At 3:37 PM 7/30/96, Michael Chapman wrote:
>>I am looking to buy, or otherwise acquire, a roller mill. This consists of
>an array of rollers on top of which jars with steel rods rotate and
>pulverize/homogenize sample materials to a fine consistency.  I have been
>given some basic plans on how to build one, but don't really have the time
>and maybe ability to get one built fairly quickly.
>I am also open to other suggestions for dealing with a few hundred soil
>samples to be prepared for d13C analysis of soil organic matter.  Are there
>any mills/grinders that might be good for this and maybe plant material?
>Our Wiley mills are ok for plants, but mortar and pestle is the unfortunate
>method we have used in the past for soil and after processing a few
>hundred, repetitive stress becomes a very real issue.
>We have used a Wig-L-Bug from Crescent Dental for small samples, but this
>was pretty useless, seemed to self destruct with each use.
>
>Thanks for your help.
>
>
>Michael Chapman
>Biology Dept.
>Augustana College
>Sioux Falls, SD  57197
>
>Phone :  605-336-4735
>email:  [log in to unmask]

I've had good luck with a ball mill made by Cianflone Scientific
Instruments Corp.  It works well with both plant and soil material.  In
fact, I've stopped using a Wiley mill for plant material, as the ball mill
does 3 samples at a time, grinds very fast, and is faster to clean.  Their
address and phone numbers are:

Cianflone Scientific Instruments Corp.
228 RIDC Park West Drive
Pittsburgh, PA  15275-1002 USA

412-787-3600
800-569-9400
412-787-5022 (fax)

 =============================
 Richard L. Boyce
 Department of Biological Sciences
 University of Denver
 Denver, CO 80208 USA
 303-871-3538
 303-871-3471 (fax)
 [log in to unmask]
 http://www.du.edu/~jfoglema/boyce.html
 http://www.du.edu/~rboyce/ppe.html
 =============================