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" <klenc...@facstaff.wisc.edu> 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 >
