[Histonet] Coverslipper Agony

[KAELPERS <@t> aol.com]

We also have a hacker coverslipper and experience these issues. 
We have used permount from Fisher and we are now using Richard Allans 
mountant.  I have always noticed on the first couple set of coverslips that there is 
a problem and then sporadic from there. 
A couple things I do is to #1 dispense quite a bit of mountant from the 
needle before beginning and #2 the springs that are on your plunges for picking up 
the coverslip and laying the coverslip onto the slide can also play a huge 
part.  You want to make sure that the coverslip is placed at the bottom edge of 
the slide first and then slowly pressed onto the slide by the other.  Adjusting 
these springs can greatly increase or decrease the pressure applied.  If you 
have it adjusted nicely they will actually press the air bubbles away while 
applying the coverslip.  It has always been trial and error and something you 
can't just walk away from.  We exam every slide and wipe the backs after each 
rack is complete and then there is no issues after drying of the slide.  We have 
the person staining (hacker too) also operating the coverslipper and it has 
worked out nicely.

lge