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Hello Confocal BB,
        I have a question relating to care and cleaning of oil immersion objectives.  The high mag 1.4NA  PlanApo objective on our microscope has just had a total failure of the sealing gasket that prevents oil from entering the objective. Fortunately, we use an upright microscope! Years ago, after seeing numerous positive reports about using Sparkle glass cleaner as an objective cleaner,  we switched from using ether.  I believe that we have probably been using the Sparkle for 3-4 years now.   The objective is used nearly daily Mon-Fri  and is about seven years old.  I had never seen a failure such as this  and I wondered if other microscopists had seen similar failures; especially if you are using Sparkle?  Thanks for any information that you would care to share.

Best Regards,
Ken

Ken Orndorff
Supervisor-Imaging
H.C. Englert Cell Analysis Lab
Dartmouth College/DMS/NCCC
Borwell Building Room 338 West
One Medical Center Drive
Lebanon, NH  03756

Phone 603-650-7661
FAX    603-650-6130
email  [log in to unmask]