CLPEX Chat Board

Hi,
I am currently trying to find a way of improving the method that I currently use for spraying scenes and carpets with LCV for the purpose of enhancing footwear marks. I appreciate this may be a little off-topic, but since this technique is used for fingerprint enhancement too, and there seems to be a wealth of experience here on chemical enhancement, I wondered if anyone had any tips.

Currrently we use a spray portable aerosol spray:
http://www.preval.co.uk/Preval+Sprayer/3/
This produces a fine mist that is ideal for LCV, but when spraying an entire room we tend to use a few of them up, and they are rather expensive too.

We have looked into using garden sprays (used for weedkiller etc), but the coverage tends to be too heavy.

If anyone has any ideas they will be very gratefully appreciated...


Thanks



Tom

I'd probably start with a variety of spray bottles (just the standard trigger pump ones), and see if you could find one of those that would work. Bonus points for the eventual workman's comp claim for carpal tunnel...

Alternatively, I'm not sure how practical this would be, but it might be worth an experiment...

Fisher Scientific makes glass sprayers that you attach to an air line (http://www.fishersci.com/wps/portal/PRO ... temsFlag=Y). If you had a lower power portable air compressor you could attach to this glassware, you would be able to deliver a nice uniform mist without the expense of the Preval sprayers. The glassware is a bit delicate, so transport would require some care, but they work great for delivery (um, of ninhydrin, and various dyes for thin layer chromatography - never used 'em for LCV)

Hope that helps...

Hi Amy,
Thanks for your help. Shamefully, I was not aware of those spray bottles... That does look very good although, as you say, it does look a bit fragile.

I was considering trying out some portable spray-tanning equipment, but again, the expense is a bit of a problem when there is not any precedent for using it.

We have been using a small spray gun (used by auto body shops for detail spraying) with a small portable compressor to spray ninhydrin, etc. These detail spray guns have a small cup which holds about 8 oz and can be adjusted for spray volume and droplet size very easily. They can be obtained very inexpensively, less than $25. Try HarborFreight.com.

I have had a look at the spray guns on various websites and it seems like they would be suitable; however, the difficulty seems to be finding a portable air compressor which could be battery powered, and is likely to last when spraying the carpets at a scene.

@rjk.css - Is the air compressor that you have battery powered, or does it run on mains power?

Thanks for everyone's help with this!

We have been using some of these with some pretty good results:
http://www.pamperedchef.com/ordering/pr ... ords=spray

todd

The compressor is a small one used for an airbrush or to refill tires. The one that I use runs on mains power, however it has been used with an inverter and an auto battery. I think I have seen small compressors used to refill tires that run directly from the 12V cigarette lighter socket , probably at HarborFreight.com.

tpetrick wrote:We have been using some of these with some pretty good results:
http://www.pamperedchef.com/ordering/pr ... ords=spray

todd

This looks interesting...
How long do you find the pressure lasts when spraying a large area?

Interestingly, I got an email this morning from a company advertising a sprayer. Part of their email reads,

A right sprayer can make a world of difference in your crime scene analysis. ABAspray® is a hand held continuous fine mist sprayer that does so without the use of a gas propellant or a heavy duty pump.

ABASpray® is not only used in latent bloodstain analysis with Hemascein® and Luminol but also used with enhancement techniques such as LCV, Hungarian Blue, Amido Black, Acid Yellow & in Fingerprint Analysis.

ABAspray® not only gives you fine mist but also is handheld and lightweight that can be positioned at at any angle that the situation requires. No need for complicated operation especially with the spraying of luminol containing reagents that require you to operate in complete darkness.

Yes, it is disposable with a state of art inbuilt piston as a pump.

I neither endorse nor disparage their product, but pass this on only for those who might be interested in seeking more information. The website is http://www.abacusdiagnostics.com/ABAspray.htm

@tpetrick: Thanks for the recommendation, I have ordered one to try it out.

The ABASpray sounds very interesting. Has anyone here had any experience in using it?

As far as I can tell, it looks to be very similar to the Pampered Chef spray bottle (http://www.pamperedchef.com/ordering/pr ... ords=spray); however, the capacity of the Pampered chef spray bottle appears to be approximately 114ml, whereas the ABA spray looks to be about 200ml (which is admittedly not a huge difference).

I can see no reason why the ABASpray could not be used repeatadly, even though it is marketed as "disposable". Perhaps this is just in the context of the Hemascein kit?

The best photo I can find of the ABASpray (contained within the Haemascein Kit) is in this presentation, should anyone else be interested:
http://www.abacusdiagnostics.com/Hemasc ... ksdale.pdf