Steve,
 A little dab of modelling clay at the corners of your slide will work
well, even on a flat surface.  For our confocal and a neuron tracing
system the slides go onto a removeable stage ring that has been machined
such that the ends of the slide rest on an inset ledge.  A little clay
at the corners fills the gap between slide and ring.
 
 
Glen MacDonald
   Research Scientist
Hearing Research Laboratories of the
Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center
Box 35-7923
University of Washington
Seattle, WA  98195-7923
(206) 616-4156
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On Wed, 28 Feb 1996, STEVEN BAGLEY wrote:
 
> hi,
> just something i noticed the other day ....
>
> If you use immersion media on a slide then try to view the sample
> using a xz scan i have noticed that the z step is not quite correct.
> I believe that the immersion fluid's viscocity cause the slide to
> move slightly. This is quite a problem when registering images or
> trying to get unblurred images with an xz scan. I am currently adding
        > stage clamps to the confocal stage to reduce this problem, has
> anybody else had such problems ?
>
> To check that this was the cause i taped the slide down with strong
> sellotape, low and behold very little blurring in the z direction.
>
> I wonder how many new microscopes have good stage clamps ?
>
> Hope this has helped,
>
>
>  __________________________________________________________________
>    Steve Bagley
>    The Confocal Microscope Facility
>    Cells, Immunology and Development        Voice:   0161 275 6771
>    University of Manchester                 Fax:     0161 275 3915
>
>
>                    http://gonzo.sci.man.ac.uk/~sbagley/
>
>          If you tied buttered toast to the back of a cat and
>             dropped it from a height, what would happen ?
>    ___________________________________________________________________
>