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Prep supplies.....where to get them?


olddude

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Where do you guys buy your prep supplies? I've looked on line and have mixed feelings about some of the places that do offer this kind of stuff. I'm sure people here have their favorite sellers who won't rip a rookie like me off. Thanks!!!!

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What are you looking to buy?  Prep supplies come in all flavors and you  have to go to different folks to buy different things.  But I will throw in a good word for PaleoTools air scribes, if you are looking for these kinds of tools.  And no, there is no ripping off involved with them.  

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I've sourced my stuff from wherever I could find it.  What are you looking for?

"There is no shortage of fossils. There is only a shortage of paleontologists to study them." - Larry Martin

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@olddude from your tags, I would deduce you want a place for all prep items, tools and supplies.

 

For tools, I like Paleo Tools for scribes and Vaniman for a less expensive abrasive blaster.

I get my Paraloid from Talas.com (I buy in bulk so it is pretty cheap)

Super glues (I like Starbond over Paleobond for price and ease of removal) and Apoxie Sculpt come from good old Amazon.com

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Oh, I guess I should have added what I was looking for. :DOH:

I was starting to think about how to preserve and maybe even repair some of the items I have been finding. Right now I have just been finding stuff, bringing it home for a light cleaning and piling it up on my work table. I'm at the point where I need a bigger work table or I need to start finding a way to do basic prep so I can put them away without the fear of them falling apart on the shelf. I have a few pieces that I need to glue back together that were broken during the rough trip out of the woods. Most of the things I have been finding at this last site have been washed out of a wooded cliff by several small streams. Then by the time they wash down the hill a few hundred yards the stuff has already been stripped of most of the matrix around them but are sometimes banged up pretty badly. There are a couple different shell layers in this bank and in one of them the fossils seem very fragile where the other layer the matrix is much harder and the fossils there seem a lot more stable. However they will have to be mechanically cleaned to find out what is inside.

 

I have been looking at air pens but just not ready to spend that much right now maybe someday my ship will come in and i'll be able to go that route. Thanks for all the help.

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Oh I forgot to mention I have a couple blast cabinets that I use for cleaning parts that we powder coat in my shop but I would think aluminum oxide or even glass bead would be a little rough on most items. I guess I could build a smaller version of the guns we use on our parts with a smaller tip size but was wondering what type media to use.

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10 minutes ago, olddude said:

Oh I forgot to mention I have a couple blast cabinets that I use for cleaning parts that we powder coat in my shop but I would think aluminum oxide or even glass bead would be a little rough on most items. I guess I could build a smaller version of the guns we use on our parts with a smaller tip size but was wondering what type media to use.

Media used for fossil prep is typically sodium bicarbonate, dolomite, or iron powder. Most commercial abrasives are too hard for fossils and the tips for these unites have a much larger orifice than is useful for fossil prep.

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23 hours ago, Ptychodus04 said:

Media used for fossil prep is typically sodium bicarbonate, dolomite, or iron powder. Most commercial abrasives are too hard for fossils and the tips for these unites have a much larger orifice than is useful for fossil prep.

Thanks, That's what I was looking for I'll have to research dolomite and iron powder. I can make tips with a smaller orifice and I probably would have to rig something up with a smaller more nimble hose to feed it. I'll have to work on that and see if I can come up with a workable solution. Thanks again.....

 

I was wondering if anyone has tried ground corn cob or walnut shell media for fossil prep? You can get that along with soda blast media at Northern Hydraulics. The soda blast media is 50 grit at 34.99 for 20 lb bag. The walnut shell is 37.99 for 10 lbs and it is 20 grit. The ground corn cob is 47.99 for 50 lbs and it says it is 60/80 grit. All three say they are safe on glass, fiberglass, and other delicate surfaces.

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dolomite is available from pottery supply places.  It is used in some glazes, and works well in the prep lab.  Bicarb is available in the supermarket, but for larger quantities go to bakery supply places.  We have a place in town that supplies industrial abrasives including bicarb, but they don't do dolomite.  

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18 minutes ago, jpc said:

dolomite is available from pottery supply places.  It is used in some glazes, and works well in the prep lab.  Bicarb is available in the supermarket, but for larger quantities go to bakery supply places.  We have a place in town that supplies industrial abrasives including bicarb, but they don't do dolomite.  

Thanks, I get baking soda from Sams club in 10 or 20 lb bags and it's pretty cheap. 

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40 minutes ago, olddude said:

Thanks, I get baking soda from Sams club in 10 or 20 lb bags and it's pretty cheap. 

Good to know... maybe I will borrow my friend's Sam's Club card

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You can get large bags of bicarb from Amazon for less than $1 per pound which is way cheaper than buying it in a grocery store.  The most important thing is to make sure that the particle size of any media is compatible with your system and nozzle.  50 GRIT is MASSIVE for a micro abrasive system.  You have to keep your goal and the hardness of your fossil in mind. 

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"There is no shortage of fossils. There is only a shortage of paleontologists to study them." - Larry Martin

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20 hours ago, hadrosauridae said:

You can get large bags of bicarb from Amazon for less than $1 per pound which is way cheaper than buying it in a grocery store.  The most important thing is to make sure that the particle size of any media is compatible with your system and nozzle.  50 GRIT is MASSIVE for a micro abrasive system.  You have to keep your goal and the hardness of your fossil in mind. 

Yeah I figured you would have to do a little doctoring to that soda and corn cob media. What grit size media do those small micro abrasive systems use? I'm still looking at iron powder media but haven't found much about it yet. Thanks!!

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I'm using the @Vaniman blaster, which comes made to run media between 50 and 100 microns, although you can purchase different canister and tips to run larger.  IIRC the standard USP bicarb is about 60-70 microns, although it can be bought in XL sizes up to 350 micron

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"There is no shortage of fossils. There is only a shortage of paleontologists to study them." - Larry Martin

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Bicarbonate is said to draw moisture so you will need a water/ filter trap. I am putting together a nozzle using a hollow English pin vise that I had and tubing. with extra sized pieces if needed. I soldered a hollow brass insert into the tube so it should last longer. Powdered Dolomite may wear thru the brass sooner.  I have not made the cabinet yet.  

P1000870.jpg

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Worth a try, but I feel your hollow brass tubes are going to be WAY too large in diameter.  The result is that you will have to run much higher pressure and will eat though media like a fat kid in a candy store.  

 

The nozzle orifice that originally came with my blaster was the size of a sewing pin and that was too large for the ~60 micron media I'm using.  I had to downsize the tip, but it has allowed me to cut my supply pressure in half, and my media lasts about 10X longer.  

 

And yes, bicarb will absorb any extra moisture from the air and if it absorbs too much you get problems with clumping and clogging.  Thats why I installed a desiccant dryer in my system. 

"There is no shortage of fossils. There is only a shortage of paleontologists to study them." - Larry Martin

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20 hours ago, Bob Saunders said:

Bicarbonate is said to draw moisture so you will need a water/ filter trap. I am putting together a nozzle using a hollow English pin vise that I had and tubing. with extra sized pieces if needed. I soldered a hollow brass insert into the tube so it should last longer. Powdered Dolomite may wear thru the brass sooner.  I have not made the cabinet yet.  

P1000870.jpg

I was thinking about something like this but I could never come up with a pen vice that was hollow through the center. I have a small lathe and usually make my nozzle tips for my two blast cabinets. The tips you buy don't last all that long and they cost more than they are worth an I have been making mine out of Stainless steel and they hang in there a lot better. I need to see one of the tips on one of those fancy store bought mini units to see how they are configured. Are they just hollow tubes or do they have some sort of convection chamber where the media enters the tip?

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20 hours ago, hadrosauridae said:

Worth a try, but I feel your hollow brass tubes are going to be WAY too large in diameter.  The result is that you will have to run much higher pressure and will eat though media like a fat kid in a candy store.  

 

The nozzle orifice that originally came with my blaster was the size of a sewing pin and that was too large for the ~60 micron media I'm using.  I had to downsize the tip, but it has allowed me to cut my supply pressure in half, and my media lasts about 10X longer.  

 

And yes, bicarb will absorb any extra moisture from the air and if it absorbs too much you get problems with clumping and clogging.  Thats why I installed a desiccant dryer in my system. 

10/4 on the brass wearing out too fast. Are the tips on your machine made of SS or carbon steel?  And are the tips just hollow tubes or is there some machine work done on the entrance of the tip?

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I based mine after viewing and reading several YouTube videos and comments, and I have much smaller hobby brass tubing. One was home made but I did not like his on/of method. The smallest K D hobby brass I have is 1.4 mm. I can put it inside the bigger tube.  I do not plan to use dolomite. One Passache unit has a stainless steel tip. I have not made a cabinet yet, I have metal lathes and a wood shop. I have a air brush pump with auto off and was advised it should be sufficient for small items, like Brachiopods etc.  I will use a foot control to close the line which will stop the pump. I have the flow control and filter for 1/4 inch line. The barn is unheated so no hurry. So far my expense is around $10 as I had stuff on hand. 

P1000868.jpg

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1 hour ago, olddude said:

10/4 on the brass wearing out too fast. Are the tips on your machine made of SS or carbon steel?  And are the tips just hollow tubes or is there some machine work done on the entrance of the tip?

Tung Carbide, opening is .9 mm.  Really looks like a flat cut tube.  I dont see any machining, but then that could be a bad thing if it let a too-large particle to begin down the tube only to form a block.

 

ETA - the stock tip size is 1.2mm.  So the change of .3mm allowed me greatly decrease working psi and amount of media consumed.  Going larger would only likely be close to useless for media like USP bicarb.  Maybe if you were using an XL bicarb or other large media.  Again, make sure all your components are paired.

"There is no shortage of fossils. There is only a shortage of paleontologists to study them." - Larry Martin

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On 3/16/2020 at 2:15 PM, hadrosauridae said:

Tung Carbide, opening is .9 mm.  Really looks like a flat cut tube.  I dont see any machining, but then that could be a bad thing if it let a too-large particle to begin down the tube only to form a block.

 

ETA - the stock tip size is 1.2mm.  So the change of .3mm allowed me greatly decrease working psi and amount of media consumed.  Going larger would only likely be close to useless for media like USP bicarb.  Maybe if you were using an XL bicarb or other large media.  Again, make sure all your components are paired.

I haven't researched just how those mini systems are set up. My blast cabinets are both draw the media out of the bottom of the cabinets up to the gun. My compressor has a capacity of around 25 CFM at 150 PSI but I normally run my cabinets at around 80 PSI. I do have a smaller hand held unit that has a hopper but it is still too bulky to do fine delicate work and it uses media like crazy. I guess I'll do some reading on these small mini's and see what I can come up with. Thanks for your input.

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25 CFM!  Holy cow!

"There is no shortage of fossils. There is only a shortage of paleontologists to study them." - Larry Martin

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On 3/18/2020 at 7:26 PM, hadrosauridae said:

25 CFM!  Holy cow!

That's not much at all when it comes to sand blasting. LOL

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