Rectangular Glass Capillaries

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ldflan
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Rectangular Glass Capillaries

#1 Post by ldflan » Wed Feb 22, 2023 12:31 am

I stumbled on this looking for something else and thought it would probably be of interest to lots of folks here.

https://www.cmscientific.com/info-sheet ... iments.pdf

The company, CM Scientific, sells them in a wide variety of sizes. Fairly expensive, but it's an expensive hobby.

Also here:

https://vitrocom.sharpinnovations.com/product/2540/

Sure Squintsalot
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Re: Rectangular Glass Capillaries

#2 Post by Sure Squintsalot » Wed Feb 22, 2023 2:30 am

I like the idea for fast-set plankton slides. What are we calling "expensive"?

ldflan
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Re: Rectangular Glass Capillaries

#3 Post by ldflan » Wed Feb 22, 2023 4:17 am

Sure Squintsalot wrote:
Wed Feb 22, 2023 2:30 am
I like the idea for fast-set plankton slides. What are we calling "expensive"?
Depends on the size you want, it looks like. Here's the relevant page for the UK site (cheaper?)

https://www.cmscientific.com/products/R ... apillaries

The US seller has 4mm wide ones that look useful for a bit over $1 each for a 50mm (2") length, sold in packs of 28.

ldflan
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Re: Rectangular Glass Capillaries

#4 Post by ldflan » Wed Feb 22, 2023 4:45 am

So, it looks like #3524 might be the most useful. It's 4mm wide, the gap is 0.2mm, wall thickness is 0.2mm; material is borosilicate glass. The 50mm lengths would fit on a slide. These are $30 for a vial of 36 pieces. Trouble is you have to order at least $250 from the US site, and I can't get it to calculate shipping for some reason.

If there are 9 or more folks willing to chip in $30+shipping (twice), someone could coordinate a buy... Not high on my priority list, but I would buy a vial if someone took the initiative to order a bunch...

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zzffnn
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Re: Rectangular Glass Capillaries

#5 Post by zzffnn » Thu Feb 23, 2023 3:24 am

ldflan wrote:
Wed Feb 22, 2023 4:45 am
So, it looks like #3524 might be the most useful. It's 4mm wide, the gap is 0.2mm, wall thickness is 0.2mm; material is borosilicate glass. The 50mm lengths would fit on a slide. These are $30 for a vial of 36 pieces. Trouble is you have to order at least $250 from the US site, and I can't get it to calculate shipping for some reason.

If there are 9 or more folks willing to chip in $30+shipping (twice), someone could coordinate a buy... Not high on my priority list, but I would buy a vial if someone took the initiative to order a bunch...
The 4mm width sounds too narrow for convenient use?

0.2mm is close to ideal.

However, a DIY is most free and not that difficult:

Just line peripheries of a thin cover slip with white petroleum jelly or immersion oil, then put the cover slip with jelly side down, onto regular slide. Jelly / oil will lift up the cover slip slightly, reducing pressure and leaking in oxygen.

ldflan
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Re: Rectangular Glass Capillaries

#6 Post by ldflan » Thu Feb 23, 2023 6:22 am

Sure, lots of other ways to do it, some more permanent than others. VALAP is much easier to work with than straight up petroleum jelly, and much less likely to leak or make a mess on your scope. Or you can make pine-tar based temporary support, or whatever.

I think the capillaries (lots of different sizes and configurations) may have a place for (1) making something a bit more permanent (weeks of live culture, per the memo) (2) making semi permanent slides by introducing a fixative and sealing them, and (3) making dry mount slide chambers in a fashion different from traditional ringing and similar methods. The ability to telescope the pieces means you could make plugs for the ends of glass capillary, and secured them by a very fine layer of cement - almost nothing for the contents to attack, quite unlike a ringed slide. The result might be far more durable than typical ringing for a lot of subjects, I would think.

As to whether 4mm is too narrow, I don't know. I use 5mm cover slips from time to time. If it were quite long, say 30mm, I think it could be quite a useful configuration...

The more I consider them, the more useful it seems they might be.

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