An Effective, Cost-Free Holder/Desiccator for Storage of SEM Stubs

Extract

Two of the aggravations of effectively managing an EM unit are cost containment and effective storage of large numbers of specimens. For the past several years we have enjoyed the benefits of a stub-storage box (for pin-type stubs) available to microscopists without cost. These boxes, which held micro-pipette tips, are regularly discarded by molecular biology and biochemistry labs, in fact, since colleagues have recognized that we use their spent plastic boxes, we have been inundated with boxes originally slated for recycling. While several types of these boxes are available, most measure approximately twelve cm by eight cm and have a plastic platform with ninety-six holes. The boxes hold eight one-inch stubs and six half-inch stubs or thirty-two half-inch stubs.