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Rick,

I agree with most if not all of what Alice said. I have routinely
used ethanol and Kimwipes to clean dirty lenses, as I was taught by
our very wise, but unfortunately retired for us, Zeiss rep. As for
using the Kimwipes, just be careful wipe/blot rather than scrub. The
latter can/will damage a lens's coating.

As for solvents, xylene is a good choice but may not work on all nail
polish formulations; acetone because of its very low viscosity is
more problematic but effective with most nail polish; methyl ethyl
ketone (MEK, and toxic to the liver as are most of the mentioned
solvents) is much like acetone but higher in viscosity and less
likely to penetrate the objective seals. Use in a fume hood. Finally,
solvent of last resort might be methylene chloride. Would act like a
faster version of chloroform with very low viscosity and can even
remove epoxy resin, so gives you some idea of the risk. Again use a
fume hood in such circumstances.

Good luck,
Mario


>Search the CONFOCAL archive at
>http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal
>
>Hi
>
>A bit off topic I know, but I have just discovered an objective (Nikon 60X,
>Plan Apo) covered in nail polish.
>Any ideas on the best way to clean this off?
>
>Thanks for your help
>
>Rick
>
>R. Critcher
>Dept. of Genetics
>Cambridge Uni
>UK


--
_________________________________________________________________
Mario M. Moronne, Ph.D.
NanoMed Technologies
FAX (510) 528-8076
1561 Posen Ave
Berkeley, CA
94706

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