Mounting

Take a picture of the specimen before mounting, for documentation! Mount your specimen using materials less dense than the specimen. Wobbling or movement of the specimen during scanning will result in a lower quality scan, so make sure it is stable and secure. Your mount will require something for the clamp to grab onto; either a rod or a tube, and it should be as centered as possible over the CNC chuck.

Mounting Tips: Suggested mounting materials: Kapton tape, teflon tubing, falcon tubes, styrofoam, polyethylene packing foam, thread, florist foam, cardboard, pipette tips, clear polycarbonate tubing, glass tubing for dense specimens, parafilm, etc. Remember to clean up, especially after cutting into styrofoam, using the hand-held vacuum in the lab.
 * Be aware of materials that may expand over time or with heat, especially squishy foam or tape that may come loose.
 * Avoid mounting flat edges parallel to the beam. It is better to mount long faces vertically or blocky objects at a tilt.
 * Be aware of the position of the specimen. Center your specimen as much as possible and it is recommended to mount it in an orthographic orientation.

Size Constraints: The largest size the scanner can “see” is 15in height and 9.8in diameter. This is only when the sample is moved as far as possible from the tube and will therefore have a very large voxel size and a magnification of 1.636. At this position, the maximum size that will physically fit in the space is 20in height and just under 14in diameter. Samples this large are not recommended.

Next Step: Positioning.