MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Hello, I was wondering if anyone has any experience with permanent slide mounts. I am aware of Canada Basalm, but it seems to be super expensive.

A buddy told me he saw a presentation during Microscopy day about using UV cured glue. Here are the slides:
https://onedrive.live.com/embed?cid=45B ... 3333333333


Does anyone have any experience with this technique or other? I am looking to build a collection of mycology/spore slides. Thanks!

I use omnimount and euparal from old Hempstead Halide. Odd that Canada balsam would be so expensive-- maybe APo can tap a tree up where he's at and start a business.

I'm still new to mounting, but I use PVA-G and canada balsam. The PVA-G is PVA glue mixed with glycerin, inexpensive and easy to work with. The balsam is a bit more hassle and it takes a while before one can easily use the slide (days to weeks). I acquired the balsam as surplus, age is unknown (likely 40+ years), but it's still usable.

Search here or your favorite search engine for the PVA-G recipie, it's my go-to; easy to make, easy to use, and mounts seem to last a reasonable amount of time. Perfect for learning.

Hi, I've been making permanent Botanical slides for about 6yrs now, and have always used a resinous 'canada balsam' type of mountant. I started with 'Numount' (from Brunel Microscopes) then moved on to 'Omnimount' (from Geneflow UK). I am currently using 'Histomount' (from Agar Scientific).

For small numbers of slides Numount is perfect however, as I made more slides and needed a larger bottle of mountant I switched to Omnimount but found it had a few problems with compatibility with other reagents used in processing, so finally settled with Histomount, which is available in the larger bottles I use and is compatible with everything else I use in my slide-making.....

I've used many things to make permanent slides.
Polyurethane varnish is certainly permanent but yellows increasingly over time.
Shellac goes on well, looks like it ought to work, doesn't yellow, and doesn't stick! Cover glass falls off.,
Finger nail polish cracks and shatters over time and destroys everything as it will also turn white.
Some folks have used polyethylene glycol like Clearmax. Double the mix. Takes a week to set. Not great.
Elmer's glue does well. Goes on white, turns clear. Holds. The clear Elmer's works also.
Then you are back to Canadian balsam. I can't get the real thing here. I use synthetic, but it works well.
These are just a few of the things I've tried over the years. Some work. Some definitely don't.
Greg

Norland's no. 61 UV-curable glass adhesive works fine, is permanent for years, does not lose clarity or strength, is easy to apply.
It has a high RI so fits diatom mounting, although not all diatoms.
It is one of a series of adhesives that vary in RI and viscosity.
Its disadvantages are high cost and relatively short shelf life.

Nail polish is incompatible with immersion oil. UV-curable gel nail polish is better, but is too viscous for mounting.
Shellac becomes brittle over time.

100% pure Canada Balsam for me. I don't have any xylene and I'm sensitive to chemicals so I haven't bothered.

Then I seal the cover slips with clear gorilla glue. Those slides will still be good 100 years from now.

Made right here in Canada. And if I get a cold, I could always swig a spoon full like good ol' buckley's cough syrup, eh. Taste's awful, but it works so just git r' done. I'm pretty sure this stuff would taste better though because it's 100% pure. Smells amazing. Put a little behind your ears I'm sure the redneck gals of the north would be all over ya.

Might be a trite expensive but it will last a long time and give perfect results

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/252737715113?ha ... xycmBS3Yut

Hey Red !!
When I have used regular gorilla glue on anything it foams terribly. Does the clear stuff not do that?
Greg

Thanks Red. I can get clear gorilla glue right away. I appreciate your sharing.
Greg

I’ve been trying several mediums. And I’ve had the most problems with insect parts.
I tried thin UV hardened glue, but it never seemed to fill in completely around the specimen, and it glows in polarized light.

Tried clear nail varnish, but it shrinks when drying. Great for sealing cover slips for dry mounts of crystals or diatoms.

Synthetic Canada balsam works very well, but xylene is dangerous and it takes a couple of months to dry properly.
When using xylene, I have to work outside with a fan, mask and gloves. Don’t have a fume hood. And I mostly do microscopy in the Winter.

Most recently, I tried Hoyer’s slide mounting medium from Hempstead Halide.
Took the specimen, in this case a household centipede I dropped in alcohol and didn’t get back to for several months and placed a leg (lots of them to work with) into a drop of medium on each slide with a round 18mm cover glass for subsequent ringing.
Tried a dozen slides right from alcohol to the Hoyer’s medium. Ten keepers and so far, a week later they are drying nicely.
I found that holding the applicator bottle upside down and letting the air bubbles rise to the bottom of the bottle eliminated bubbles in the mount. So far so good.
Cuts down the prep time to just three alcohol drying and cleaning baths 70, 95 and 100 percent, and no xylene baths

Anyroad, hope this helps,
Radazz

Nothing wrong with Hoyer's but I would point out that xylene or limonene soaking is not just to make a sample compatible with a mountant. It also removes additional fat and wax from the subject and permeates the tissues to make more transparent. This is more important in some samples than other, so some experimenting will be useful.

Euparal works very well for me. One of its key benefits is its ability to make small air bubbles disappear efficiently over the course of several hours. Its drawbacks are a rather long drying time. It's not usable for fluorescence microscopy, since it exhibits slight green fluorescence under blue and UV excitation.