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Found 9 results

  1. oilshale

    How do you prep at home?

    I would like to start a new thread: How do you prep at home? I hope there will be some interesting tricks, methods and equipment shared. Everyone is invited and encouraged to post their equipment, their experiences, their solutions to problems, and their preparation tricks here. Let me start with my equipment. We had an oil heater in the basement and an oil tank about 3000L in size. After the tubing in the boiler room burst twice in 25 years and the room was flooded with smelly diesel oil, we decided in 2016 to install a groundwater heat pump and scrap the oil heating including tank. I immediately took the opportunity, occupied the room and set up my sandblasting equipment there. I use two sandblasting units: on the right is my main DIY unit that I built a few years ago – the design instruction can be found here: On the left is the small unit that I actually rarely use. I operate the small unit with iron powder that I have sieved over 45µm. This very fine iron powder trickles somewhat badly, therefore a magnetic vibrator is installed under the blasting agent tank. In the large unit I use almost only iron powder, which I sieved over 150µm. Here, too, I have installed a vibrator, but not a magnetic vibrator, but a turbine vibrator driven by compressed air. With the large unit, I can work for longer than two hours and then I need a break anyway. Using a foot switch, a solenoid valve and a pneumatic cylinder that squeezes off the hose to the blasting nozzle, I can interrupt the blasting flow almost instantly without a lot of abrasive running down. Iron powder is more expensive than bicarbonate, but since I can recover it, it is cheaper in the long run. I got myself 25kg of iron powder in 2016 - that will still last for years. For recovery, I use the two cyclones on the left. I blow the exhaust air into the open air. I have installed strong permanent magnets in front of the intake opening of the cyclones . Since the chamber IS very large and most of the iron powder sediments beforehand, almost nothing gets into the cyclones - only rock dust. To clean the chamber from time to time, I use an electromagnet to conveniently collect the iron powder. With the electromagnet, I can also easily separate the rock dust from the iron powder. Some rock dust is carried away by the iron, but most of it remains when I switch on the electromagnet. And when I repeat the procedure with the electromagnet several times, the iron powder is almost free of rock dust. Of course, since I can recover over 95% of the iron powder, I have to sift it frequently. This was too exhausting and boring for me. I have therefore built myself an automatic sieving unit. The sieves stand on a plywood board, which is mounted on four springs and can swing freely. The board is set in motion by a turbine vibrator driven by compressed air. Within a few minutes the material is sieved. So that I do not have to watch the whole time, I have built a mono-stable trigger circuit, which automatically switches off the solenoid valve after 10 min (the grey box in the picture below). Within a few minutes, the material is sieved. So I do not have to pay attention all the time, I have built a simple circuit (mono-stable trigger circuit) for myself, which automatically switches off the solenoid valve for the turbine vibrator after about 10 min. The sieves are from China, not exactly the best quality, but quite sufficient for my purposes and available at a tolerable cost. When sandblasting, I always work under a microscope. I bought my Olympus microscope cheap from Malaysia via the internet (at that time the method of quality control was changed in the semiconductor factories and the microscopes were discontinued). To achieve a sufficient working distance, I use Barlow lenses. I have a whole set of them. With a 0.25x attachment lens I achieve a working distance of about 40 cm, but mostly Barlow lenses with a magnification factor of 0.3 or 0.4 and working distances of 18 to 35 cm are sufficient. For illumination I simply put two 50W LED lamps on the glass plate - then I don't need the ring light on the microscope. The X-ray unit on the right side I found on a scrap pile and repaired it. I have to develop the X-ray images myself, but I can still do that from times when there were no digital cameras (you can tell that I am almost a fossil myself...). The X-ray machine is operated from another room for safety reasons. For simple images, the device is still suitable - for better pictures I can go to Munich to the paleontology department there (but then I have to beg a little). The compressor was too loud for me, I installed it in another room and moved a rigid compressed air line into the former boiler room (now prep room). Nevertheless, I regularly use hearing protectors (I can always say I didn't hear my wife calling me). I make a lot of effort to produce dry air - as you can see on the pictures, I have three water separators connected in series (separators with 5µm, 1µm and 0.1µm pore size). Since then, I have had no more problems with clumped abrasive and blocked nozzles. If, exceptionally, I want to use bicarbonate as a blasting medium, I have to clean the blasting chamber completely before and afterwards. Bicarbonate attacks the iron powder and it starts to rust. This wouldn't be too bad in itself, but it reduces the flowability of the powder noticeably. Sometimes I use the box when I work with my pneumatic pens, but for that I actually built a smaller, simple preparation box (without suction). As blasting nozzles, I usually use Renfert IT nozzles with nozzle openings between 0.6 and 1.2mm. As a rule of thumb, you can use "nozzle opening should be about 8 times the grain size". So, for the 150µm iron powder, I use a 1.2mm nozzle. When blasting, I rarely work with high pressure, usually 2 or 3 bar or less is sufficient for my substrates. In the meantime, I also make the nozzles myself from tungsten carbide tubes. Complete blasting pens with a nozzle opening of 1.2mm (and only 1.2mm) can also be bought cheaply via Aliexpress.
  2. Balance

    Sunday Sifter

    Sunday Sifter Build (AKA- spent way too many hours reading archives, got jazzed up with a river at flood stage, and had to do something fossil related to move forward with my life) Building a nicer sifter has been on my list for a long while. I saved a nice cedar board from a window sill repair, and have been “gonna make a sifter with it” since. My current sifter is fine so I decided to make something a little nicer that I can keep a while. A sifter that can live in the boat, is still lightweight but taller than my current version, and buoyant. Cedar should be perfect. It’s lighter than most, strong, basically rot proof and naturally buoyant. Since my material was limited I decided to use the CNC to cut it out rather than the bandsaw. Waste not want not. The construction fence is something I started using last year. Held up all season incredibly and my favorite part is it’s 3/8”. In my area that appears to be the sweet spot for speed and collection. It stretches like a trampoline and trims up with a razor blade. Anyone else got a cheese ball tub of chunkasaurous and dugong bits some sanding and shaping along with a little mantra for when I need reminding of why I’m out there. “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known” it’s In really deep so it’s hard to read but over time the letters will darken up while the surface keeps getting rubbed on and it will become really nice. Also cut some 1/8” veneer cover strips for the bottom. It’s a Sunday sifter. Time to wear the nice shirt. It’s screwed together. Predrill cedar or it will crack. To jazz it up I sunk 5/16” counters in and used dowels to hide my screw heads. You can use shorter screws this way too. Needs some oil and it’s ready. Best part is I won’t need pool noodles for this one. Needs a dog leash and an eye screw but it’s time for dinner. Have a great week everyone! Keep the faith and try to do good! Jp
  3. So, in speaking to @digit, I was convinced to make a wooden sifter to replace my current PVC pipe one, and in doing so, make a guide on how! So first things first - I followed Ken’a tips and his post here from years ago: So the materials: - 4 pieces of 1”x3”x20” lumber. I went with pine, cause it was cheap and on sale and very straight. - Wood glue - Screws. I used 12 #8 round headed screws. - Drill for the screws - Heavy Duty staple gun + staples - Hammer - Wire Cutter - 1/4” Mesh, enough to cover about 20 squared inches - Zip/Cable/Wire ties - at least 12, probably going to want long ones, I picked up a pack of 36” ones. - Pool noodles - enough to fit around 4 sides of the sifter. So, I have currently ordered, a 4” thick, completely solid pool noodle on its way to me, but since it’ll most likely be here after Sunday when I plan on using my sifter next, I’m using normal pool noodles for now. We’ll see if they manage to keep the sifter up for now. So to start, I got my wood: Took 2 pieces, drilled 3 holes within the top inch of the board going right through. I then lined this up with the side of the other piece, and used a pen to mark off where the holes were. I then drilled about a half inch into the other piece of wood. Next I smeared wood glue onto the area of the wood that would be touching, and then drilled the screws into all 3 holes: So it looked like this: I repeated that for the other sides, forming a box: Next, I grabbed the stapler and the wire mesh, and stapled along the frame to secure the mesh: Hammering the staples down to keep them in place and make sure the edges are smoother: Once the mesh was completely on: I then used the wire cutters to trim the excess mesh: Next, I cut the pool noodles to size around the frame, realizing I didn’t have quite enough pool noodle, and then zip tied them with my smaller zip ties that barely fit: I then used parachute cord and a carabiner to finish it off. The reason for using smaller pool noodles and zip ties is, as I mentioned, that I have the 4” thick, solid pool noodle coming. Being 4” thick, it’ll require the 36” zip ties I bought. It’s also 72” long, which means I can either do 18”/side of pool noodle, or I can do 20”, 20”, and then take another 20” section, cut it in half length-wise, and use each half-pipe shape on the 2 other sides, which is what I currently plan on doing. This’ll give me a good amount of buoyancy while also providing me handles. I’ll update this post when I’ve got the bigger pool noodle, and then again once I’ve tested it out! Hope everyone’s enjoyed this, and hopefully it’s clear enough to guide people through making their own. Feel free to leave questions if anyone has any!
  4. hokietech96

    Double Decker Sifter

    Hi. This double decker sifter was inspired after spending the day with @Searcher78 looking for teeth at Flag Point and also seeing all is cool small teeth from Douglas Point. I have made you normal size 1/4 inch sifter and a made a smaller 1/4 sifter 12x11. I decided to add another sifter underneath the 1/4 inch to catch the smaller teeth. Because I am limited for time with 3 hour drives from NJ to MD I can empty the tray in the bucket and take it home to search or pick through there. Just thinking out loud. Haha. Anyway the theory is there. Hope it works.
  5. All the rest of our sifters use 1/4 mesh (for sifting in creeks). Does anyone used one with 1/8 mesh for catching tiny stuff? How does it work?
  6. I am making some wooden framed sifters with a diameter of about 16x14"- and am trying to decide if I want to mount handles to them. Do you like handles on your fossil sifters (for creek use)?
  7. Northern Neck

    Where to get 1/8th stainless mesh

    Hey guys, new here. So I made a few of the shark tooth sifters with pool noodles. They work great but I can only find the 1/4th wire. Does anyone know who sells the 1/8th mesh that's stainless? I tried window screen material and that's awful in my opinion. Recently ordered a pan sifter off Amazon and it had the stainless wire 1/8th in it. But I need sheets to make my own. The 1/4th catches bigger teeth fine but the sand shark teeth usually pass thru the 1/4th mesh.
  8. Therizinosaurus

    best sifter to use?

    I have only been on one fossil hunting trip before and i used other peoples equipment. I was wondering if there's a preferred brand or type of sifter to use? I am mainly going after sharks teeth and shells if that is important. I will be searching on a sandy beach.
  9. KimTexan

    DIY Sifting Screen

    I need to go back out to the bison site and sift for the feet bones and fragments and whatever else I may find. I looked on Amazon to see what they had, but they were ridiculously priced. This was one of the cheaper ones. It is 22 x 11 inches. Mine is 22 x 15 inches. I asked around about people who might have a screen. I determined I could build one for the cost of gas to go get it. I don’t watch DIY TV shows. I don’t watch TV unless it’s with my kids. Granted, it may not be fancy or pretty, but it will be functional. This is a really simple project if you have the tools, material and time. My sifter is for sifting for bones and bone fragments. But if you’re sifting for stuff in rivers or for shark teeth, this would work, but you’d need a smaller size mesh. I went to Home Depot to get a piece of lumber. I chose a 2.5” x 3/4” x 8’ piece. I paid $1.88 I think. I have a Toyota Camry - not exactly the lumber carrying car, but the back seats fold forward so I folded one forward and slid the piece in the trunk. The end reached up to my gear shift by the console. Tools and Materials Electric drill 1/8” drill bit Jig saw and blade 1.5” wood screws 1” nails 19 gauge wire mesh 1/2 inch, 24” x 15” Tin snippers Hammer Pliers 2.5” x 3/4” x 8’ piece of wood Ruler or measuring tape pen or pencil I had everything, but the right size wood. So the screen basically cost me $1.88 since I had all the other stuff on hand. Plus about 45-60 minutes of time, most of which was messing with the screen. The screen I had was 24 inches wide. I wanted to fold the wire edges up on the inside of the frame so the edges wouldn’t snag, scrape, cut or gouge me, my car or clothes. So I determined I wanted my frame to be 22” long x 15” wide so it would be able to fit in my large backpack. I laid the wood out on the floor and measured 22” and drew a line across the width of the wood. I repeated that and then measured 15” and drew lines for that times 2. I’d needed to make 4 cuts. I took my jig saw outside to my patio and laid the lumber across the arms of a patio chair to make a makeshift sawhorse. I cut along each of the 4 lines I’d drawn. I came inside and drilled two holes in each end of the 15” pieces. I pre-drilled so that I didn’t end up splitting the wood since it is a bit narrow. I removed the drill bit to put in a Phillips screwdriver bit. I put the screws in and drove the tips out the other side, just barely poking out, maybe 2-3 mm. I lined up one end of the 15” pieces with the end of a 24” piece. I took my hammer and gave the end of the 15” piece with screws in it a tap to make the screws leave an indentation on the end of the 24” piece so I’d know where to drill. I did this for all 4 ends keeping straight which end would match up with which piece. The piece I used to hammer had to be the end I would screw in so the holes would align perfectly with the screws. I swapped out the Phillips tip for the drill bit. I drilled the 8 holes. I then switched back to the Phillips tip and screwed in the 8 screws. In maybe 20 minutes I had my frame made. Making the 16 drill holes is what took the longest for the frame building. My drill is cordless and the battery was running a little low so it wasn’t super powerful. Here is the frame. I am bad about doing these projects indoors and on my rugs. I don't want to damage the wood floors and it was below freezing outside. So, I have sawdust on the rug. I got my roll of 19 gauge wire and measured out 15”. Since the wire is like a grid it made it easy to follow the lines and cut the wire. The wire mesh is unwieldy though. The tin snippers are pretty powerful so cutting through the wire wasn't hard at all. It was the trying to bend it out of the way as I cut it so that I didn't gouge myself with the sharp ends of the wire. Here are the tin snippers cutting the wires. They worked really well. After I cut the wire then I cut the edges so that I could fold them in to fit inside the box. You can see the cut 2 squares in. I folded the screen up to a 90 degree angle 3 squares on the end and 1 square on the side. I tried bending the wire a few different ways. I tried laying under the edge of the frame and pulling it at a 90 degree angle. That kind of worked, but didn't get the 90 degree angle I wanted. I ended up using a pair of vice grips to bend it to the 90 degree angle. I worked quite well and was easy to bend. Like this: Once I got all the edges bent to a 90 degree angle more or less I pushed the screen into the frame. Then to fix it in place I nailed in 1 inch nails maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the way and then hammered over at a 90 degree angle to pin the wire in place. A staple gun would have been so much easier, but I don't have one of those. You can see my nails holding the wire in place, folded over. I think the screen part took me maybe 30 minutes, longer than cutting the wood and drilling holes to building the frame. This is my finished screen. Nothing fancy, but sturdy and hopefully functional. I might add some little metal handles on the ends. I hope to make it out to the bison site tomorrow. My daddy is not on TFF, but I'd still like to thank him for teaching me how to do so many things. Being able to build or repair stuff seems to be becoming more of a lost art. People don't seem to know how to do things anymore. Bless my dad for taking the time to teach me and insist I sit and watch him fix or build things. I did not always want to, but I am so thankful he insisted. It has benefited me enormously throughout my life and as a home owner. He also made me go fix stuff too. I didn't have to know how to do it before starting. I just had to learn and do it. He had me rebuild a carburetor once when I was maybe a sophomore in high school. I'd never seen it or done anything like it before, but he had taught me enough for me to wing it. I did it and it worked great after I rebuilt it.
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