WHAT TO DO IF A NEUTRAL DENSITY FILTER WHEEL GETS STUCK
IN AXIOPLAN
There is a problem with the neutral density filters in Microscope 1 (AxioPlan 1): the
filter wheel may get stuck in between the filters (Fig. 1).
A
B
Figure 1. Neutral density
filters in AxioPlan (red
circle) and control buttons
for turning them (A and B).
Arrows: markings on the
filter wheels that indicate the
percentage of transmitted
light.
When this happens, the HAL indicator light cannot be turned off. However, there is
no transmitted light reaching the specimen, as it is blocked by the mispositioned filter
wheel.
This problem does not affect your fluorescence imaging but prevents you from using
transmitted light.
If you cannot use transmitted light, check if one of the neutral density filter wheels is
stuck: when you look at the filter wheels, you should see numbers marked in white on
both of them (the numbers indicate the percentage of light transmitted) (Fig. 1). If you
do not see any markings on one of the wheels, it is probably stuck.
Try to use the buttons on the right-hand side of the microscope base for changing the
neutral density filters. If they do not work, try changing them through the software
(Fig. 2). For maximum transmitted light intensity, select 100 for both filters. This
means that 100% of light is transmitted through. E.G. 25 means that only 25% of light
is transmitted through the filter. If that does not work either, carefully rotate the stuck
wheel manually or contact MIU.
How to avoid this problem: The filters are set at 100% transmission. Avoid changing
that setting. If, however, you need to change it, do not use the microscope control
buttons. Instead, select the filter through the software. After your session, check that
the filters are not stuck. If they are, follow the instructions given here or contact MIU.
Also, keep in mind that the control buttons for lowering and rising the stage are on
the left-hand side of the microscope. Try not accidentally to press the buttons on the
right-hand side.
Figure 2. Transmitted light window in
AxioVision software. Transmitted light filter 1
and 2 can (if everything works properly) be set
by selecting a proper filter in the drop-down
menu.