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Affordable Trilobite Preparation Setup


Fossil-Hound

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Well I have saved up some spending money and have about $450 I can spend on preparation tools. I have so many trilobites in Shale from Penn Dixie and U-Dig that could be prepared and look really good. Found a compressor with scribe kit that deals PSI at 15-45. I found a cheaper combo that provides 0-35 PSI. So that could cost around $150 including the media. Then a blast cabinet will cost around $150. I'll need to filter that air out and I could probably use a shop vac and rig it up to the blast cabinet. A new shop vac will cost about $40. That's about $350. The extra $100 could be used on some lights or an 8820 dremel for matrix extraction. This should be a fun winter time hobby as Utah is known for bad winters. I'll start selling my surplus prepared fossils to purchase better preparation tools. We all have to start somewhere. I know @DevonianDigger has his own custom setup but I'm not brave .enough to use a tattoo machine. @Ptychodus04 mentioned that a micro hammer is useful but those are expensive and @Malcolmt mentioned some very nice tools that I can't afford yet. @Fossildude19 if you have any suggestions let me know as you do your own preparation. Same goes for you @FossilSloth although your setup is over a thousand and beyond my current price range. Eventually I'll work my way up the ladder.

 

Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

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Both ebay links seem to have been removed.  I have done a few trilobites in my day, buit has been a while.  I think 45 psi might be a bit low.

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23 minutes ago, jpc said:

Both ebay links seem to have been removed.  I have done a few trilobites in my day, buit has been a while.  I think 45 psi might be a bit low.

 

Ebay links don't seem to work so I updated the post. Thanks for the info. I was afraid 45 was too high. What PSI or air compressor would you recommend?

Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

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@Fossil-Hound do you have a Harbor Freight near you? If so, you can get a much better compressor for $150. If you are planning to run a scribe, you need 90 psi and a minimum of 3.5 scfm. My compressor has a 4.7 output and it doesn't complain at all.

 

I just did a Google search for "air scribe" and a Chicago Pneumatic clone popped up for around $80 and an Aro clone for $90. 

 

Add a magnifying light for around $75. Magnification is a must and this is a cheap intro until you can afford a stereo microscope.

 

Add shooting ear muffs and a respirator for approx. $60

 

You can build a blast cabinet for somewhere around $50 and your shop vac for around $60 (pay extra for the one that is quieter and your wife won't be as mad at you for prepping in the basement).

 

Grand total: $495 + shipping and stuff you don't anticipate.

 

We are a little over budget but there are some things you can cut like a blast cabinet. If you don't mind cleaning up more often, scribes don't require a cabinet. I actually don't have one.

 

Don't skimp on your compressor (it's the heart of your preparation set up), scribes, or your safety equipment. Everything else is a variable based on finances.

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5 hours ago, Fossil-Hound said:

 

Ebay links don't seem to work so I updated the post. Thanks for the info. I was afraid 45 was too high. What PSI or air compressor would you recommend?

 

Most air scribes run at 90 or 95 PSI. The air erasers tap out at 65 PSI. With coupons and sales about 100.00

 

I have a Harbor Freight, Central Pneumatic 8 Gallon , 2 HP, 125 PSI compressor.  Works well enough for me as I don't do a ton of prepping, but it does turn on quite often.

I got mine for about 100.00 bucks. Got the Harbor Freight Central Pneumatics air eraser for about $ 25.00. Some people don't like it, or had problems with it. Mine works fine.

 

I also have the smaller Central Pneumatic Blast Cabinet. 100.00

 

A Paasche AECR  remote air eraser, with the remote feed cup, is highly recommended for beginning preppers.  I see it is on sale at the Wmart website for 83.00.

 

There are ARO knockoff air scribes from China on eBay , starting around 76.00 - the good thing about these is that you can get a Paleotools tip (later) that will fit it,  for about 60.00, to make it more versatile.

I spent 60.00 on a shop vac for dust extraction. A Dremel Engraver goes for about 25.00 and can be a good tool.

 

For the Penn Dixie and the U-dig trilobites, I would focus on getting the air eraser at the moment. The scribe can come later. I've found I can do a lot of the prep by hand, or engraver, and finish off with the air eraser for a really good result.  

 

Hope this helps out some, Jason. ;) 

Good luck. 

Regards,

 

 

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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Your budget is quite light. The small parts you need to get everything up and running add up quickly.

 

Start from the beginning using some kind of magnification. A used stereo zoom Olympus or Nikon scope can be had on ebay if you bid wisely for $100 to $150 with eyepieces. I have posted here in the past about what you should be looking for in the way of a scope. Prepping without magification and good lighting is generally not going to turn out those stunning specimenns you are hoping for. 

 

You need a compressor that will do 110 PSI and that will let you dial it down to almost nothing. Your air eraser if set up correctly will run down to about 18 PSI and still be decent . You should not run the Air eraser over 50 PSI as it is only rated for 55 PSI. The higher you run it the faster the brass parts in it will wear out. I wore two genuine paashe units out when I started before I had better equipment.You also need to put a water trap on the airline to your tools. Without a water trap your air eraser will clog up far more frequently. You will also want to split the air so that you can run a scribe and an air eraser without having to connect and reconnect. Use the quick plug airline adapters male and female for this. 

 

Unless you have a larger tank on the air compressor (20 gallons plus) the machine will be running constantly to keep up the pressure needs. I had a 3 gallon porter cable unit when I started and it ran constantly and got extremely hot when running. Eventually it failed. I have worn out two large $600 units already over the years. My compressor is in the garage and is powered up 24 hours per day 365 days per year. It turns on and off automatically when it gets down to 165 PSI. These units are all noisy but so is the shop vac so unless you can afford a very expensive dust collector you are stuck with the noise. Unless you put things in a distant location. (I prep in the laundry room and run my lines from the garage).

 

The air eraser on its own has a nozzle that is really too large for fine detail work . You will need some 18, 20 and 22 gage dispensing needles to improve the air erasers performance. I have posted in the past how you do this. Only use sodium bicarb or dolomite in the air eraser. The aluminum oxide that they recommend is not for constant use (the use it for small rust cleaning and glass etching) it will wear out your air eraser and the dispensing needles very quickly.  THe aluminum oxide is also quite expensive. Start with good old arm and hammer baking soda it is cheap and quite forgiving and it is far less hazardous than something that contains aluminum or silicates.....

 

Build your own blast cabinet for about $30. It will be far better than anything you can buy. It will also allow you to change the glass every hundred hours or so of use. The small dental unit blast cabinets are useless for fossil prep. They are too small and the glass frosts over too quickly unless you use the disposable glass protectors which get expensive real fast. I have posted plans for a blast cabinet in the past that is the one I made and still use... Here they are again.

 

BlastBox Page 1.pdf

 

BlastBox Page 2.pdf

 

 

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Thanks everyone. Yes I'll need to perform some DIY especially for the blast box. I think I'll stick with the air scribe and a cheap air brush with sodium bicarbonate for the finish. Obviously the first preps won't be perfect but should get me going. My goal is to start selling surplus fossils to purchase finer preparation tools so I can get some nice magnification lenses and better tools. Didn't realize I would need that much PSI. I'll look around for a big compressor. Hopefully I can get the most bang for my buck. Stay tuned!

Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

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It's always better to buy right the first time rather than buy cheap and then buy right. You waste time and money. :wacko: ... and you will probably get really frustrated in the time between.

 

You can easily spend several thousand dollars on a quality prep lab. Pick your starting point and grow from there. You can do a lot of really good work with a quality microscope and a needle in a pin vise.

 

I started with a small ball pein hammer, a 3" Sheetrock screw, a dental pick, and a jeweler's magnifier headset. 

 

Equipment doesn't automatically equal better prep. It speeds up the process and makes it easier but low tech gets the job done eventually.

 

@Malcolmt, I'm jealous. I prep in the garage. It is like the fiery pit of Hades right now! Can you talk to my wife about letting me move it inside? :P

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Move next door to one of they guys who already has all the tools you need and become best of freinds.   :)

 

RB

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@RJB I really want to buy one of your crabs but I need to do something with all these unprepared fossils! Looked at a home in Lehi, Utah last night and will hopefully make an offer in a few days! Told my wife that my side of the garage was mine for prep and there's a big office downstairs where I can setup another prep lab. So pumped! Move out here and then share your tools with me! :P

Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

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Hey @Fossil-Hound.   Yeah, its always money.  when my kids left home the misses and I seemed to have alot more money!   I used to always be out of moneys and trying to buy all the tools I needed took a very long time.   Now Ive got a lot of newer tools, but it cost me about $9000.    Just take your time and work your way up.  Or win the lottery?    Took me over 20 years to aquier all my tools. 

 

RB

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Just now, RJB said:

Hey @Fossil-Hound.   Yeah, its always money.  when my kids left home the misses and I seemed to have alot more money!   I used to always be out of moneys and trying to buy all the tools I needed took a very long time.   Now Ive got a lot of newer tools, but it cost me about $9000.    Just take your time and work your way up.  Or win the lottery?    Took me over 20 years to aquier all my tools. 

 

RB

 

Wow! Ok well I'll have to be patient then. Buying a new home soon and that will take up a lot of green stuff but I do have a little nest egg I'm building up to start prep. Hopefully I can get some decent preps done and then start selling the surplus fossils. Thanks for the words of encouragement!

Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

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I have never really added it up but I suspect I am in the $8000 to $10,000 range for fossil tools but that was spread over probably 10 years. Now it is probably $300 to $400 per year for new parts for my tools as they wear out. (nozzles, o-rings, tubing, COMCO parts)

 

Jason I may be inside but is a very small area of the laundry room probably less than 20 square feet.

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45 minutes ago, Malcolmt said:

I have never really added it up but I suspect I am in the $8000 to $10,000 range for fossil tools but that was spread over probably 10 years. Now it is probably $300 to $400 per year for new parts for my tools as they wear out. (nozzles, o-rings, tubing, COMCO parts)

 

Jason I may be inside but is a very small area of the laundry room probably less than 20 square feet.

 

Wow that's a lot of money. I suppose you do earn some money for your services. I'll probably be confined to the garage this winter and I'm fine with that. The home we are looking at is 2600 square feet and it's just my wife, six month old daughter, cat, and myself.

Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

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Always assume you will make nothing by the time you add wear and tear on equipment , driving to fossil sites, electricity I suspect one has the potential to earn less than minimum wage. If a fossil plate of crinoids takes 10 hours to find and  40 hours to prep and perhaps it sells for $500 to $1000 your are not making much. You have to want to be doing it in the first place, I figure it costs at least $5 per hour to run my equipment when you factor in electricity , wear and tear , vacumn bags, hepa filters on shopvac and filter on the furnace  and the abrasive powder that is lost. The market will only bear about $25 per hour for prepping and generally no one really charges for all the hours it takes. If you come away with $15 bucks an hour you are probably doing well and that does not even include the capital investment you made on the equipment. If you prep indoors you need to make sure you have good quality filters on your furnace and that you change them monthly. And you absolutely must have a hepa filter and a drywall dust bag in your shopvac if that is what is being used to collect dust. I have a cyclone bucket in front of my shop vac (high end quieter one) which collects about 95% of the dust before it reaches the vac. This helps if you recycle your powder and it means I only change the bag in the shopvac every 4 to  6 months instead of monthly... I clean the hepa filter in the shop vac monthly. I still burn out a $200 vac about every 2 years.

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A fossil preparator won $300M in the lottery. When asked what he was going to do with the money he said, "I figure I'll keep prepping for a living until the money runs out." :P

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I can send you some nice earmuffs and a half-mask or full face, for some of those unprepped fossils?  Just an idea :D

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On 8/1/2017 at 4:55 AM, Fossildude19 said:

 

Most air scribes run at 90 or 95 PSI. The air erasers tap out at 65 PSI. With coupons and sales about 100.00

 

I have a Harbor Freight, Central Pneumatic 8 Gallon , 2 HP, 125 PSI compressor.  Works well enough for me as I don't do a ton of prepping, but it does turn on quite often.

I got mine for about 100.00 bucks. Got the Harbor Freight Central Pneumatics air eraser for about $ 25.00. Some people don't like it, or had problems with it. Mine works fine.

 

I also have the smaller Central Pneumatic Blast Cabinet. 100.00

 

A Paasche AECR  remote air eraser, with the remote feed cup, is highly recommended for beginning preppers.  I see it is on sale at the Wmart website for 83.00.

 

There are ARO knockoff air scribes from China on eBay , starting around 76.00 - the good thing about these is that you can get a Paleotools tip (later) that will fit it,  for about 60.00, to make it more versatile.

I spent 60.00 on a shop vac for dust extraction. A Dremel Engraver goes for about 25.00 and can be a good tool.

 

For the Penn Dixie and the U-dig trilobites, I would focus on getting the air eraser at the moment. The scribe can come later. I've found I can do a lot of the prep by hand, or engraver, and finish off with the air eraser for a really good result.  

 

Hope this helps out some, Jason. ;) 

Good luck. 

Regards,

 

 

 

Excellent tips everyone! @Fossildude19 thank you for your input. I do have an engraving dremel from Harbor Freight that I can use to knock of the top layers. The air scribe can be skipped for now. Most of the trilobites I'm working on from U-Dig are on the surface and the fish I'll be working on from Wyoming are very close to the surface. Here's what I'm looking at (note that S&H is usually going to be free as I have Prime):

 

I can get some cheap ear plugs for about $4. I already have some safety goggles but hopefully everything will be contained in the blast cabinet. Once I earn some money from selling surplus prepared fossils I will purchase a nice air scribe.

 

Magnification glasses (up to 25x) $12:

https://www.amazon.com/Magnifying-Glasses-Magnifier-Miniature-BIMANGO/dp/B071DMZ9N4/ref=sr_1_2?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1502323147&sr=1-2-spons&keywords=10x+magnifying+glass&psc=1

 

@Ptychodus04 would you recommend any type of magnification lens? If I have magnification glasses then wouldn't I just need a lamp or two? I believe the blast box I'm looking at has a built in lamp. The magnification glasses should help to see. As long as the shopvac does it's job in sucking up the medium then the blast cabinet glass shouldn't fog up. What are your thoughts?

 

Small respirator mask $11:

https://www.amazon.com/CANHEAL-Washable-Multi-Purpose-Particulate-Respirator/dp/B01N9K0D88/ref=sr_1_1?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1502322849&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=respirator+mask&psc=1

 

@Malcolmt I couldn't find sodium bicarbonite or dolomite medium on Amazon. Can you refer me to some on Amazon?

 

Here is a $100 blast cabinet from Amazon but I'm not sure if this will work. If it has a port for a shop vac then we're in business. What are your thoughts @Fossildude19

https://www.amazon.com/XtremepowerUS-Portable-Abrasive-Sandblaster-Cabinet/dp/B00P1S4DYA/ref=sr_1_cc_3?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1502322311&sr=1-3-catcorr&keywords=blast+cabinet

 

$70: Shop Vac - Looks like this has a basic filter so hopefully I'll be able to use it towards recycling the sodium bicarbonite.

https://www.amazon.com/Shop-Vac-5986100-8-Gallon-Stainless-Vacuum/dp/B00EPH63X2/ref=sr_1_7?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1502322544&sr=1-7&keywords=shop+vac

 

$102 + $38 S&H: Air compressor -

https://www.amazon.com/Central-Pneumatic-Gallon-Portable-Compressor/dp/B006ZBDI3O/ref=sr_1_1?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1502322184&sr=8-1&keywords=Central+Pneumatic+8+Gallon

 

$138: Air erasure -

https://www.amazon.com/Paasche-AECR-Remote-Eraser-Etching/dp/B001CJKTXG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502322024&sr=8-1&keywords=Paasche+AECR

Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

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1 hour ago, Ptychodus04 said:

 

@Ptychodus04 this gif sums up your latest post:

 

http://gph.is/21dLz9Z

 

Ok in all seriousness I'll probably have to opt out on that magnifying lens and try the cheaper magnifying glasses until I can save up some more pennies. I'll get some cheap ear muffs but my gosh that respirator is expensive! I'll use the cheap respirator and upgrade soon (hopefully). Alright looks like I'm all set for success! It won't be perfect but I'll have something to start with.

Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

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You can use good old Arm and Hammer baking soda in the orange box. For dolomite find a Pottery supply store they sell it in 50 pound bags for about $25 but make sure it is in the 40 to 50 micron range and that the particle size is pretty much uniform and that the data sheet indicates that it has little or no silicates.

 

Build your own blast box ($30) . I have uploaded plans in past posts.

 

The blast boxes with the built in lights are not that good for fossil work. You want the light(s) outside of the box so they are not constantly being covered in dust.They are also hard to replace the glass in when it gets frosted over. 

 

The magnifying glasses are not that good for fossil work. You have to be a precise distance from the fossil with them and they generally do not give you enough working distance. If you want to start cheap go with a gooseneck magnifier that has a ring light. A lens will give you 2 to 3x magnification. Unfortunately this is a little low but to get good magnification choices you really need a zoom stereo scope. If you bid wisely you can get a used Olympus or Nikon stereo zoom scope on Ebay with oculars for $100 to $150

 

For a shopvac you need a hepa filter and a special drywall dust bag. Otherwise you will be spreading dust around (<5 micron) and you will burn the motor out.

 

The $99 blast cabinet you saw on amazon would be useless for fossil prep. Too small and you will frost over the glass in no time at all. 

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Just now, Malcolmt said:

You can use good old Arm and Hammer baking soda in the orange box. For dolomite find a Pottery supply store they sell it in 50 pound bags for about $25 but make sure it is in the 40 to 50 micron range and that the particle size is pretty much uniform and that the data sheet indicates that it has little or no silicates.

 

Build your own blast box ($30) . I have uploaded plans in past posts.

 

The blast boxes with the built in lights are not that good for fossil work. You want the light(s) outside of the box so they are not constantly being covered in dust.They are also hard to replace the glass in when it gets frosted over. 

 

The magnifying glasses are not that good for fossil work. You have to be a precise distance from the fossil with them and they generally do not give you enough working distance. If you want to start cheap go with a gooseneck magnifier that has a ring light. A lens will give you 2 to 3x magnification. Unfortunately this is a little low but to get good magnification choices you really need a zoom stereo scope. If you bid wisely you can get a used Olympus or Nikon stereo zoom scope on Ebay with oculars for $100 to $150

 

For a shopvac you need a hepa filter and a special drywall dust bag. Otherwise you will be spreading dust around (<5 micron) and you will burn the motor out.

 

Roger that. I'll throw out the glasses and go with the magnifier that @Ptychodus04 recommended. I thought the shopvac I cited had a hepa filter. Would you recommend one off of Amazon? I'll keep that in mind for dolomite. What do you mean by the orange box? As for the blast cabinet I don't have the tools to build a proper one and my time is going to be somewhat limited. Would you recommend one off of Amazon? I wonder if there's a cheap one out there that gets the job done. I'll have to blog about the setup as I go along for trial and error purposes.

Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

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7 hours ago, Fossil-Hound said:

 I'll get some cheap ear muffs but my gosh that respirator is expensive! I'll use the cheap respirator and upgrade soon (hopefully).

 

$40 is nothing compared to the costs associated with lung diseases like silicosis and pulmonary fibrosis. You can go cheap on everything except safety items. 

 

I once tore out a moldy old shower wearing a dust mask instead of a respirator. I went cheap on the safety equipment. Guess what, I got double pneumonia and wound up in the hospital. Then I got pneumonia every year for the following 3 years with lung infections that I caught before they turned to pneumonia for an additional 5 years. That wound up costing me way more than a $40 respirator and mold is a kitten compared to <5 micron rock dust.

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