Prep Lab 101 - Your Own Air Scribe And Abrasion Workstation

[tracer]

i got several requests for information from members following another thread discussing air scribe use. it seems a fair number of people may wish to set up their own prep area and seek info in how best to go about that. some also seem to wish to do it as economically as possible. so i'm starting this topic in hope that those here with much greater experience than i will toss in some insights regarding specifically how to get started.

first of all, i will say that it is astounding when you first get to use professional tools to do stuff. a rock can be the most frustrating thing when you're trying to deal with it with hand tools. and then you get access to the proper tools and the rock transforms into just another material to be worked, most any way you want to work it. cutting, polishing, scribing, abrading - you can do it all. but here's the deal - you have to be realistic about it. if you get bored rapidly with stuff, then you might not want to dump a couple of grand into tools that you'll play with for a month and then they'll sit around gathering dust like that pool table and exercycle you already have in your way. the other thing is, are you good with tools; mechanical stuff? if you're really good, you may be able to cobble together some home-grown tools pretty economically, so it won't matter much if you lose interest in prepping. anyway, here's what i'd personally want to have at a minimum in a "decent" shop. first, i'd want some sort of medium sized trim saw, maybe even a water-cooled one to avoid that nasty oil. this piece is because i like to sometimes cut a flat base on a small display item in matrix. or i could even do some freehand little "slabs" to mess with and make cabochons or something. the next thing i'd want is one of those little diamond-wheeled "genie" machines or something to polish rock with. yes, i know, i'm already sort of off the subject of "fossil prep", but i happen to like fossil wood and dino bone polished into cabochons, so whatever.

ok, ok, before i get in trouble, onward - i'd want a table with a rolling chair or three, and on top the table would be my "workstation" which would consist of either a home-made (cheap) or commercial "blasting cabinet" for me to scribe and use the air abrasive in. this would be an internally lighted "box" with a plexiglass replaceable viewing window and armholes in the front. i open the box, put in my fossil, close the box, stick my arms in the armholes, and commence to making dust or rock chips! wearing my magnifying visor. and my scuba tank and regulator so i don't breathe the dust that gets out of my cabinet.

i think i'm getting ahead of myself again. somewhere nearby, depending on my space availability and tolerance of noise, is my air compressor. it's big enough to run several airtools at once. the air from it runs through a rechargeable dryer to have air dry enough to not clump up the dolomite that i'm wanting to blast around in microstreams which, if clogged by moisture, will make the air pressure back up and bulge the eyes of my compressor, if my compressor had eyes. actually, it'd blow off or out one of the little internal rubber connector thingees inside my air abrasive machine and i'd have to play repairman for the millionth time. actually that happens anyway and may just be from the valve closing semi-abruptly a million times so probably once again i have no idea what i'm talking about and just hoping nobody notices.

so lessee, gots the compressor, dryer, cabinet, table, lights, magnifying visor - OH, in a perfect world i'd have a dust collector machine with a hose attached to a hole in the side of my cabinet. the dust collector is basically a big and semi-aggressive vacuum cleaner of sorts. the german word for vacuum cleaner is "staubsauger", which literally means "dust sucker".

ok, so then i'd want the air abrasive machine, and two scribes, one big and one little. "coarse" and "fine"? "robust" and "gracile"? whatever. seems like there are several brands that get touted, like say chicago <drumroll while i try this word> pneumatic(?), paleotools, aro, not sure which all. see the specific recommendations on all this is where the "pros" on the forum come in. it's laughable that i'm even attempting this post.

and speaking of all that - i'm cutting this off. here's the deal. there's tons of info online, and i know for a fact that we've got some of the most experienced preppers in the world right here on this forum. i won't put any of them on the spot to give out info or post here, but i can think of several who need to

i'm not going to advocate anyone's particular products but i grabbed like three urls off the web to give some background info and the "basic" concepts of some of this stuff. so you can look at them and follow links or do your own searches and get more info.

link

link

link

forgive me for not doing a better job on this info, but i am having to involuntarily cut back quite a bit at times on what i can do on a keyboard.

[jpc]

tracer and all... one thingh I would do (and do do) differently is use glass, not plexiglass. Plexi is just to hard to keep clean and unscratched. I've been using my glass covered box for ten years and havechanged the glass three times at 22 bucks a pop. It is worth it to use glass. 1/8 inch thick, I think.

[tracer]

tracer and all... one thingh I would do (and do do) differently is use glass, not plexiglass. Plexi is just to hard to keep clean and unscratched. I've been using my glass covered box for ten years and havechanged the glass three times at 22 bucks a pop. It is worth it to use glass. 1/8 inch thick, I think.

i know, but purely and simply the reason i said plexiglass is the safety aspect, when somebody drops the lid, or falls and puts their arm out on top of the cabinet to balance themselves, or lets something fall off the shelf over the cabinet, etc.

otherwise you're right, glass is harder and would stand up to cleaning much better.

[JohnJ]

I wonder if some sort of clear adhesive sheets that could peel away when they become too scratched would work on the glass....

[jpc]

I wonder if some sort of clear adhesive sheets that could peel away when they become too scratched would work on the glass....

Comco makes one. tried it. don't like it. it's just not clear enough.

[TqB]

Like a number of people, I made my blast cabinet window from a toughened glass shelf from a home improvement store.

Tarquin

[Fossildude19]

Tracer,

Thanks for starting this thread.

I'm sure many of us without this setup will be looking to this and the comments herein to begin to acquire the correct tools.

Thanks to all who contribute to this for your input.

Regards,

[scmense]

Just finishing my man cave. It's a bad picture with my phone - should wait and have my wife use her camera, but I'm not.

Most of the equipment is an accumulation of years, just finally built a room to get it all together. The air compressor is in my garage, the line to the room is shop type rubber hose. I am picking up a delta dust collector in the next couple days.

The room I had built in our attic, heat it with a 110v heater to sixty degrees when I'm up there, it is well insulated so easy to heat.

Thanks Tracer for your help and information, I am just getting the micro sand blaster hooked up, got the air up there with a inline water trap. This blaster is new and has not been tried yet. I lost the male hose fitting where I plug it into the air manifold.

The paleo aro scribe is fun to use without the compressor next to you. You can detail clean under the microscope, talking about the niobrara chalk on fossils.

[jpc]

Just finishing my man cave. It's a bad picture with my phone - should wait and have my wife use her camera, but I'm not.

Most of the equipment is an accumulation of years, just finally built a room to get it all together. The air compressor is in my garage, the line to the room is shop type rubber hose. I am picking up a delta dust collector in the next couple days.

The room I had built in our attic, heat it with a 110v heater to sixty degrees when I'm up there, it is well insulated so easy to heat.

Thanks Tracer for your help and information, I am just getting the micro sand blaster hooked up, got the air up there with a inline water trap. This blaster is new and has not been tried yet. I lost the male hose fitting where I plug it into the air manifold.

The paleo aro scribe is fun to use without the compressor next to you. You can detail clean under the microscope, talking about the niobrara chalk on fossils.

something that comes to mind that I don't think has bee mentioned yet, is that if your compressor is an oil cooled number, you need to take the oil out of the air lines to use a sandblasting unit such as we are talking about. Grainger sells them as coalescing filters. Otherwise oyu will quickly doing an overhaul on your air abrasive unit to clean the oil out whic has caused the powdert og um up andn ot flow.

[scmense]

Thanks jpc. The compressor in use is a 15 gal. Craftsman, 1.5 hp that trips at 150 psi. I set it at 95 and so far it is working fine. There is 50' of hose to the room so it was a concern.

It does say oil less on the side of the compressor so I am guessing no lubricants are exposed to the air.

Do you prep fossils professionally?

[jpc]

Thanks jpc. The compressor in use is a 15 gal. Craftsman, 1.5 hp that trips at 150 psi. I set it at 95 and so far it is working fine. There is 50' of hose to the room so it was a concern.

It does say oil less on the side of the compressor so I am guessing no lubricants are exposed to the air.

Do you prep fossils professionally?

When you say "trips", does that mean it turns on or off at 150 psi? Not that it makes much to-do, just askin. With that compressor, you needn't worry about getting oil out of the air lines. (If you ever get any of the PaleoTools microjacks (great tools) you will need to set the compressor higher. They run best at 110 plus).

Yeah, I do freelance prep work and I am in charge of the prep lab at the Tate Geological Museum in Casper, Wy (Shameless Plug). But I'll be the first to say it, my museum job leaves me mostly managing and organizing and doing very little prep work at work. My volunteers do most of the real fossil work.

Edited December 18, 2010 by jpc

[scmense]

When you say "trips", does that mean it turns on or off at 150 psi? Not that it makes much to-do, just askin. With that compressor, you needn't worry about getting oil out of the air lines. (If you ever get any of the PaleoTools microjacks (great tools) you will need to set the compressor higher. They run best at 110 plus).

Yeah, I do freelance prep work and I am in charge of the prep lab at the Tate Geological Museum in Casper, Wy (Shameless Plug). But I'll be the first to say it, my museum job leaves me mostly managing and organizing and doing very little prep work at work. My volunteers do most of the real fossil work.

150 is maximum psi, the compressor will pop the release valve at 150. It has a regulator you can set to turn the compressor off when it reaches that point, presently it is set at 95 psi so it automatically shuts down when that pressure is reached.

I do have a paleo aro tool, believe it is the 8135, the size bigger than the microjacks and I really enjoy using it.

Sounds like you have a very interesting job. Do you mind people asking questions about prepping?