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Hi there;

We had a catastrophic failure of our objective lens a few years ago
and at the time I replaced the oil with "Nytro 10CX" made by Nynas
which I believe was listed as a Voltesso 35 or 36 substitute (so you
could probably even mix them).   I didn't have any problems with it.
It was in there a couple of years until I had to change the oil again
(pump failure) and I replaced it with authentic Voltesso 35 since I
was actually able to get the 20 liter pail of it from my local Esso
heating fuels dealer.

I can't vouch for this, but I suspect any decent high-dielectric
transformer oil will substitute fine as long as it's compatible with
those yellow hoses that run up to the objective lens.

You might want to contact your local power utility.  That's how I
found the Nytro 10CX.  My local utility buys it by the railcar (for
refilling transformers, imagine that) so for them to give me five
liters was no problem.  The only thing I had to check about was to get
fresh oil and not to use their recycled stuff, which they drain from
the transformer and filter out the particles but wasn't guaranteed to
be free of metal particulate.  I don't think it would be very nice to
push metal particles around the lens system.

Best regards,
Steven Cogswell

Microscopy and Microanalysis Facility
University of New Brunswick
Fredericton, NB Canada

On Tue, Sep 22, 2009 at 8:40 AM, Renaud Geological Consulting Ltd.
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
>    I am looking to top up the objective lens oil reservoir on my electron
> microprobe.  I used to be able to purchase "Voltesso 35" in a 5 gallon pail
> but now can only purchase it in 45 gallon drums which seems a little
> ridciulous.  Just wondering if anyone can suggest an alternative to
> "Voltesso 35" that can be purchased in a more reasonable quantity.  Thanks,
>
> Jim.