FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Ning]

I have some clear acrylic blocks, a dremel, a mask and some long tourmaline crystals. Is there an easier/better process rather than a trial and error subtractive process?

Are there best practices for making fitted mineral stands for long thin mineral specimens? I assume the ones you see at mineral shows are made using a different technique. Perhaps photo-telemetry and a CNC router or some chemical process.

Thanks.

L

[carlo11]

They are all made with a CNC. Hand making a functional and stable base is like trying to do a mouth guard without a mold, it won't fit snugly 99% of the time. If you don't want to spend money on a CNC and all the stuff needed to re size and polish acrylic, you can always just use a resin 3D printer and make digital models with photogrammetry or a laser scanner.
It sounds more difficult than it really is I have done it before and I still have to work on some details, but I got really decent results.