Learning Center What is a mineral?The most common minerals on earth Information for Educators Mindat Articles The Elements The Rock H. Currier Digital Library Geologic Time

Minerals by Properties Minerals by Chemistry Advanced Locality Search Random Mineral Random Locality Search by minID Localities Near Me Search Articles Search Glossary More Search Options

The Mindat Manual Add a New Photo Rate Photos Locality Edit Report Coordinate Completion Report Add Glossary Item

Mining Companies Statistics Users Mineral Museums Clubs & Organizations Mineral Shows & Events The Mindat Directory Device Settings The Mineral Quiz

Photo Search Photo Galleries Search by Color New Photos Today New Photos Yesterday Members' Photo Galleries Past Photo of the Day Gallery Photography

Discussions

💬 Home 🔎 Search 📅 Latest

╳Discussions

💬 Home 🔎 Search 📅 Latest

Groups

Recent Images in Discussions

Techniques for CollectorsLets not waste this valuable asset.

23rd May 2015 06:10 UTCJoseph Taggart

It has been two months now since there has been a discussion on this site. I check the site weekly and have been disappointed with the lack of participation. To try and encourage people to stop lurking on the sidelines and start participating, I thought I would throw out for discussion a problem that I think many people have. In the past, the inconvenience of written letters and delays of mail, made international discussions impractical. The internet is a great boon, but here we are wasting it in this site through disuse. Hopefully this posted observation will ignite a discussion, but even if it only incites an argument, that's better than boring silence.

The problem we all have, is how to point at an object on a specimen, so that the next person who looks through the scope knows what object we are referring to. Digital cameras and monitor screens are beautiful, but financially out of reach for most hobbyists. Cross hairs, like on a petrographic microscope, would work but are not readily available for retrofit on most people's microscopes. Does anyone have a suggestion for a homemade way to install something in an existing microscope? Attaching temporary arrows on samples are slow and might damage the sample or dislodge it from the mount. Is there a way to place an arrow in the microscope's light path so the specimen can be moved under the point? Has anyone designed a support for holding a needle or laser pointer on the microscope stage to point at a spot of interest?

23rd May 2015 15:21 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager

We just use a dish of rice to support the specimen with the area of interest in the centre of the field. I didn't realize how West Coast I was until an eastern friend remarked I was using brown rice. I'm sure sprouts won't work!

23rd May 2015 16:03 UTCD. Peck

Joseph, I share your concern with the lack of participation in this forum. Several of the threads that I started were intended to get something going, but were short lived. I guess I just did not pick the right topics.

As to pointers in the field of view, biological scopes for student use often have a pointer in the ocular. It is mounted on the field diaphragm, etched side diown. I think it would be fairly easy to insert one, or inexpensive to have one inserted. I have inserted crosshair reticles in oculars with little difficulty. If one has good matched oculars, it might be desirable to obtain and extra into which the pointer would be inserted for occasional use. If the diameter is the same, there must be a large quantity of oculars with pointers from old student scopes on the "used" market.

25th May 2015 16:55 UTCEugene & Sharon Cisneros Expert

Here is an inexpensive way to add a pointer. The device just slips into the eyepiece tube, just below the field stop.

Eyepiece Pointer

25th May 2015 18:44 UTCBen Kirchner

I agree with Rob, except I use black rice ;) now THAT's West Coast!

26th May 2015 11:35 UTCReinhardt van Vuuren

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the problem but I always aim to put that which I want to show in the middle of the circle and as in focus as possible, the person that can't work out the middle of a circle well... also if there is a colour reference I may use that like see those green needle like Malachite crystals...

4th Jun 2015 03:26 UTCJoseph Taggart

Gene,

Your suggestion is a good one. The only problem is, the Wolfe eyepiece with pointer (and the one from Amscope as well) measures 23mm in diameter. I thought I might be able to find the right size for our Nikon, B&L, and Amscope microscopes, but as of yet I have not had success (they are all 30mm) Don, I do not have a source for used student scopes, but wonder about their diameter as well. Rob and Ben, I use white rice to keep the samples still, but was hoping for something that I could use to point at a really small individual microcrystal.

4th Jun 2015 13:22 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

Zeiss has one that will fit 30mm, but I don't know what they charge for it.

https://www.micro-shop.zeiss.com/index.php?s=187400294014341&l=en&p=us&f=a&i=400000001950&o=&h=25&n=0&si=000000-1095-418#000000-1095-418

I do wonder what the "relaxed" diameter of the pointer is? It might be large enough in that state to not fall down the tube, even though it won't be fully compressed.

4th Jun 2015 16:37 UTCD. Peck

Winding a pointer like the one Gene shows is simple. Choose a short length of pipe with a diameter just slightly greater than the inside diameter of your eyepiece. Wind a tempered steel wire around it so it resembles a spring and then cut off two turns. Fashion one turn into the pointer and compress the second for insertion. It will expand and won't fall out.

15th Jun 2015 01:22 UTCScott Braley

Had to recreate my post since I wasn't logged it...thanks mindat!

I had assumed this forum had been deleted - binning it under "How To" is not intuitive for me.

15th Jun 2015 07:28 UTCJoseph Taggart

David,

The "relaxed" pointer wire did not expand enough to fit tightly in the 30mm tube, so I stretched the ring out a little bit, and even though oval it holds in the 30mm eyepiece good enough for now. I will try to improve on this by trying Don's suggestion, as soon as I can get some tempered steel wire. I'll keep you posted.

15th Jun 2015 10:37 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager

Joseph,

Why not make a copy of your image and ad an arrow in a program like powerpoint or one you are familiar with.

You will be able to point it exactly to the crystal you want to point out and in the case of different minerals, you can even ad different arrows in different colors.

I hope this helps.

Paul.

15th Jun 2015 13:55 UTCNorman King 🌟 Expert

I use arrows, labels, and other graphic aids in many photos. Why not?

15th Jun 2015 14:26 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager

Well, it does not work when you look through a scope (the original question) unless you display the scope image on a screen.

11th Jul 2015 05:34 UTCJoseph Taggart

Don,

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried it, using 0.015" music wire, although it could have been done using 40lb to 50lb test saltwater hard wire fishing leader. I used a pipe to wrap the wire around, but it kept on springing straight. I found that a pair of chain pliers helped a lot to make the loop stay round. I then used a pair of flat pliers to bend one end (a length equal to half the diameter of the eyepiece) of the loop to 90 degrees, forming a radius pointer. The loop is then compressed and slipped into the eyepiece.

11th Jul 2015 16:30 UTCD. Peck

Glad it worked for you, Joseph.

Mindat.org is an outreach project of the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.
Copyright © mindat.org and the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy 1993-2024, except where stated. Most political location boundaries are © OpenStreetMap contributors. Mindat.org relies on the contributions of thousands of members and supporters. Founded in 2000 by Jolyon Ralph.
Privacy Policy - Terms & Conditions - Contact Us / DMCA issues - Report a bug/vulnerability Current server date and time: May 8, 2024 01:00:21

Go to top of page