Dear Confocalists:

I wonder whether Donna's description of a cooling fan-induced vibration is
a common problem with Zeiss confocal microscopes.  I'm fighting with
similar problems on a LSM 410 which sometimes completely disables high
resolution images.

I heard that a solution may be fans with highly reduced vibration levels.
Can anyone offer additional solutions?

Jacques


>
>Air-cooled laser fans are the source of considerable vibration which can
>compromise your resolution. Our solution for an older Zeiss LSM 310 was to
>remove the laser cooling fan from the manufacturer's housing and suspend it
>close to the original position near the laser through a bracket completely
>isolated from the table upon which the LSM is situated.  Although this
>requires some cutting of holes in housings and covers, installation of
>bracket etc.  it is not a very big job and solved the problem completely.
>No amount of bricks or damping material is going to do the job.
>
>
>Donna Arndt-Jovin
>MPI for Biophysical Chemistry
>Dept. of Molecular Biology
>Am Fassberg
>D-37070 Goettingen, Germany
>tel: +49-551-201-1393
>fax: +49-551-201-1467
>e-mail: [log in to unmask]


---------------------------------------
Dr. Jacques Paysan
Universitaet Tuebingen
Institut fuer Physiologie, Abt. II
Ob dem Himmelreich 7
D-72074 Tuebingen
Germany

Telefon: (07071) 29 771 73
Telefax: (07071) 87 815