35 buck Chinese Machinist's Level overhaul and cralibation (!)

[DIYSwede]

I've returned to this project after all the honey-dos:

Broken nib in vial, fluid gone, and vial finally carved out of tube:



So, to "just finish off": Refill vial, seal it, set permanently in tube, reinstall & calibrate in level housing.

1) (Diethyl) Ether seems to be the liquid of choice for precision levels, probably due to its low freezing point and low viscosity.

Problem is that ether is hard to get for us mere mortals nowadays, so I'm considering getting a can of motor starter fluid,
and spraying that liquid* into a test tube enough to cover the vial, seal off the test tube and cycling that to and fro the fridge,
thus making the liquid work itself into the tube by thermal expansion/ contraction.
* >2/4 pentane, >1/4 ether, <1/4 acetone (and propane drive gas) from the MSDS - but I guess that'll be OK...

2) Seal off vial by super epoxy, (as the nib is too tiny for remelting the glass w/o risking cracking the vial)
put in fridge a few days to lower the internal vapor pressure while the epoxy is curing.

3) Reseat in outer tube by plaster of paris (they boldly used molten sulphur as a setter in the factory...).

Feel free to pitch in with thoughts on my choice of fluid, sealing and setting methods suggested above!

Thanks in advance

Johan