For mounting specimens, there are a number of supplies of multiple sizes you might want to consider stocking in your lab, including but not limited to:
- Falcon tubes
- Eppendorf tubes
- Florist foam (just don’t get particles in the vacuum or inhale them)
- Plastic tubes
- Cotton balls or swabs
- Urine specimen cups or medicine bottles (with PII removed)
- Polystyrene balls
- Boba straws, drinking straws
- Sheet foam (like for packing dishes)
- Bubble wrap
- Electronic foam wrapping
- Carbon fiber rods
- Stiffer foam
- Machinable foam
- Aluminum foil and/or wire (wire is great for using as a phantom)
- Large blue water jugs or other sturdy plastic bottles (if they fit in your machine)
- Dental wax, Museum wax
- Plastic trash can (if it fits in your machine) or plastic paint buckets
- Baking soda (good for surrounding dense fossils)
- Glue or sticky tack
- Tape
- Toothpicks, pushpins, or for narrower samples, pins or mechanical pencil leads
- Legos
- Pipettes
- Polyurethane foam
- Foam rubber (it is quite soft and squishy, but maybe helpful for some things)
- Micropipettes and mounting for those
- Super glue and fast-setting spray (Permabond QFS16), or UV glue
- Glue Gun, Hot Knife, or Thermo-sealer and heat seal bags
- 3D print mounting structures, like these created by April Neander: https://www.thingiverse.com/aineander/designs
- Orientation markers, especially if you’re exporting TIFFs. TIFFs do not retain orientation information, so consider something like 3d-printed capital letters or embossed label maker to include in your specimen mount to provide that information.
- Ceramic beads
- Low-runout drill chucks or collets (specimen holders)
- Medical gauze (moistened to prevent drying of fish fins)
- Stretch wrap film/seran wrap (great for stabilizing large items)
Use with caution:
- Glass (i.e., no microscope slides; specimen and temperature dependent, it could melt)
- Steel & other high density metals
- Muslin cloth or fabric with fibers (if not part of original specimen)
Some of these materials can be found at loading docks, in trash areas, or craft stores. Just keep an eye out for things that would be the appropriate density and structure for specimens.