Favorite Dye Stains

[JBK]

Taking a poll: would like to hear what your top two dye stains are for post-CA-fuming. The Ardrox doesn't coat the evidence in a nice sheeting fashion/doesn't cover the evidence evenly, and seems almost oily (following the supplier's advice for dilution). The Rhodamine is good, but looking for a replacement for Ardrox. Would appreciate your input!

[SConner]

MRM10 in a petroleum ether carrier. Basic yellow works acceptably on some items but it usually involves a rinse.

[briano]

My two favorite, Basic Yellow and Basic Yellow.

[josher89]

#1:
Basic Yellow: 1g basic yellow #40 dye to 500mL methanol. Works great every time I use it. We are using aluminum foil to do all of our test prints and I always get a good reaction.

#2:
Rhodamine 6G
R6G in water--for gun stocks: .25g R6G dye and 500mL water
R6G in methanol--for everything else: .25g R6G dye in 500mL methanol

Those are my daily use stains. I use more basic yellow than R6G and don't mind the rinse step at all.

[JBK]

I detect a theme. Thanks very much for your input.

[Neville]

Hi JBK

Saffranine O using excitation 450-570nm with a 530-700 filter
Panacryl using excitation 360-490nm with a 490-550 filter

Did you know that a yellow highlighter pen is just as good as it has basic yellow in it. I have tried it and it works great, a good tip from across the ditch in Aussie.

We tried mixing the two dyes it is a waste of time. I prefer mixing with methanol rather than water but I have seen great results with water.

What you use of course is dictated by the background fluorescence of the item being examined, until that is established I wouldn't but dye on the item unless experience has told me which to use.

Regards Neville

[JBK]

Anyone currently using TEC (Thenoyl Europium Chelate)? It sounds promising:

TEC is one of the newer and more successful fluorescent dyes for cyanoacrylate developed latent prints. TEC absorbs uv light near 350nm and emits a narrow band at 614nm. This very wide Stokes Shift contributes to the ease of filtering the excitation light from the fluorescing print which makes it clearer and easier to photograph. The formulation locks the dye into the cyanoacrylate and therefore more dye remains in the print after rinsing. This dye has also been successfully used with cyanoacrylate to develop prints on cadavers.

[Neville]

I am sure we have used TEC in Auckland, works well as I remember it but expensive. With a shift like that it should work well.

[David Grady]

Which dye stain will work best for you will also depend on which light source you're using. Our lab uses a Coherent TracER Laser a lot. Therefore, we like Rhodamine 6G because it excites very well at 532nm.

[fosters150]

how do you use a yellow highlighter as a dye stain???????

[Neville]

Hi Fosters
Once the Cyno fumes have hardened on the print just highlight it as if it was hand writing. Not sure how you would get on in court however, it may not sound that professional to the CSI fans in the jury. But maybe useful if you are a few hundred miles the other side of the black stump.

Regards
Steinlager 1990/2005
Hope I'm not being too cryptic.

[fosters150]

Thanks Neville, always looking for other ways to process. sometimes the old standard way doesent always work. its good to have other alternitive ways. also i love to experiment with the new and off- the - wall techniques