Hi Kevin and George,
Kevin- We design and build our own milling systems (that operate on 
our custom software) to suit the particular needs of different 
projects (molluscs, corals, trees, otoliths, speleothems, etc.). We 
can put together micromills with up to 60cm travel in X-Y space and 
automated 3D (X-Y-Z) digital characterization. The step size is 
1/20th of a micron in X-Y and they can be operated over any high 
speed connection such that you could mill a sample here in Canada 
from your office in California as long as we have a powder collecting 
monkey in the lab. Although you could mount the sample and mill 
vertically, I predict that you'll open a can of worms in terms of 
collecting the powder. Unfortunately, there is no easy way out...and 
we've been thinking about it for years!

George- the drill hole size is merely dependent on the diameter of 
the bit (some very small bits are available but are also easily 
broken. The benefit of milling is that the samples can be recovered 
at a higher resolution by milling than by drilling single holes.
Hope this helps,
Bill


>Dear Isogeochem List,
>
>Are there any computer controlled micromill systems that people are 
>using where the sample can be mounted vertically (such that the 
>drill comes from the side) so that gravity can be used to help 
>collect the powdered sample?
>
>I am pretty sure I ran across a website for such a system but now 
>cannot seem to find it.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Kevin
>
>
>___________________________________________
>
>Kevin G. Cannariato, Ph.D.
>
>Post-Doctoral Research Associate
>
>Department of Earth Sciences
>
>University of Southern California
>
>3651 Trousdale Parkway
>
>Los Angeles, CA 90089-0740
>
>
>fax: (213) 740-8801
>
>email: <mailto:[log in to unmask]>[log in to unmask]
>
>web: <http://earth.usc.edu/~cannaria>http://earth.usc.edu/~cannaria
>
>Flickr: 
><http://www.flickr.com/photos/kcannariato/>http://www.flickr.com/photos/kcannariato/


-- 
Dr. William P. Patterson
Professor and Director of the Saskatchewan Isotope Laboratory
Department of Geological Sciences
University of Saskatchewan
114 Science Place
Saskatoon SK S7N 5E2
Canada
Phone: 306-966-5691(office); 306-966-5712(lab)
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web: http://geochemistry.usask.ca/bill.html