1. NEVER TOUCH THE STANDARD BLOCK
The oil from you fingers can ruin the coating on the standard making it impossible to get good analyses. Grinding and repolishing the standard is a last resort measure as eventually you will begin to grind away some of the standards (which we cannot get anymore of).
2. MINIMIZE BEAM CONTACT ON STANDARDS, NEVER LEAVE THE BEAM SITTING ON A STANDARD.
The beam damages the standard and thus reduces the number of counts, increasing your error if you use a "bad" spot.
3. BLANK THE BEAM PRIOR TO MOVING A SAMPLE
The beam should blank automatically if the computer is used to move the stage. When the beam moves across epoxy of other glue it vaporizes it. The glue then adheres to the inside of the probe and on the optical microscope mirrors eventually ruining them.
4. TRY TO DO MOST OF YOUR MOVING USING THE COMPUTER CONTROLS AND NOT THE MANUAL CONTROLS.
Moving the stage by hand puts extra torque on the gears and wears them out faster. However, fine adjustments and setting up points requires moving by hand. Use your finger tips to move the dials with very gentle pressure. DO NOT FORCE THE DIALS. Frequently after an automated stage movement the computer locks the X-Y-Z controls. Click on JOYWIN, then the MOVE button, then FREE/CLEAR to free up the manual controls.
5. NEVER PUSH THE ELEVATOR UP BUTTON WITHOUT CHECKING TO MAKE SURE THE V1 GATE VALVE IS OPEN.
You can run the sample stage into the gate valve which can ruin the standard block, your samples, and the sample stage. Be very careful.
