[meteorite-list] Intermission/Membrane Box Finding

From: Mike Groetz <mpg444_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:28:26 2004
Message-ID: <20031012154519.94035.qmail_at_web41304.mail.yahoo.com>

Good Morning-
   Lets take a break from the email battles going on
(I'm tired of them and just zapping without opening)
and let me tell you about a neat membrane trick I
found.
   Recently I purchased about 1/10th of a gram of
Johnstown in dust and crumbs. They came in a vial,
which looked good, but I thought in one of Mr.
Hartman's membrane boxes would look much nicer.
   So I carefully poured them into the center of one
of the small boxes, spread them to about 3/8" diameter
and gently put the lid on tightly.
   Then I held it up to admire my work and it all slid
South within the box.....
   I emailed Mr. Hartman and he was kind enough to
type me back with a note that the boxes were not
really designed for crumbs and dust. Generally 1/8" or
larger pieces work best. There is also a small vent
hole in the membranes to relieve the pressure when
coupling which the crumbs can fall through.
   So I came up with this idea. I poured the crumbs
and dust back into the vial and got a new approx. 5/8"
OD/ 3/8" ID faucet "O" ring washer, laid it in the
center of the membrane and poured the vial back within
the washer. Then reapplied the lid.
   I held it up and it was wonderful!!!! The crumbs
and dust stayed in place within the "O" ring and yet
spread out enough to see the assortment of fragments.
   Another neat thing is if you lay the membrane box
flat and lightly tap it, the dust goes to the bottom
and the crumbs to the top.
   It may be simple but this really made my day. I may
take a photo of it with the engineering camera at work
tomorrow- if anyone would like to see it- email me off
list and I would be happy to send it to you.
   Everyone have a nice Sunday. Maybe we can talk some
 meteorites and collecting on the list today.

Take care,
Mike Groetz
IMCA#8474 (And proud of it!)
   

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Received on Sun 12 Oct 2003 11:45:19 AM PDT