Compatibilty of slide rings sealants with immersion oil

[Hobbyst46]

This is about ringing with a single sealant, that serves for sealing, protection of the resin layer from humidity and alcohols and immersion oil, and provides am esthetic appearance as much as practicable.

As described in a previous post, ringing slides with nail polish (NP) by means of the DIY ("short-term rotation") ringing table worked for me. It is equally convenient for other lacquers and paints.

However, I was annoyed to find that the NP rings were not compatible with immersion oil. Namely, immersion oil, upon long-term contact (say, an hour) with the ring dissolved it and caused swelling. Is this a new finding ??? this happened even when the oil drop was laid on the ring several days after ringing; the NP layer must have been dry for all practical purposes.

Naturally, the specific NP brand was suspected. So I tried it with three other brands as well, and got the same result more or less.
An extensive test is planned, on as many brands of NP that I can gather around.

A shellac ring was destroyed by the oil.
Model paints, Revell and Humbrol, also failed upon several hours exposure to immersion oil.

So I tried Hammerite, a "direct on rust" white oil-based paint. Placed an oil drop on it two days after ringing. So far, an exposure of 10 hours did not harm the ring.
Note: I am using Cargille immersion oil type A, bought less than a year ago.

[MicroBob]

Hi Doron,
the german Wikipedia is quite imformative on nail polish: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagellack

Apparently this is/used to be nitrocellulose dissolved in butylacetate or etylacetate. When you buy the most old fahioned nail polish this is probably what you get. And this might give you a starting point for a search for resistances against solventy. Classic nail polish remover contained a lot of acetone but today this is not so widely used anymore.

Here in germany the likelyhood to get a classic solvent based paint is best when you look for paints sold for use by professionals. I'm quite sure that you could learn something when you would visit a nail studio in a less busy moment. Since this might be quite funny too: Please don't forget to report here!

I learned about UV cements from a femal apprentice who shoved her hands in my face and said: "See - I did these myself!".

Bob

[Greg Howald]

Maybe it is the oil. I have had success with mineral oil, (R. I. 1.46) or maybe try making a ring with, of all things, polyurethane. Shellac will not hold up. I've tried that under various conditions without success. I had some inexpensive prepared slides that were fine until I used cedar oil for immersion. In no time the cover glass came off and the slide was destroyed. I put all of them in the trash.
Greg

[Hobbyst46]

Maybe it is the oil. I have had success with mineral oil, (R. I. 1.46) or maybe try making a ring with, of all things, polyurethane. Shellac will not hold up. I've tried that under various conditions without success. I had some inexpensive prepared slides that were fine until I used cedar oil for immersion. In no time the cover glass came off and the slide was destroyed. I put all of them in the trash.
Greg

I think I can overcoat NP-sealed slides with the Hammerite. Those are collected, cleaned and processed diatoms, trash is the last option.

[Greg Howald]

I thank you for that solution. Greg

[Hobbyst46]

So I received seven more jars of consumer colored nail polish of various internationally known makes, and tested them all. Painted a ring on a microscope slide and let it dry in the room, at around 20C. After 24 hours, I placed a drop of Cargille Type A immersion oil within the ring. 12 hours later I inspected them with my stereo microscope. All rings swelled and the nail polish pigment slightly dissolved and leaked into the oil. I did not take any photos, but the view was unmistakable. This swelling is a slow process, so probably a few minutes of immersion will not destroy the slide, and the oil can be wiped; however, after several microscopy sessions, cumulative damage to the slide is possible. A similar ring of white anti-rust Hammerite paint was not affected by the oil.

My conclusion is that the compatibility of the ringing material with immersion oil should be verified.

Maybe I had stupidly missed published warnings about such incompatibility of nail polish. If anyone knows, please comment.