Good morning, I'm an Associate Professor at a small, undergraduate-focused university in Minnesota, USA. We're planning to update/upgrade our thin-section making lab equipment this year, after multiple years of my attempting in-house repairs on our Hillquist thin section machine (trim wheel on the left, grinding wheel on the right). My department chair has instructed me to just put money into buying a new machine, rather than continuing with our current model - which we've had in the lab for at least 14 years. My Petrology students are required to use the equipment each year as part of their term project, and several students have expressed interest in making thin sections for either their own personal research, or in assisting with my own work on volcanic specimens. I'm wanting to get a system that would be user-friendly, without such regular needs for in-house repairs. Does anyone out there have recommendations for which system would best suit our purposes, or conversely any to be avoided? Among those I've seen online are Mekton, Kemet GEO, and Hillquist. Many thanks. Stephen Crabtree crabt012@morris.umn.edu

Hi Stephen! What college are you with? I'll actually be driving to Macalester next week, maybe I can stop by and chat with you in person, next Friday, if you are near Macalester. Our lab consists of: *MK-101 Tile Saw (on a stand that, I believe is sold separately, as are the blades)*: https://www.mkdiamond.com/tile/saw_101.html *Lap Wheel: * https://www.wardsci.com/store/product/8864963/deluxe-two-speed-floor-lap-saw-16 *Ingram Combination Thin Section Grinder/Saw (we actually don't use the cut-off part. instead, we have a dedicated cut-off saw, but this should work for you. be mindful of drift on the cut-off, though): * https://www.wardsci.com/store/product/8877688/ingram-ward-compact-combination-thin-section-saw-grinder Petroscope and hot plates, various accoutrements for epoxy mixing/scraping, thin section glass marking/scratching, buckets for waste, broken glass receptacles, safety equipment (ears/eyes and an impermeable apron to keep dryish, vacuum chamber and pump for impregnating, etc. I suspect you will not need to polish to microprobe/sem quality, so probably no need for a polishing lap and plates, which we also have. Most importantly, a sink, since you will need a bunch of water, and I highly suggest getting a sediment trap installed for the p-trap, if possible. Also, the combination grinder/saw we use is hooked up to a whole-building vacuum, which has its own accessories. I'm not actually sure how the internal vacuum works on the ingram. On Fri, Jun 16, 2023 at 7:35 AM Stephen Crabtree via MSA-talk < msa-talk@minlists.org> wrote: > Good morning, > > I'm an Associate Professor at a small, undergraduate-focused university in > Minnesota, USA. We're planning to update/upgrade our thin-section making > lab equipment this year, after multiple years of my attempting in-house > repairs on our Hillquist thin section machine (trim wheel on the left, > grinding wheel on the right). My department chair has instructed me to > just put money into buying a new machine, rather than continuing with our > current model - which we've had in the lab for at least 14 years. > > My Petrology students are required to use the equipment each year as part > of their term project, and several students have expressed interest in > making thin sections for either their own personal research, or in > assisting with my own work on volcanic specimens. I'm wanting to get a > system that would be user-friendly, without such regular needs for in-house > repairs. > > Does anyone out there have recommendations for which system would best > suit our purposes, or conversely any to be avoided? Among those I've seen > online are Mekton, Kemet GEO, and Hillquist. > > Many thanks. > > Stephen Crabtree > crabt012@morris.umn.edu > _______________________________________________ > MSA-talk mailing list -- msa-talk@minlists.org > To unsubscribe send an email to msa-talk-leave@minlists.org > -- Ben Andersen Instructional Support Technician Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences College of Science and Mathematics California State University, Fresno Direct: 559.278.2975 <(559)%20278-2975>