From: Artem Evdokimov
Date: 20 November 2011 00:19
When I was doing I, I used to buy vaseline from a local pharmacy - it conveniently came in a squeezable tube that could be adapted with a nozzle cap (from a glue bottle). Alternatively a thickened mineral oil concoction was applied by means of a pipe cleaner that was twisted in a circle with a handle, the circle was dipped into semi liquid oil andthen quickly dabbed across wells. Works like a charm.
Artem
On Nov 19, 2011 5:16 PM, "Dima Klenchin" wrote:
Thanks to everyone who replied!
This is a summary in case anyone is wondering about the same:
1. A clear majority of replies was along the lines of "just buy pre-greased plates".
2. Next in popularity was self-greasing with Dow Corning high vacuum grease.
3. Several replies suggested mixing petrolatum (Vaseline) with mineral oil to achieve desired viscosity. Or just using petrolatum alone instead of grease while it is warm and melted.
4. Interestingly enough, not a single reply mentioned using any of the immersion oils for this purpose. This makes me wonder why Hampton has them in the catalog.
So I played with mixing mineral oil and petroleum jelly today. 15% w/w jelly is very thick, almost solid at room temperature. 10% is still considerably thicker than mineral oil alone but thin enough to be spreadable using dropper bottle. In terms of the stability of the seal, it seems to be a definite improvement over pure mineral oil. The easiest way to mix is in the beaker on a 60C water bath and mixing with glass rod followed, when completely melted, by a magnetic bar on a stirrer plate. Huge amount of the air that gets trapped is easy to remove by applying some vacuum to the glass bottle containing the mixture while it is warm (fully transparent).
- Dima
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