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 [log in to unmask] 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 ? > ___________________________________________________________________ >