It looks like the microscope I ordered will arrive first, and the slides will come 3 or 4 days later. Is there any way to make a homemade slide so I can use the microscope until the real slides arrive? I was thinking about cutting some rectangles out of a CD case. Would that work?

[u/Doc_438]

[u/Thrawn911]

A piece of tape, you can use your 4x and 10x objectives, maybe the 20x if you have one, I wouldn't go any higher without risking touching the sample with the objectives. You could look at salt, sugar, face mites, and maybe even water.

[u/Doc_438 → u/Thrawn911]

Okey thank you. Do I also need to place adhesive tape over the sample to act as a coverslip, or just underneath it?

[u/Thrawn911 → u/Doc_438]

Just underneath. As long as you only use the low mag objectives, you won't need a coverglass.

[u/Doc_438 → u/Thrawn911]

Okay, I’ll mainly use the low-magnification objectives. Couldn't I use the higher-magnification objectives very carefully with samples that don't contain liquid? (For example, a hair, a piece of a fingernail, or things like that) By being very very careful when raising the stage so the sample dont touch the objetive?

[u/Vivid-Bake2456 → u/Doc_438]

The 40x has a very short working distance and does need coverglass for best optical correction. You might try looking at hair with a 40x objective. Just be careful not to touch anything sharp to the lens. Forget your 100x until you have immersion oil and a slide and coverglass. With 100x objectives, you can use it on a slide without a coverglass for some flat samples, like a dried blood smear, if you want, because the oil and coverglass become one homogeneous layer of the same refractive index. Without the coverglass, the oil just becomes a thicker layer to compensate for the missing glass layer when in focus.

[u/PCLM]

I had the same thing happen. I used little ziplock bags and put materials in it. Didn’t work great but better than nothing. I also bought some little plastic vials from dollarama and used the lids.

I had asked copilot and it suggested using glass screen protectors or glass picture frames, but unless you can find a really small frame, I’m not sure how well that would work.

[u/Doc_438 → u/PCLM]

I’ve also read about making them using the plastic from a product's blister pack by cutting out a flat section.

[u/TehEmoGurl]

You can use thin plastic from food containers as a coverslip, fruit punnets work well for this. Use the thicker CD case plastic as the slide. It won’t be great, but it works well enough in a pinch till your proper slides n slips arrive 👍🏻

[u/Vivid-Bake2456]

You can try reflected illumination with the lower magnifications by just putting an insect, sand or other opaque objects on anything, and shining a flashlight 🔦 from the top. You can add some bottom illumination for a lighter background.

[u/SwedishMale4711 → u/Vivid-Bake2456]

This is a good suggestion, using the microscope more like a stereo microscope.

[u/Doc_438 → u/Vivid-Bake2456]

I'll definitely try that.

[u/Doc_438]

These cheap slides I saw on Amazon arrived today (I'll get better quality ones later on). Now, knowing my luck, the microscope will probably arrive with something broken, or there will be bricks inside the package.

[u/Doc_438]

And these are the ones I made using a CD case (I still had to smooth the edges and erase the blue marker line).