What causes sections to splinter or shatter?
• The specimen is too cold. Select a higher temperature, give specimens time to adapt to the selected cutting temperature or gently warm the specimen surface with the Delrin portion of the warm/cold block, if available. a) Specimens coming directly from the freezing shelf, Peltier element or freezing outside the cryostat in isopentane/dry ice or liquid nitrogen mixture are too cold. b) Specimens that have been stored in a deep freeze (e.g. -80 °C) are too cold. • The specimen surface is rather large: trim the specimen parallel and increase the section thickness. • The anti-roll plate is not correctly adjusted: adjust the anti-roll plate correctly. • You might be using a dull blade: use another area of the blade or a new blade. • A knife angle of 2-5° for disposable blades is recommended.
