Microscope slide preparation service

Geology Hub offer a professional thin-section preparation service for individuals and institutions. Turnaround time for samples is on average two weeks but this will be confirmed prior to confirming the order.

Thin-sections and any off-cuts will be returned by courier. Payment will be required prior to despatch.

£30 per thin-section, discount available for bulk orders.

Laboratory workspace with a microscope, hot plate, rock samples, and a rock cutting saw.

A thin-section preparation facility requires diamond bladed saws, a hot plate, a petrological microscope, sheets of plate glass, other various consumables and over 40 years experience are all that is necessary to prepare geological microscope slides.

Rock samples are sliced using a diamond edge saw and then trimmed to section sized block on a trim saw. These blocks are flattened and saw marks removed using a carborundum grits on plate glass with water. Flattened blocks are mounted using a heat cured epoxy resin onto a standard glass microscope slides.

Collection of labeled geological samples including rocks, minerals, and fossils, with a glass slide box, a utility knife, a wooden stick, and a small clear bottle.

The bulk of the block is then cut down to 2 mm thickness, before grinding down to standard 30 microns thickness, using successively finer carborundum grits (90-320-600-800 grades). Once the correct thickness of obtained, the section is cleaned and cover with protective glass slip using natural Canada Balsam.

A link to a short training presentation on Geological Thin section Preparation by hand. The presentation covers the equipment required and the basic techniques of preparing standard thin-sections. Just follow the link below. Please DM questions and for further information.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1258795875349?aff=oddtdtcreator