Micro-Vacuuming consists of attaching an air sampling cassette to a vacuum pump. The cassette is equipped with a short piece of tubing that has had the end cut and notched to a 45 o angle. By sweeping the end of the tubing across an area the particles are trapped within the cassette and easily shipped. It is important to collect as much material as possible for accurate analysis. The volume of air and the area sampled are not of concern.
Clear cassettes can make it easier to view the particle loading.
Do not worry about clogging the filter, in fact, submitting a cassette that houses a large lint ball is preferable to a discoloration on the filter. Wipe sampling is best performed using synthetic baby wipes that can be cut into a 4X4 inch square. It is important that the wipes do not contain Aloe, Lanolin or other ingredients. As with the micro-vac's, the more particles the better. Area sampled is not of concern since the results are reported as a function of percent.