Components Of The Microscope - Swift M3-M Use And Care Manual

Components of the Microscope

ARM – the frame that connects the head and the base of the
microscopes. It also houses the illumination switch, carrying handle,
stage ring, coaxial focus controls, and the incident (top) light.
BASE – attaches to the bottom of the M3 with a thumb screw
located underneath the tripod base. The tripod legs extend out to
ensure stable footing or fold in for storage.
*
M3
* The can also be mounted on a standard camera tripod for use in the
field.
COAXIAL CONTROLS – the coaxial focusing system combines both
the coarse and fine focus into one focusing mechanism located on
both sides of the microscope. The large gray knob is the coarse
focus control and the smaller blue knob is the fine focus control.
COARSE FOCUS – the larger, outer knob of the focus control which
facilitates rapid and heavy movement of the focusing mechanism. In
order to prevent gear damage, the focus control is equipped with
an upper limit stop that protects the high magnification objectives and
slides.
DIOPTER ADJUSTMENT (M3-B & M3-F only) – located on the left
eyepiece of the binocular head, this adjustment compensates for
the differences between the users' eyes.
EYEPIECE(S) – the upper optical element that further magnifies the
primary image of the specimen and brings the light rays into focus at
the eye point. The M3 has widefield 10X magnification eyepiece(s)
with an 18mm field of view.
FINE FOCUS – the smaller, inner knobs of the coaxial control which
allow for slow and subtle focusing movement to bring the specimen into
sharp focus.
HEAD – the upper portion of the microscope which contains the
refracting prisms and the eyepiece tubes which hold the eyepieces.
Note that the head rotates, allowing operation from the front or
back.
ILLUMINATION – the Swift M3 uses a low voltage Light Emitting
Diode (LED) for both transmitted (bottom) and incident (top) light.
(The illumination system may be used while the M3 is charging.)
IRIS DIAPHRAGM – The iris diaphragm is a round device that is
mounted below the stage. It has multiple leaves similar to a
camera shutter. Moving the control lever from side-to-side causes the
opening in the diaphragm increases or decreases, allowing the user to
control the contrast of the specimen. If the image is "washed out" the
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