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I was wondering if a blast cabinet is required to air scribe fossils outdoors? (As long as one wears the proper PPE and safety equipment of course.) I’m trying to save some on my setup until I gather the rest of the cash needed to buy the blast cabinet and move my prepping indoors. And besides, the cold has never really bothered me anyways.

My fossil prep has so far been limited to hand tools - brushes, needles in pin vises, sharp blades, and a rotary Dremel for sanding and polishing. I’ve been using the Dremel outside with an N95 mask and eye protection. I’d like to be able to work inside on rainy days and in the winter (I live in Iowa, so it gets pretty cold). Right now, to move inside, I would need some sort of cabinet to handle the dust I kick up from the Dremel. But thinking ahead, I’d like the cabinet to be able to handle air abrasives also. I’m deciding between making my own cabinet and buying one. I like the look of the Vaniman Problast cabinet, but it seems to handle only media 25 microns and up. I think this precludes using baking soda, unless it’s possible to mod the cabinet. The Vaniman cabinet also seems to recycle the media, which wouldn’t be what I want for getting rid of dust from my Dremel work. So, I guess my questions are: Do I need to decide between a cabinet that recycles media and one that clears it all away? If I do decide to build my own cabinet, does anyone have a recommendation for how to do this? what questions am I not asking that I should be? Thanks much.

So if you were going to get a blast cabinet setup, what would you get? I know that a person probably needs two different setups to do it the correct way. And I apologize ahead of time if this has already been discussed. I don’t want the cheap stuff. I want quality that’s going to last. So I’m prepared to have to step up to the plate money wise to make that happen. Thank you everyone ahead of time! Sincerely, J

I’ve decided I need a blast cabinet to help me prep things like Green River fish and various invertebrates. I have a few questions I’d like to post for feedback. First, I have a stereomicroscope with a Barlow lens, so I want a cabinet with a flat top. Even with the Barlow lens the working distance between my microscope and the specimen is only about 6”, so a cabinet with an angled window won’t work. I will primarily be using this with an air eraser and a Dremel engraver tool. I don’t expect to pick up any kind of serious pneumatic air scribe, and I recognize what I will be trading off by not doing so. @Malcolmt gave a design for a blast cabinet here: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/76546-affordable-trilobite-preparation-setup/ Also, in September I visited Fossil Butte National Monument. At their visitor center they had a ranger demonstrating how to prep fish under a blast cabinet. I didn’t take photos but the FBNM website has a video showing their blast cabinet in use. I liked that design. Here are a couple of screen shots I clipped from the video: Here are my questions: 1. The FBNM blast cabinet opens from the front. I’ve seen other designs that open from the top. Opening from the front would seem to be nicer because I wouldn’t have to move the microscope out of the way every time I want to reach in. Am I missing anything here? 2. I plan to use it with a shop vac and dust collector (see below for my ideas there). A lot of people say you need to seal every joint in the blast cabinet securely to prevent dust from getting out and all over the place. But if you look at the photos above, the FBNM blast cabinet has three large holes on the side, presumably to help with airflow to the shop vac. Should I be drilling holes like this or not? I don’t expect to use sealed gloves on the armholes, just some sort of fabric I can reach through, so that should be another path for airflow. 3. I’m a bit limited on space. While 20x24 inches would be a nice size, I think I may only be able to do 16x20 inches. That would also let me use a 16x20 piece of glass from a picture frame for the top. Do you think that would be a sufficient size (I don’t expect to be prepping any large vertebrate fossils)? 4. For dust collection I have two choices. @Peat Burns uses the Dust Deputy: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/79131-what-is-your-microscopeair-blaster-setup/&tab=comments#comment-871944, and @Ptychodus04 designed a Water Trap system: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/79125-water-trap-dust-collector/&tab=comments#comment-834634. That one is cheaper and seems like it is less likely to let really fine dust escape so I will probably try that. Anyone have any recommendations here?

This is just an FYI in case anyone is interested. I was at Harbor Freight this evening and walked past this blast cabinet on sale. I thought it was a pretty good deal, $114. They also had a free standing one that you didn’t need a table for and could pull a barstool or a tall chair up to on sale, but it was quite a bit more. T