After looking into it, it's "Sodium Bentonite Ash Clay" that you want, and the sand that I see seems to work best with the mulling (and resolution of cast) is the tamping sand you find at Home Depot or Ace that will work best. I noticed when I got my Play Sand, that it looked too sharp in comparison to myfordboy's sand pick. having more powdered look was the easier choice. I intend to Ball-Mill all of my stuff, including my sand first to get it a little finer. Thank you for inspiring me Ford!
I work in a steel foundry where we make green sand and no bake sand molds much bigger. To prevent minute defects in your casting sift a layer of sand over your pattern to get a more fine sand , it will result in a higher quality casting
I would have thought you'd need something approaching a proper (metal) die / mold to get anywhere near a g's tolerance. Even for a shotgun, A sand cast probably wouldn't support the required tolerances, even on a very good day.
Thanks for a very good video. Just one question, could you reuse the casting sand after you made a casting and if yes how often can it be reused? Thanks in advance.
The darker sand you have seen me use is a commercial one not home made. The orange coloured sand in my later videos is a natural clay bound sand. The colour of the home made stuff just depends on the colour of the sand used
It's been over 30 years since I taught foundry practice in high school and you did a great job, especially with the sand mix. Clarify your clay type though. Over all...you comunicated well. Thank you for the reintroduction to a past love.
Bentonite clay is found naturally in the earth. One common use was gas pump filters in the hose on the outside before the break-a-way coupler. It swells as water passes thru it slowing down the rate of fuel flow, resulting in service. Moisture collects in tanks by changes in temperature, causing droplets for form. Boats fuel tanks are vented to the air, moisture get in a causes the same problem. Fuels like diesel attract moisture thus storing a tractor for example, should always have a full tank to kept droplets of water forming during temperature changes.
I have bentonite - is pulverised- for application in the garden who has more as normal sand... It save the humidity on his big big surface. And now I can make my own green sand... Thanks for instruction!
@@umbeatable2770 I have seen many high heat engine parts that had shine but no magnetic properties, so I am guessing some sort of stainless steel alloy. Remember that nickel, chromium are part of the mix, but if you can get it hot enough to melt, I am sure it could be cast into parts. As an auto tech retired, I have never cast a part but I would try as the sky is the limit. Make a mold, cast it, machine and sand it in progressively finer paper, wet sand to get out scratches then polish. “NOTE” The one big thing that I never thought of was mounting the casting to wood, be it a 2X12 or cut plywood. This makes it stable to push hard on a cotton, wool or felt polishing wheel without the change of breaking it. Depending on your TV channels but “Rick’s Restorations” was a show of guys with different talents but they mounted parts on support boards to polish to a high sheen. You can add handles to make it easier. Best of luck!
The patterns are not made as one and cut in half for the reason you mention. Basically the main pieces are stuck together with newspaper between, then after machining or shaping they are split apart. I have videos on pattern making making showing the process.
5 things will help. add zircon flour to your sand mix, it will take the roughness out of the definition, the other this is dust you molds first this will help with release and definition cut a slag trap in your feeder gate. add a riser this will help to pressure the casting from two sides, it will also feed it when cooling if you want super fine then use a zircon spray coating for your mold, you should be able to achieve close to mirror finish Great work!
Love your videos. A good source for bentonite is natural bentonite cat litter, it's nearly 100% bentonite. I'm using an old espresso grinder to grind it into a fine powder before mixing it together with sand.
Any fine sand should be fine. The finer the sand the better detail it will mould. Not sure about marble dust. If looked at under magnification It should have irregular grains rather than round smooth ones so the clay can bond to it.
I'm no chemist but the baking powder is a different substance to washing soda, maybe this is making your metal rough. The degas should be plunged to the bottom of the metal and bubbles should rise through the metal.
So far I've only seen greensand casting used for aluminium, could this be used with iron, or is it too hot of a metal? (question for anyone who knows the answer)
The finer the sand the better the finish. Try and get as fine a sand as possible. The water content cannot really be specified as it depends on the moisture content of the sand to start with. You need to add water until it holds together as shown
Dear mr good job..but i have a small suggestion.intead of using small knife for creating ingate(way) you can use some other shapes to do the same some thing like 5mm pipe before creating mold..
Have you tried using petrol bonded sand? I hear it provides a cleaner final casting finish, but most say it's nasty stuff to deal with. Stinks, smokes, and stains everything it comes in contact with. What's your opinion on it?
The sand is pertrobond. it's an oil bonded sand ( not petrol ! ) I have some and it moulds well and gives good detail. The disadvantage is that you loose some every cast as the sand in contact with the metal bakes hard and has to be discarded. No smoke or smell. I used it in this video ruclips.net/video/-XJNeQ_U-RQ/видео.html
myfordboy Thank you for the clarification. I read on another website where a guy said it was nasty stuff to work with. I believe it was homemade. I mistakenly thought it was the same thing. Thanks again for your videos and comments, they have been very educational.
The darker sand you have seen me use is a commercial one not home made. The orange coloured sand in my later videos is a natural clay bound sand. The colour of the home made stuff just depends on the colour of the sand used
The darker sand you have seen me use is a commercial one not home made. The orange coloured sand in my later videos is a natural clay bound sand. The colour of the home made stuff just depends on the colour of the sand used
Forming the ingate is an art; many of my attempts result in poorly filled areas, particularly where the part is thin, or contains fine details. These videos are excellent guides for sorting this all out. Thanks!
If you go to a masonry supply place they will have bags of 120u sand for about 14 bucks/100lbs. Makes for very nice casting sand. Not too fine, not too course. It wont leave grain texture in your casting. Pottery houses sell the powdered bentonite for 2 bucks a pound. {8-10lbs per 100lbs and bag}. Way easier than sifting play sand! and it comes dry :) play sand is usually wet which is why the bags are so small {water is heavy, its packed by weight}
I learned how to sand cast from a gentleman who preferred to use the commercial oil based sand and he told me that a batch of sand (about 3-4 cups worth, he only did small item) was good for about 200 castings, his preferred metal was pewter, before it started breaking down to a point where you would notice unless you were using something like brass which actually burns the sand while you pour it. How long will it take for this mixture starts to break down and become useless?
myfordboy's greensand ratio, Metric to Imperial: 1kg = 2.21# (sand) to 120g = 0.27# (bentonite) I recommend watching the entire video though....now you just don't have to convert it
All these making casting sands are overboard. For aluminum mix topsoil with lard and talc it with baby powder. Much smoother. And cost is everything.Almost all topsoils contain the proper mixture automatically in nature. Large companies who make critical automotive engine blocks designed these sands, but the backyard average joe only pours aluminum parts aren't critical.
Absolutely love your videos. Straight forward no crappy music, great camera angles and simple script describing the process. A big thank you from Australia
The darker sand you have seen me use is a commercial one not home made. The orange coloured sand in my later videos is a natural clay bound sand. The colour of the home made stuff just depends on the colour of the sand used
koby Edwards If you try to cast a metal that hot, the sand in contact with the metal will probably also melt - platinum melts at 1768°C and in fact most rocks and concrete do melt or soften at temperatures >1250°C (check out my video of melting concrete). It will probably work anyway since the metal will cool down and solidify before the sand melts enough to deform the casting significantly - the problem is if molten sand get stuck in the metal and destroy the surface. If you use sand intended for casting it probably works better - play sand has lower melting point then "real" casting sand Although - that's probably the least of your concerns since the amount needed to make even a small casting will cost as much as a new car. It is even more expensive than gold.
The darker sand you have seen me use is a commercial one not home made. The orange coloured sand in my later videos is a natural clay bound sand. The colour of the home made stuff just depends on the colour of the sand used
The darker sand you have seen me use is a commercial one not home made. The orange coloured sand in my later videos is a natural clay bound sand. The colour of the home made stuff just depends on the colour of the sand used
The darker sand you have seen me use is a commercial one not home made. The orange coloured sand in my later videos is a natural clay bound sand. The colour of the home made stuff just depends on the colour of the sand used.
Bentonite clay is the same stuff as some kitty litter right? Do you think it would work just as well if you grind some bentonite kitty litter to powder? I don't know if it's cheaper though...it should be in my opinion.
@Shannariano Greensand is water bonded. Its a natural clay bearing sand or sand with added clay. If oil is used instead of water it is Oil bonded like Petrobond which is technicaly not greensand.
@TheT2eL The sand I usual use is not Petrobond just a commercial greensand. home I broke down the sand after use ,charred bits and all looks fine. I think just the colour will darken after a few casts.
How is this method different from using plaster mold metal casting? What's the benefits from using this over the plaster? I'm looking into cast from a 3d printed part, but is this method or the plaster mold method any good for one single piece and not like two halfs like in the video?
You can't use plaster for high melting point metals like aluminium, brass, bronze or iron. Have a look at lost PLA casting to cast your 3D printed part.
I haven't tried that it could be the wrong shape of grain. You need an irregular grain to hold together. As you say it is cheap so would not be much of a loss to try it. The homemade greensand though is not as good as proper natural clay bearing sand like Bromsgrove greensand.
myfordboy I think it's cheap, because it's sold by the pallet load, one of the requirements for play sand is that it doesn't stain clothes and all the fines have been removed. Paviour sand has to be very fine and fill up all the nooks and crannies between paving blocks,with all the fines removed to promote free running, and to my untrained eye looked fairly similar. I would like to try casting because I have been doing pattern making for a while, my last effort being the mould formers for two 8 tonne concrete mini lighthouses
I have tried the sand you mention for core making and it not as good as the core sandsold by astisanfoundry.co.uk for the purpose. I would recommend getting some proper greensand from them if you want to make nice castings.
I usualy use a commercial sand. I made up this batch just to see how it worked out. Most people would mix dry and add the water later but I found it easier to do it this way. Its not sufficient to just mix it in a concrete mixer it needs to bepushed together. Adding a steel ball to mixer might work.
You get best results from using aluminium that has been cast before, eg car parts. You can melt aluminium in a stainless container if you have a big enough blowtorch but it wastes a lot of gas.
I later used losalt as I feel it gave a better result but I now have some aluminium drossing flux. I haven't noticed the castings are particularly brittle but maybe softer than the doner metal.
The darker sand you have seen me use is a commercial one not home made. The orange coloured sand in my later videos is a natural clay bound sand. The colour of the home made stuff just depends on the colour of the sand used.
The darker sand you have seen me use is a commercial one not home made. The orange coloured sand in my later videos is a natural clay bound sand. The colour of the home made stuff just depends on the colour of the sand used.
@Shannariano The sand I have and made is water bonded so its either a natural clay bearing sand or sand with clay added. Greensand is water bonded. Oil bonded is an alternative.
Do you mean "what are the castings for ?" They are for model engines. They can be seen at my Model engine videos playlist, on my channel page. I still have all the engines show in my collection.
@dramey03 This is the first time I have used home made stuff but the results were pretty. good. Maybe a slightly coarser finish than the commersial sand. Down side is its hard work mixing by hand.
The extended feeder gives the metal "head". As the metal cools it shrinks and the risers feed the casting. The extension is more important with aluminium than other metals.
Very nice video and very informative. I have recommended others to see your videos to learn casting. Have you tried lost foam casting? Any comments on that method?
I have not tried lost foam. I don't think I could get the detail I need for my models with that method. You only get one go of course with a foam pattern where with a wooden one can make as many castings as you like.
I notice you and several other people who post casting videos always use square dowels to pound the sand. It's been quite a few years since I took an industrial arts course and cast aluminum but I seem to recall my instructor requiring me to do the same. Is there a reason why a good heavy mallet would not be prefered?
I think that square stick is a multipurpose tool! If it helps I have seen a video of commercial sand casting in Korea I think, where the guy puts in the first bits of sand by hand, and then with a shovel. Some ramming is done with the handle of the shovel, then some with the flat of the blade... then the guy gets up on top of the flask and walks around on it! It seemed pretty casual. Ramming was finished with an air-hammer kind of thing, and then struck off with a stick more or less as we see here. It seemed pretty familiar! The scale was larger, but not tremendous. Coffin-sized.
After looking into it, it's "Sodium Bentonite Ash Clay" that you want, and the sand that I see seems to work best with the mulling (and resolution of cast) is the tamping sand you find at Home Depot or Ace that will work best. I noticed when I got my Play Sand, that it looked too sharp in comparison to myfordboy's sand pick. having more powdered look was the easier choice. I intend to Ball-Mill all of my stuff, including my sand first to get it a little finer.
Thank you for inspiring me Ford!
I work in a steel foundry where we make green sand and no bake sand molds much bigger. To prevent minute defects in your casting sift a layer of sand over your pattern to get a more fine sand , it will result in a higher quality casting
That is what I was going to say
I've seen him do it in other videos
You will not get a smooth as cast finish with that sand you need a facing sand
Hello there. Can I cast stainless steel parts with this mixture of play sand??
2:10 seems casting sand is without water just oil that stands high temperatures
@myfordboy thanks i think i might have a go at casting soon
so satisfying.....
I would have thought you'd need something approaching a proper (metal) die / mold to get anywhere near a g's tolerance. Even for a shotgun, A sand cast probably wouldn't support the required tolerances, even on a very good day.
Thanks for a very good video. Just one question, could you reuse the casting sand after you made a casting and if yes how often can it be reused? Thanks in advance.
You can reuse it indefinitely, adding more bentonite if necessary.The home made sand will need re mulling after use.
@d5711 Lime is not suitable for this.
Hello do you think instead of bentonite can i use lime powder, will this have the same affect
where did you get the clay from?
This was given to me by a well driller. If you need to buy some go to artisanfoundry.co.uk
@bladder1010 The air escapes through the porous sand. if it were a larger casting I would have added a riser at the oposite side to the feeder.
The darker sand you have seen me use is a commercial one not home made.
The orange coloured sand in my later videos is a natural clay bound sand.
The colour of the home made stuff just depends on the colour of the sand used
The dark one looks gummier?
Ari Pekka - Yes, and much finer grained, providing great castings.
It's been over 30 years since I taught foundry practice in high school and you did a great job, especially with the sand mix. Clarify your clay type though. Over all...you comunicated well. Thank you for the reintroduction to a past love.
Bentonite clay is found naturally in the earth. One common use was gas pump filters in the hose on the outside before the break-a-way coupler. It swells as water passes thru it slowing down the rate of fuel flow, resulting in service. Moisture collects in tanks by changes in temperature, causing droplets for form. Boats fuel tanks are vented to the air, moisture get in a causes the same problem. Fuels like diesel attract moisture thus storing a tractor for example, should always have a full tank to kept droplets of water forming during temperature changes.
I have bentonite - is pulverised- for application in the garden who has more as normal sand...
It save the humidity on his big big surface.
And now I can make my own green sand... Thanks for instruction!
Hello there. Can I cast stainless steel parts with this mixture of play sand??
@@umbeatable2770 I have seen many high heat engine parts that had shine but no magnetic properties, so I am guessing some sort of stainless steel alloy. Remember that nickel, chromium are part of the mix, but if you can get it hot enough to melt, I am sure it could be cast into parts. As an auto tech retired, I have never cast a part but I would try as the sky is the limit. Make a mold, cast it, machine and sand it in progressively finer paper, wet sand to get out scratches then polish. “NOTE” The one big thing that I never thought of was mounting the casting to wood, be it a 2X12 or cut plywood. This makes it stable to push hard on a cotton, wool or felt polishing wheel without the change of breaking it. Depending on your TV channels but “Rick’s Restorations” was a show of guys with different talents but they mounted parts on support boards to polish to a high sheen. You can add handles to make it easier. Best of luck!
@@deankay4434 ty man i wana cast some gears to make an f1 transmission box
The patterns are not made as one and cut in half for the reason you mention.
Basically the main pieces are stuck together with newspaper between, then after machining or shaping they are split apart. I have videos on pattern making making showing the process.
5 things will help.
add zircon flour to your sand mix, it will take the roughness out of the definition, the other this is dust you molds first this will help with release and definition
cut a slag trap in your feeder gate.
add a riser this will help to pressure the casting from two sides, it will also feed it when cooling
if you want super fine then use a zircon spray coating for your mold, you should be able to achieve close to mirror finish
Great work!
Hello there. Can I cast stainless steel parts with this mixture of play sand??
@@umbeatable2770 yes
Hello there lathe machinist over here can i melt and cast carbon steelcand stainless steel in a propane melter ( melt and pour into a mold ) ty
@@marcwire9332 wow lol u responded after 6 years
Xin bạn cho tôi hỏi cát pha với loại gì nữa để tạo ra hỗn hợp để có thể đúc được xin cảm ơn rất mong được nhận được câu trả lời từ bạn
Love your videos. A good source for bentonite is natural bentonite cat litter, it's nearly 100% bentonite. I'm using an old espresso grinder to grind it into a fine powder before mixing it together with sand.
Any fine sand should be fine. The finer the sand the better detail it will mould. Not sure about marble dust. If looked at under magnification It should have irregular grains rather than round smooth ones so the clay can bond to it.
I'm no chemist but the baking powder is a different substance to washing soda, maybe this is making your metal rough. The degas should be plunged to the bottom of the metal and bubbles should rise through the metal.
In some of your other videos the molding substance appeared black; was this the same kind of sand? If so, what changed its color?
A riser is not needed for small castings like this. You can add vents if you wish but the porosity of the sand will expel the air.
The plastic blocks are known as modesty blocks. If you go to myfordboy.blogspot.com there is a page all about making the flasks.
You can get material to rejuvinuate the sand. I haven't noticed any change in my commesial sand after years of use.
Please go to myfordboy.blogspot.com and look at the TIPS and FAQ page.
There is a list of recommended books
The sand is coarser than the black stuff. I would advise using a natural greensand if you can get it.
So far I've only seen greensand casting used for aluminium, could this be used with iron, or is it too hot of a metal? (question for anyone who knows the answer)
You can use greensand for any metal,iron bronze, gold if you want.
Thanks for this.i also want to ask this question but my question and answer are here.i am happy to know this
The finer the sand the better the finish. Try and get as fine a sand as possible.
The water content cannot really be specified as it depends on the moisture content of the sand to start with. You need to add water until it holds together as shown
Dear mr good job..but i have a small suggestion.intead of using small knife for creating ingate(way) you can use some other shapes to do the same some thing like 5mm pipe before creating mold..
This is really impressive. No matter how often I see casting done, I am always happy to watch more.
@Shandybrother There is a link at myfordboy.blogspot.com for a UK supplier.
Have you tried using petrol bonded sand? I hear it provides a cleaner final casting finish, but most say it's nasty stuff to deal with. Stinks, smokes, and stains everything it comes in contact with. What's your opinion on it?
The sand is pertrobond. it's an oil bonded sand ( not petrol ! )
I have some and it moulds well and gives good detail. The disadvantage is that you loose some every cast as the sand in contact with the metal bakes hard and has to be discarded. No smoke or smell. I used it in this video ruclips.net/video/-XJNeQ_U-RQ/видео.html
myfordboy Thank you for the clarification. I read on another website where a guy said it was nasty stuff to work with. I believe it was homemade. I mistakenly thought it was the same thing. Thanks again for your videos and comments, they have been very educational.
The darker sand you have seen me use is a commercial one not home made.
The orange coloured sand in my later videos is a natural clay bound sand.
The colour of the home made stuff just depends on the colour of the sand used
There is no oil in the sand. this is greensand, it's water based.
I don't usualy need to put a riser on small parts like this one.
The darker sand you have seen me use is a commercial one not home made.
The orange coloured sand in my later videos is a natural clay bound sand.
The colour of the home made stuff just depends on the colour of the sand used
Forming the ingate is an art; many of my attempts result in poorly filled areas, particularly where the part is thin, or contains fine details. These videos are excellent guides for sorting this all out. Thanks!
You should be able to do that ok if the fins are not too thin.
If you go to a masonry supply place they will have bags of 120u sand for about 14 bucks/100lbs. Makes for very nice casting sand. Not too fine, not too course. It wont leave grain texture in your casting. Pottery houses sell the powdered bentonite for 2 bucks a pound. {8-10lbs per 100lbs and bag}. Way easier than sifting play sand! and it comes dry :) play sand is usually wet which is why the bags are so small {water is heavy, its packed by weight}
I learned how to sand cast from a gentleman who preferred to use the commercial oil based sand and he told me that a batch of sand (about 3-4 cups worth, he only did small item) was good for about 200 castings, his preferred metal was pewter, before it started breaking down to a point where you would notice unless you were using something like brass which actually burns the sand while you pour it. How long will it take for this mixture starts to break down and become useless?
myfordboy's greensand ratio, Metric to Imperial:
1kg = 2.21# (sand) to
120g = 0.27# (bentonite)
I recommend watching the entire video though....now you just don't have to convert it
All these making casting sands are overboard. For aluminum mix topsoil with lard and talc it with baby powder. Much smoother. And cost is everything.Almost all topsoils contain the proper mixture automatically in nature. Large companies who make critical automotive engine blocks designed these sands, but the backyard average joe only pours aluminum parts aren't critical.
Absolutely love your videos. Straight forward no crappy music, great camera angles and simple script describing the process. A big thank you from Australia
The darker sand you have seen me use is a commercial one not home made.
The orange coloured sand in my later videos is a natural clay bound sand.
The colour of the home made stuff just depends on the colour of the sand used
Two things one it's cool that you reply to everyone and also could green sand work with platinum or is that to hot of a metal
The sand would work but you may not be able to get the metal hot enough to melt at home.
koby Edwards If you try to cast a metal that hot, the sand in contact with the metal will probably also melt - platinum melts at 1768°C and in fact most rocks and concrete do melt or soften at temperatures >1250°C (check out my video of melting concrete).
It will probably work anyway since the metal will cool down and solidify before the sand melts enough to deform the casting significantly - the problem is if molten sand get stuck in the metal and destroy the surface. If you use sand intended for casting it probably works better - play sand has lower melting point then "real" casting sand
Although - that's probably the least of your concerns since the amount needed to make even a small casting will cost as much as a new car. It is even more expensive than gold.
You need bentonite clay. I don't know what type of clay is used for ceramics.
Is there any downside to mixing the sand and bentonite powder, before adding the water? It seems that would simplify the mixing a lot
Uberownager Most people do it the way you suggest but I found it eaiser this way. You have to make sure every grain of sand is coated with bentonite.
Thank you very much for the vídeos! I use them in my lessons.
Greatings from Valencia, Spain.
I have details at myfordboy.blogspot.com
I don't put a riser on the small pieces.
The darker sand you have seen me use is a commercial one not home made.
The orange coloured sand in my later videos is a natural clay bound sand.
The colour of the home made stuff just depends on the colour of the sand used
The darker sand you have seen me use is a commercial one not home made.
The orange coloured sand in my later videos is a natural clay bound sand.
The colour of the home made stuff just depends on the colour of the sand used
You need something smaller and more controllable than a mallet to ram the sand tight against the pattern.
The darker sand you have seen me use is a commercial one not home made.
The orange coloured sand in my later videos is a natural clay bound sand.
The colour of the home made stuff just depends on the colour of the sand used.
It can be used over and over again.
The sand is porous to a degree.
Now was not necessary entry and exit of molten aluminum?
What is the difference?
Thank you
Watch of Brazil. (google translator)
On a small casting a vent is not necessary. On a larger one the riser will feed the casting with metal as it cools.
myfordboy what do you class as a small cast? something the size of two fingers up to a fist?
Bentonite clay is the same stuff as some kitty litter right? Do you think it would work just as well if you grind some bentonite kitty litter to powder? I don't know if it's cheaper though...it should be in my opinion.
Yes a lot of builders use kitty litter. It should say on the bag if its bentonite.
Have a look at video 29 and 33 in this series.
@Shannariano Greensand is water bonded. Its a natural clay bearing sand or sand with added clay. If oil is used instead of water it is Oil bonded like Petrobond which is technicaly not greensand.
@TheT2eL The sand I usual use is not Petrobond just a commercial greensand. home I broke down the sand after use ,charred bits and all looks fine. I think just the colour will darken after a few casts.
Perfect demonstration.
Last time I did this was 46 years ago. Memories flooding back. Thank you.
How is this method different from using plaster mold metal casting? What's the benefits from using this over the plaster? I'm looking into cast from a 3d printed part, but is this method or the plaster mold method any good for one single piece and not like two halfs like in the video?
You can't use plaster for high melting point metals like aluminium, brass, bronze or iron. Have a look at lost PLA casting to cast your 3D printed part.
It could be your sand is too wet or your metal is too hot. Be careful not to overheat, pour as soon as it is melted.
Is the kiln dried sand sold in builders merchants for filling the gaps in block paving suitable? It is pretty fine and not to expensive
I haven't tried that it could be the wrong shape of grain. You need an irregular grain to hold together. As you say it is cheap so would not be much of a loss to try it.
The homemade greensand though is not as good as proper natural clay bearing sand like Bromsgrove greensand.
myfordboy I think it's cheap, because it's sold by the pallet load, one of the requirements for play sand is that it doesn't stain clothes and all the fines have been removed. Paviour sand has to be very fine and fill up all the nooks and crannies between paving blocks,with all the fines removed to promote free running, and to my untrained eye looked fairly similar. I would like to try casting because I have been doing pattern making for a while, my last effort being the mould formers for two 8 tonne concrete mini lighthouses
I have tried the sand you mention for core making and it not as good as the core sandsold by astisanfoundry.co.uk for the purpose. I would recommend getting some proper greensand from them if you want to make nice castings.
I usualy use a commercial sand. I made up this batch just to see how it worked out. Most people would mix dry and add the water later but I found it easier to do it this way. Its not sufficient to just mix it in a concrete mixer it needs to bepushed together. Adding a steel ball to mixer might work.
You get best results from using aluminium that has been cast before, eg car parts. You can melt aluminium in a stainless container if you have a big enough blowtorch but it wastes a lot of gas.
I really like that you take the time so I can learn a thing or 2 about lead smelting T-Y
Btw, a rubber hammer is ideal for compressing the sand!
I later used losalt as I feel it gave a better result but I now have some aluminium drossing flux.
I haven't noticed the castings are particularly brittle but maybe softer than the doner metal.
guy comes from the country with the coolest accent when speaking english and he makes a whole long video without saying a word.
The darker sand you have seen me use is a commercial one not home made.
The orange coloured sand in my later videos is a natural clay bound sand.
The colour of the home made stuff just depends on the colour of the sand used.
The darker sand you have seen me use is a commercial one not home made.
The orange coloured sand in my later videos is a natural clay bound sand.
The colour of the home made stuff just depends on the colour of the sand used.
I dont think that would work. You can get bentonite clay in the form of cat litter.
It's to give a bit of pressure and to feed the mould as the metal shrinks as it cools.Also its easier to pour into.
@Shannariano The sand I have and made is water bonded so its either a natural clay bearing sand or sand with clay added. Greensand is water bonded. Oil bonded is an alternative.
Do you mean "what are the castings for ?" They are for model engines. They can be seen at my Model engine videos playlist, on my channel page. I still have all the engines show in my collection.
@dramey03 This is the first time I have used home made stuff but the results were pretty. good. Maybe a slightly coarser finish than the commersial sand. Down side is its hard work mixing by hand.
@marcuslb95 Worth a try I suppose. They use clay and dung in India to make bells.
The extended feeder gives the metal "head". As the metal cools it shrinks and the risers feed the casting. The extension is more important with aluminium than other metals.
What might work well for mixing/stirring would be a paint mixer on an electric drill - pretty sure 30 seconds would do it. Worth a try?
@joycicles I used 12 % bentonite. More details at myfordboy.blogspot.com
Very nice video and very informative. I have recommended others to see your videos to learn casting. Have you tried lost foam casting? Any comments on that method?
I have not tried lost foam.
I don't think I could get the detail I need for my models with that method.
You only get one go of course with a foam pattern where with a wooden one can make as many castings as you like.
@stirlinguvstroj This is most people do it but I didn't find it mixed very well that way.
@ecksjay89 It came from a different place in the country. Some natural sand could be red or brown.
10-14% bentonite, 4-6% humidity, tons of mixing ... I have done this countless times, including lab tests 😊
Hello there. Can I cast stainless steel parts with this mixture of play sand??
@@umbeatable2770 Yes. Eventually opt for 3-4% humidity
I have a Nerf gun that I want to make castings of all the plastic pieces. Obviously I wanna make an aluminum Nerf gun. But how would I do this?
Everything you need to know is in my video series.
I think you are referring to the patterns, These are made of wood. i have videos on pattern making like part 22 in this series.
Is reusing the sand just a matter of adding the right amount of water?
Best is to let it dry then sieve it and then add a little water to get the moisture content right.
@OutDoorsMan1342 Yes it can be used over and over.
No, experience. Add a little at a time until it holds together like shown.
Lost wax casting is one option but you can get great detail with Petrobond sand.You would need a proper crucible for the silver.
Absolutely loved watching the whole casting series
Yes I have some. It give a great finish but its more expensive and you loose a little each time as it bakes where it touches the metal.
cool.
hey mate you got a mallet
That would be an oil bonded sand like Petrobond. There is a special oil for that.
@StrongBlair The same sand is good for brass.
I found it easier to mix wet but others mix it dry.
What is the name of the wood stick
@svenp More details at myfordboy.blogspot.com
I notice you and several other people who post casting videos always use square dowels to pound the sand. It's been quite a few years since I took an industrial arts course and cast aluminum but I seem to recall my instructor requiring me to do the same. Is there a reason why a good heavy mallet would not be prefered?
I think that square stick is a multipurpose tool! If it helps I have seen a video of commercial sand casting in Korea I think, where the guy puts in the first bits of sand by hand, and then with a shovel. Some ramming is done with the handle of the shovel, then some with the flat of the blade... then the guy gets up on top of the flask and walks around on it! It seemed pretty casual. Ramming was finished with an air-hammer kind of thing, and then struck off with a stick more or less as we see here. It seemed pretty familiar! The scale was larger, but not tremendous. Coffin-sized.
Don't you need powdered coal as well? or is that only for cast iron?
+Sunil Sundar Coal dust is sometimes added for iron casting but not needed for aluminium.