OPTARC PUMA, User Manual

Page 1: ...l Document created 03 07 2021 Last edited 12 08 2021 Manual prepared by OptArc Designers and manufacturers of custom optical and optoelectronic systems using 3D printing rapid prototyping and based in the UK See optarc co uk for details ...

Page 2: ...t close appropriate adult supervision Likewise keep PUMA systems away from pets Risk of damage to eyesight When choosing and using a light source for a PUMA microscope care must be taken to avoid the use of or exposure to light that could damage eyesight In particular never allow direct or specular reflections of the sun to enter the microscope through the illuminating mirror Also never allow lase...

Page 3: ...UMA 7 Foundation scope 7 Anatomy of a PUMA Foundation Scope 8 Unboxing and Initial Assembly 10 Unboxing 10 Assembling the Microscope 13 Filter slider trays and retention collars 18 Making Observations 19 How to place a specimen on the stage 19 How to focus the scope 20 Attaching a camera 20 Eyepiece Camera 21 C Mount Camera 21 Smartphone Camera 21 Advice for Good Illumination 22 Upgrades 24 Higher...

Page 4: ...Modulator SLM 29 Binocular Head 29 Z Motor 30 Maintenance 31 Avoid excessive heat 31 Moisture and condensation 31 Lens care 31 Lubricating the focus mechanism 32 Adjusting the belt tension 34 Adjusting the optical axis of the optical tube 35 Disposal and Recycling 37 Recycling of PLA Plastic in the UK 37 Recycling of PLA Plastic outside the UK 37 Electronics 37 Index 38 PUMA Foundation Scope Page ...

Page 5: ...yone attempting to build or use a PUMA microscope or other PUMA related material accessory module or derivative is hereby advised that there will be risk involved in 3D printing post print processing assembly and usage of the resulting structures This risk includes without limitation the risk of personal damage and loss of resources Dr Paul J Tadrous TadPath and OptArc cannot accept any liability ...

Page 6: ...y IC Integrated Circuit LED Light Emitting Diode NA Numerical Aperture PLA Poly lactic acid PUMA Portable Upgradeable Modular Affordable QR Quick Release mechanism for attaching the optical tube RMS Royal Microscopical Society SLM Spatial Light Modulator STL Stereolithography file a file format for meshes PUMA Foundation Scope Page 6 of 40 User s Manual v1 0 ...

Page 7: ...any of the other PUMA configurations all the way to an advanced research microscope with motorised Z stage and TFT screens for augmented reality optical image overlay and Fourier optics digital light processing binocular or trinocular viewports fluorescence phase contrast polarisation and more Out of the box the OptArc PUMA Foundation scope comes with a high quality Plan Achromat x4 objective and ...

Page 8: ...and common maintenance as well as understanding the instructions in the rest of this manual Note that these illustrations may differ in aspects of detail from your Foundation scope because they were prepared with slightly earlier prototypes for example the leg spacers contain an extra nut on them which is not part of the spec of a modern Foundation scope but none of these differences invalidate th...

Page 9: ...via a tri helical flexure thread called the quick release mechanism or simply the QR mechanism This is composed of a male part attached to the bottom of the filter block and which contains the thread for the objective which mates with a female part that is an integral component of the focus platform The mirror illumination system is composed of several parts as shown The mirror itself is the glass...

Page 10: ...to cut open the box sealing tape Step 2 Remove the instruction manual and top loose packing filler material to reveal the bubble wraped package which contains all the parts Step 3 Gently lift out the bubble wrapped package from the box and lay it on a flat solid work surface Remove the box and loose packaging filler material from the work area The package is enclosed in two layers of bubble wrap C...

Page 11: ...ottom and be damaged Remove the small white box that contains the ocular lens and put it to one side on the work surface as shown Cut the tape that holds everything in place in the boat and remove the simple filter block and the monocular tube and lay them to one side Also remove the mirror packet and put it to one side Step 5 Remove the test slide in its protective case by sliding it out from und...

Page 12: ...ive after that see pictures below You can now remove the protective cap that was taped across this bottom aperture and keep it to one side this is a protective cap for your eyepiece Step 7 Remove the paper boat completely and remove the various small parts package that is sandwiched in between the stage and focus platform near the back as shown Step 8 Take the parts out of the various small parts ...

Page 13: ...sed so as to accommodate the various parts that are packed in between the stage and the focus platform This means the focus mechanism springs will be fully compressed so the next thing to do is lower the focus platform a little to take some of the compression off these springs Do this by turning the coarse focus wheel a few turns as shown in the figure When looking at the scope from the top aspect...

Page 14: ...the front two legs which have the plastic foot part pre threaded onto the metal spacer Make these finger tight For the back leg you choose whether you want to use the plastic foot only this will allow the scope to tilt backwards for ease of manual viewing or use a metal spacer plastic foot combination as you used for the front legs this will make all 3 legs of equal height so help keep the stage l...

Page 15: ...wn in the figure It is advised to insert the lower filter first because you can use the base aspect of the filter block as a guide to prevent angling the filter upwards across into the upper slot The top filter can then be inserted and so the already sited lower filter will help prevent angling the top filter downwards Step 6 Screw the monocular tube into the top of the simple filter block by mean...

Page 16: ...lters and filter slots facing back towards the focus gears see picture However this QR fitting is a rotational mechanism so start with the optical tube orientated 90 degrees anticlockwise so the lug on the filter bock faces left as shown and lower the optical tube into its receptacle hole in the focus platform till the tips of the three threads stop it going down any further At this point ensure t...

Page 17: ...PUMA Foundation Scope Page 17 of 40 User s Manual v1 0 ...

Page 18: ...9 mm or the total thickness of the filter tray mechanism once the retention collar is in place will be too thick to go into a filter slot in the filter block you might get away with thicker filters if you only use the lower filter slot keeping the upper slot unoccupied but then you won t be able to properly retain the filter with the split ring filter retention collar To fit the filter ensure the ...

Page 19: ...slide It is best to do it this way rather than fix the stage clip on away from the slide and rotate the clip onto the slide because that method will create tiny glass fragments as the metal clip scrapes over the edge of the glass slide and this glass dust is a health hazard and also could cause scratches on your optical lens surfaces over time The online video illustrates this safe method and how ...

Page 20: ...lash to take you back to best focus Coarse focus may be quite hard to move in some cases If that is the case you can perform all focus action with the fine focus gear it will just take more turns to reach your destination Attaching a camera A camera or camera adapter is not supplied as part of the standard PUMA Foundation scope package but with suitable additional equipment it is possible to take ...

Page 21: ...er to be used with a PUMA microscope and they fit into the ocular holder assembly in place of an ocular lens i e the ocular lens must be removed Smartphone Camera A smartphone camera can be used by means of a smartphone to eyepiece adapter as shown in the figure These adapters fit over a standard ocular lens and allow the smartphone to be held in such a way as to centre its camera lens over the mi...

Page 22: ...inal image quality will be An ideal source is a cloudy daytime sky with the microscope outdoors or very close to a large window the further you are from the window the more of the surrounding structure will be captured by the mirror such as window frame etc and we have already noted that structured illumination is suboptimal The PUMA Foundation scope mirror is articulated so it can be conveniently...

Page 23: ...e condenser upgrade Another advantage of using the PUMA Abbe condenser upgrade module is that is comes with a filter slot which allows you to shape the Fourier aperture of the condenser so you can achieve advanced imaging modalities such as dark ground dark field microscopy and Schlieren phase contrast These can be achieved with simple fixed filters and do not require the use of the electronic spa...

Page 24: ...r The Foundation scope comes with a x4 objective and x10 ocular and so it gives 4x10 40 times total magnification PUMA uses standard RMS thread objectives which have a mechanical tube length of 160 mm and a conjugate focal distance of 195 mm You cannot use 185 mm conjugate focus objectives with PUMA You can use 195 objectives with a 170 mm mechanical tube length such as old Leitz objectives These ...

Page 25: ...will not be able to see the whole augmented reality heads up display AR HUD interface if you use a x20 ocular OptArc supplies high quality Plan Achromat objectives but you can also use legacy objectives from Olympus Zeiss and Leitz as well as other professional microscope manufacturers Beware of cheap generic lenses Many other brands or generic RMS objectives can also be purchased very cheaply how...

Page 26: ...lumination Regardless of which light source is used the PUMA Abbe condenser module has a filter slot which allows a filter type aperture to be used to shape the aperture of the Fourier plane of the condenser and so provide for advanced illumination effects such as dark ground microscopy dark field microscopy Schlieren type phase contrast using normal objectives not phase objectives Rheinberg filte...

Page 27: ...tor offers access to the illuminated field stop which is also controlled by filters that are cross compatible with the filters used for the condenser aperture described above the illuminating aperture stop The standard Köhler illuminator gives good uniform illumination for objectives of x10 to x100 oil The field of view of the x4 objective is a little too wide for the standard Köhler setup and wil...

Page 28: ... up display It also allows the use of the epi illumination and trinocular port options described below The infinity tube lens option is a concession to design and is not ideal because it has too short a focal length 100 mm compared to the focal length of most infinity microscope tube lenses about 250 mm This means that infinity objectives used with this option show a high degree of field curvature...

Page 29: ...ming live cell events and more This is controlled by the PUMA Control Console and requires the use of the advanced filter block Spatial Light Modulator SLM The PUMA SLM is a semitransparent TFT screen filter that is computer controlled such as with the PUMA Control Console It acts as an electronic active matrix filter and is most powerful when used in the Fourier plane of the Abbe condenser provid...

Page 30: ...articularly helpful in reducing the image wobble that is noticeable when doing manual focussing with high power objectives The stage Z motor is a stepper motor and must be powered by a suitable stepper motor driver logic circuit it cannot be driven by simple electrical connection like a continuous DC motor A suitable stepper driver is the ULN2003 Darlington pair IC If you do not want to build your...

Page 31: ...e Furthermore PLA plastic is biodegradable so having aqueous solutions stagnating inside its components could hasten degradation although noticeable effects may take several years For these reasons please protect your scope from the rain and do not immerse it in liquid The lenses of the microscope should also be protected from moisture and condensation because if any water or other solution gets i...

Page 32: ...il immersion objectives only use synthetic immersion oil that is designed for use with microscope objectives such as OptArc immersion oil because other types of oil may damage the lens surface or cements used in fixing the lenses in place Do not let oil seep into the spring mechanism of the objective so keep an oiled objective facing downwards until you have wiped the oil off it Wipe oil off an oi...

Page 33: ...sunk screw cup washer falls down onto the undersurface of the focus platform so as to expose the surface of the nut in the focus pulley and the thread of the focus post bolt With your free hand apply grease to the focus bolt thread and the surface of the focus pulley nut It may help to use an applicator like a thin strip of plastic but whatever you use ensure that it does not have free surface deb...

Page 34: ...evel of tension and this is the level of tension of a new belt with the eccentric belt tensioning devices set to their minimum setting Over a period of several years it may become necessary to tighten the belt a little but do not over tension them When adjusting belt tension note that each of the three arms of the belt should be of equal tension The procedure performed for each of the three belt t...

Page 35: ...ical tube is not fully rotated into the QR mechanism that holds it to the baseplate This can happen during normal use as one handles the optical tube 5 If you are observing with a camera it could just be that the camera is not fixed flat against the eyepiece or if the camera is heavy and unbalanced e g if using a smartphone with an eyepiece adapter it could be causing the eyepiece or optical tube ...

Page 36: ...ng it one way or the other Step 3 When the desired level is reached re tighten the grub screw Take care not to screw this in too much or it can damage the system and prevent it from being adjusted again You just want enough pressure to make it difficult to turn the adjustable articulation PUMA Foundation Scope Page 36 of 40 User s Manual v1 0 ...

Page 37: ...ls in the UK will not accept PLA plastic in their recycle bin waste PLA should therefore be disposed of in general household waste or sent to a specific facility that will accept it for recycling Those with the ability to do so may also grind used PLA and reform it into usable 3D printer filament Recycling of PLA Plastic outside the UK Please consult with your local authorities for recycling advic...

Page 38: ...ildren 2 clinical diagnostics 5 coarse focus gear 33 coatings 31 condensation 31 conjugate focal distance 24 control box 27 copyright 5 countersunk screw cup washer 33 D dark field 23 dark ground 23 26 Disposal 37 DIY 7 Double header 30 dust cap 32 dust cover 32 E eccentric belt tensioning device 34 Epi fluorescence 28 epi illumination 28 Epi polarisation 28 ergo head 29 ergonomical viewing 29 eye...

Page 39: ... lens 28 intermediate focus gear 33 J Journal of Microscopy 24 K Köhler 27 L laser 2 LED 27 Legal Information 5 legs 14 lens brush 32 Lens care 31 lens cleaning solution 32 lens cloth 32 lens coatings 32 lenses 31 light source 27 long legs upgrade 25 Lubricating 32 M maintenance 31 mechanical tube length 24 mirror elements 32 mirror holder 9 mirror suspend plain 9 mirror to baseplate 9 14 Moisture...

Page 40: ...screw cup washer 33 sky 22 slide 19 35 slide holder 29 smartphone 35 smartphone camera 21 spatial light modulator 26 Spatial Light Modulator 29 specimen 19 stage 9 33 stage clip 19 stepper motor 30 sun 2 T thumbscrews 9 14 timing belt 9 34 Trade Marks 5 trans polarisation 28 trinocular port 29 tripost architecture 9 U ULN2003 30 Unboxing 10 upgrades 7 24 V Vernier 35 Vernier scale 29 Video 10 13 2...