions  
don't hesitate to contact me.

As for an economical way of warming an ordinary 35mmm culture dish,  
please check out the Bioptechs Stable Z system.  I believe you will  
find that it is the only dish warming system on the market that makes  
sense in its design. It is NOT just a plate of metal with a heater on  
it like so many other "stage warmers". It provides peripheral thermal  
support to any 35mm dish without inducing Z axis drift.  You will  
also find that it cost less than the traditional "stage heating"  
systems that are common on the market today. There is a detailed  
diagram on our website explaining how it works. There you go, same  
heat, less cost, better performance.  http://www.bioptechs.com/ 
Products/Stable_Z/Stable_Z.html


2)      A complete plexiglas chamber which could also be utilized for  
CO2-adjustment.
We do not support boxing the microscope, instead we show you how you  
can set up low volume ,low consumption, localized and humidified CO2  
environments for your specimen without investing in the box.  You  
will find many other alternative methods for temperature, CO2, and  
perfusion control as well as techniques and equipment to accommodate  
a variety of specimen types.  www.bioptechs.com



Dan



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Hello,

I´m going to build a heating stage/chamber in order to do live  
imaging at 37°C with the ordinary 35mm-dishes . Due to lack of  
experience with these systems are there any general advices about  
eventual pitfalls or what works perfectly fine/not? Are there  
eventually some instruction guidelines out there?
Since I´ve built a complete home-made scope, I´m not particularly  
limited in terms of space or compatibility to Zeiss, Olympus, Leica  
etc. Currently, I´ve two separate systems in mind:
1)      A flexible system that separately warms the objective as well  
as the dish.
-          Does that work efficiently or is the loss of heat too  
significant rendering this method rather meaningless?
-          Any recommendations where to get such warming equipment  
for reasonable prices?
2)      A complete plexiglas chamber which could also be utilized for  
CO2-adjustment.
-          Are these incubation chambers so relatively big volume- 
wise because of trying to avoid significant flows which could disturb  
the sample? Or is it of other practical reasons?
-          What kind of heating source (ventilator) would you  
suggest, any particular recommendations?

Many thanks in advance for taking the time, I´m happy about any advice.

Best regards,

Steffen


Steffen Steinert, Dipl.-Ing.



Dan Focht
Bioptechs
3560 Beck Rd.
Butler, PA 16002
V724-282-7145
F724-282-0745
Micro-Environmental Control Systems
www.bioptechs.com