Ever tried turning the handle of the cryostat, when it's at room temperature? Cryostats are tooled & manufactured to operate at a low temperature. Since metal contracts at the low temperature, you'll find that you can't operate the microtome at the higher temperature. The handle will barely move.
Sandy Harrison, HTL (ASCP) Histology Supervisor Minneapolis VAHCS 612-467-2449 -----Original Message----- From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Johnson, Kevin Sent: Friday, June 14, 2013 3:09 PM To: 'histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu' Subject: [Histonet] Cutting paraffin sections...on a cryostat? Hi, all. A bit of an odd question: a colleague knows of someone wanting to cut paraffin sections who has a cryostat, but no microtome. Since a cryostat's basically a microtome in a freezer chamber, I thought that it may be awkward, but theoretically doable once it was brought to room temp and dried out thoroughly. However, I wondered if lubricants formulated for the cold might become too thin for use at room temp, possibly causing damage to moving parts. Any thoughts? Kevin Johnson University of Miami Diabetes Research Institute _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet
