Mini Sand Blaster

[Quarryman Dave]

Good afternoon:

Anyone know where I can get a mini sandblaster kit to prep fossils? In canada or US

Thanks

David

[Fossildude19]

Try googling "Paasche air eraser kit".

Amazon has them >>Here<< .

I bought mine for much cheaper at Harbor Freight, but they only sell them in-store - have one near where I live.

Regards

Edited January 29, 2013 by Fossildude19

[Malcolmt]

I bought my paashe on ebay (auction)for $32.95 plus 11.95 priority shipping from the US. Was a private sale but unit was brand new unopened (person had got as a gift but never used. It works good but is a pain to have to refill all the time. I also have a bigger dental abrasion unit that is in a dust cabinet.

[Quarryman Dave]

thanks guys! I was on a website from england and they wanted in sterling pounds 385!! sounds like a heck of a lot

Regards

David

[Malcolmt]

They are regularly available new on ebay just put the following in the search "paasche air eraser" . I currently see one for 49.99 plus shipping you should be able to get them to reduce the cost of shipping to $11.95 which is the actual cost of the flat rate priority. They do not come with a compressor and some have a starter of aluminum oxide with them some don't (I dont really use this as it cuts to fast)There is also a remote version that has a bigger powder supply that is separate from the actual airbrush part. The biggest fault of the small unit is you have too add poweder every few minutes. These are about 99.00 new on ebay.

Weather depending should see you Sunday, not sure I would go if it is pouring rain.

[Indy]

thanks guys! I was on a website from england and they wanted in sterling pounds 385!! sounds like a heck of a lot

Regards

David

I think 385 pounds equates to about 600 US Dollars

In 6 months you very well might look back and think

the price (not necessarily that unit) was reasonable

based on the kind of fossils you wish to prepare and

the quality of prep you presently envision.

[Quarryman Dave]

Good point I should consider that. Do you have that sandblaster?

Regards

David

[Indy]

Good point I should consider that. Do you have that sandblaster?

Regards

David

[pleecan]

Nice set up Barry! Are you also using 0.5X barlow?

PL

[Quarryman Dave]

very nice setup iam very impressed

regards

David

[FossilDAWG]

Try googling "Paasche air eraser kit".

Amazon has them >>Here<< .

I bought mine for much cheaper at Harbor Freight, but they only sell them in-store - have one near where I live.

Regards

What sort of capacity/pressure compressor do you use with that air eraser? I'm thinking that might be an economical approach to cleaning up some fossils in a very soft matrix, such as the Arkona Shale or Mooreville Chalk. I doubt it would do much to a solid limestone or hard shale matrix, but maybe you can tell me otherwise.

Don

[Indy]

Nice set up Barry! Are you also using 0.5X barlow?

PL

Original lens on an old Russian scope that I bought many years ago

Of Course added a ring light. All packed away now from a recent move

and my focused fossils of research now don't require using the air brush

and haven't use it for sometime.

[Fossildude19]

What sort of capacity/pressure compressor do you use with that air eraser? I'm thinking that might be an economical approach to cleaning up some fossils in a very soft matrix, such as the Arkona Shale or Mooreville Chalk. I doubt it would do much to a solid limestone or hard shale matrix, but maybe you can tell me otherwise.

Don

Hello Don,

I haven't actually started to use it yet, as I am building a "blast cabinet". I hope to get it up and running in the next month or two.

It is listed as having a 65 psi operating pressure.

I have a 2 1\2 horse power 10 gallon 125 psi (adjustable) compressor that I plan to use with it.

Advice garnered here said to use straight baking soda for prep purposes.

I think you might be able to prep out harder limestones/shales with different blasting materials, such as aluminum oxide. I'll be posting results once I get my gear together, and up and running.

Regards,

[Malcolmt]

I generally run the Paashe at about 30 psi (I have 2 of them one with dolomite loaded and one with baking soda). Have never used over 50 psi or lower than 20. I have no issue with most materials when using dolomite. Baking soda that has been screened through a 100 mesh does a good job as a final clean up. The paashe with dolomite works well on Arkona material, Waldron shale, Windom shale, Oklahoma Harragan matrial, green river fish. Does not work well on certain trilos from britain in very hard dark black shale. Also does not work on some trilos I have in an ironstone matrix. I use an airscribe to clear away the bulk of the matrix , then use assorted pin vices to get the trilo pretty clean finishing and cleaning up with the paasche or a larger dental unit that I have. I find the Paashe although it only holds a small amount of powder to be very precise. I have modified the Paashe to use an 18 gage dispensing needle as the blasing oriface. I have already eroded the brass part at the bottom of one of the paashe units that used Baking soda. Probably ran about 4 pounds of baking soda in total to do this. I do reuse the blasting material but I screen it to 80 or 100 mesh each time. The reused material ends up being a mix of dolomite and Baking soda which cuts at about the same as baking soda alone. As you reuse the grains get rounded so they are not as abrasive. The online downside with the Paashe is the limited amount of powder you can load each time. Depending on the psi and how open the feed valve is you get about 1 to 2 minutes of continuous usage.

The dental unit that has dual powder containers is mucxh less precise than the paashe. The containers can each hold perhaps a half pound of material at a time. I generally run it between 30 and 60 although it indicates that you can use it to 90. I am currently looking at modifying it to use a 14 or 18 gage needle instead of the ceramic points it currently uses. The dental unit has a blast cabinet that has the viewing glass at an angle which makes the scope more difficult to see through because you cannot use the ring light because of the reflection. The cabinet has a 100 watt equivalent flourescent in it. The cabinet really needs to be bigger as ones hands feel cramped inside of it.

I will try to get some pictures of my set up and post.

Edited September 29, 2011 by Malcolmt

[Malcolmt]

Here is the setup. (Tried to take a number of pictures, but they are not the best)I do not have much space available this is in a small laundry furnace room. As you will see from the pictures I tend to jury rig things. (thats half the fun and it costs a whole lot less). You will note that the scopes are mounted on pipe stands and use bench vices as attachment points. I am running a Porter & Cable 160 PSI compressor under the table The raw outputs are set at 90 PSI and then I down regulate the individual units if needed. The Paashe units run off a bank set up and generally set to 30 PSI. Currently about 8 different devices are attached with different pressures adjustable via regulator filter/water separation units. You can see I have 2 air erasers and a paashe airbrush that I use as a mini blower. The yellow hose is a standard garage air blower that I use for cleaning up.

I continuously run a Honewell air purifier 24 hours a day which really keeps the dust down. I also have a vacume system hooked up to the dental air abrasion unit (the blue thing).

I run three air scribes (a CP 9361, an ARO EP50 and a british SA96) I also have 2 ARO 8315 units on order one of which I am planning to convert to a PaleoARO using thje kit from Paleotools.

I also use a variable dremel with a diamond dental point and a 56,000 RPM air engraver with a diamond dental point. I also have a hanging dremel with the long flexible shaft that I use to sharpen my dental tools and pin vices.

You can see that I have modifed the Paadche units to use an 18 gage needle as the blast orfice which makes them much more precise to use.

When prepping I have a small air tube constantly blowing air at about 10 psi over the fossil which blows the dust away.

If you have any questions let me know.

Edited September 29, 2011 by Malcolmt

[pleecan]

Original lens on an old Russian scope that I bought many years ago

Of Course added a ring light. All packed away now from a recent move

and my focused fossils of research now don't require using the air brush

and haven't use it for sometime.

There are some nice equipment coming out of Russia ... Lomo is one that I am familiar with... (Russian Zeiss).

The 0.5X barlow increase the depth of field and the working distance between the scope and specimen also increases.

PL

[pleecan]

Here is the setup. (Tried to take a number of pictures, but they are not the best)I do not have much space available this is in a small laundry furnace room. As you will see from the pictures I tend to jury rig things. (thats half the fun and it costs a whole lot less). You will note that the scopes are mounted on pipe stands and use bench vices as attachment points. I am running a Porter & Cable 160 PSI compressor under the table The raw outputs are set at 90 PSI and then I down regulate the individual units if needed. The Paashe units run off a bank set up and generally set to 30 PSI. Currently about 8 different devices are attached with different pressures adjustable via regulator filter/water separation units. You can see I have 2 air erasers and a paashe airbrush that I use as a mini blower. The yellow hose is a standard garage air blower that I use for cleaning up.

I continuously run a Honewell air purifier 24 hours a day which really keeps the dust down. I also have a vacume system hooked up to the dental air abrasion unit (the blue thing).

I run three air scribes (a CP 9361, an ARO EP50 and a british SA96) I also have 2 ARO 8315 units on order one of which I am planning to convert to a PaleoARO using thje kit from Paleotools.

I also use a variable dremel with a diamond dental point and a 56,000 RPM air engraver with a diamond dental point. I also have a hanging dremel with the long flexible shaft that I use to sharpen my dental tools and pin vices.

You can see that I have modifed the Paadche units to use an 18 gage needle as the blast orfice which makes them much more precise to use.

When prepping I have a small air tube constantly blowing air at about 10 psi over the fossil which blows the dust away.

If you have any questions let me know.

Great Setup Malcolm!

PL

Edited September 29, 2011 by pleecan

[Indy]

There are some nice equipment coming out of Russia ... Lomo is one that I am familiar with... (Russian Zeiss).

The 0.5X barlow increase the depth of field and the working distance between the scope and specimen also increases.

PL

Yes, I have one of the Russian 05x ...

The optics on this scope are great

[bone digger]

For a mid priced air abrasive have a look at this website www.thepreplab.com . The prep lab to go looks good for $575! I wouldn't spend the money for the prep tent or anything just build your own cabinet. I have heard they are really good although I have not tried one myself yet.

[Krazy Rick]

Here is the setup. (Tried to take a number of pictures, but they are not the best)I do not have much space available this is in a small laundry furnace room. As you will see from the pictures I tend to jury rig things. (thats half the fun and it costs a whole lot less). You will note that the scopes are mounted on pipe stands and use bench vices as attachment points. I am running a Porter & Cable 160 PSI compressor under the table The raw outputs are set at 90 PSI and then I down regulate the individual units if needed. The Paashe units run off a bank set up and generally set to 30 PSI. Currently about 8 different devices are attached with different pressures adjustable via regulator filter/water separation units. You can see I have 2 air erasers and a paashe airbrush that I use as a mini blower. The yellow hose is a standard garage air blower that I use for cleaning up.

I continuously run a Honewell air purifier 24 hours a day which really keeps the dust down. I also have a vacume system hooked up to the dental air abrasion unit (the blue thing).

I run three air scribes (a CP 9361, an ARO EP50 and a british SA96) I also have 2 ARO 8315 units on order one of which I am planning to convert to a PaleoARO using thje kit from Paleotools.

I also use a variable dremel with a diamond dental point and a 56,000 RPM air engraver with a diamond dental point. I also have a hanging dremel with the long flexible shaft that I use to sharpen my dental tools and pin vices.

You can see that I have modifed the Paadche units to use an 18 gage needle as the blast orfice which makes them much more precise to use.

When prepping I have a small air tube constantly blowing air at about 10 psi over the fossil which blows the dust away.

If you have any questions let me know.

Hey Malcom, I ordered an air eraser; I'm wondering if a larger powder bowl might be possible to rig up ? ..... I've also read that the three holes in the screen of the unit should be enlarged to avoid clumping

[Malcolmt]

The air holes in the bowl are in a brass part and as you use the unit they will get bigger on their own. I would not try to enlarge them As long as you use dry media that will fit through a 120 mesh screen you should not have any issue with the size of the holes. The clumping is really a function of the humidity and water content in the media. If you bake the media at 225 for 20 minutes and put it in a jar wit a metal lid you can greatly reduce the tendency to clump.

I do not see how you could rig up a larger powder bowl on this unit unless you have a very good machine shop at your disposal. At 20 to 30 PSI you will get a few minutes of blasting from each bowl. I found when I used to use the passche a lot more that filling the bowl about 2/3 full worked best.

[Krazy Rick]

The air holes in the bowl are in a brass part and as you use the unit they will get bigger on their own. I would not try to enlarge them As long as you use dry media that will fit through a 120 mesh screen you should not have any issue with the size of the holes. The clumping is really a function of the humidity and water content in the media. If you bake the media at 225 for 20 minutes and put it in a jar wit a metal lid you can greatly reduce the tendency to clump.

I do not see how you could rig up a larger powder bowl on this unit unless you have a very good machine shop at your disposal. At 20 to 30 PSI you will get a few minutes of blasting from each bowl. I found when I used to use the passche a lot more that filling the bowl about 2/3 full worked best.

Thanks Malcom - every bit of advice is appreciated , I've been airbrushing most of my life, so hopefully using the air eraser will work out; I know later down the road I'll have to look into more tools; but this is a good start

[Martin Legemaate]

Good stuff Malcolm, thanks