Sand and Casting Equipment Setup

While I had the oven hot, 700C, I baked 1.5 ounces each of play sand, quartz, and my local sand, possibly decomposed volcanic rock.

Prior to going into the oven.














After baking at 700C for approximately 4 hours.

The native sand may have lightened up a bit. UPDATE: The native sand is a more uniform color after baking.  This may also be true of the play sand.

About all I learned on this test is that its good up to aluminum casting temperatures.   At some point I need to take them much higher but not in this oven.




Honestly this is not really important as I can use play sand in refractory mixes knowing it will work.  But it might mean something for green sand when I get to casting iron.  And for that I am simply going to try it.

Just thinking: f one were to bake sand used in refractory at a proper temperature it should set off any heat induced changes.  This should make for a more stable refractory.

 I want to try my hand at lost PLA done lost wax style.    The difference is that instead of gravity casting the metal will be forced into the cavity by centrifugal force. 

There is a significant danger of the metal escaping at high velocity.  This salvaged clothes dryer drum looks to be a good fit for the casting arm once the fins are removed.

A stand needs to be fabricated.  Thinking metal 3 legs base with cast concrete for stability.  The drum will bolt to anchor bolts in the concrete.  The perforated bottom will have to be covered maybe with sheet metal.   But having looked at other setups I am over engineering this.   One fellow had the hub bolted to a board clamped to saw horses.    Breaking it down for storage has advantages but I do not want anything that flimsy.    Maybe mount the hub with wing nuts and leave the rest outside.  Thinking thinking....

The drum just came in from the rain.  When it dries I will clean it up and remove the fins.  The propane torch is setup and working as is the burnout oven.  When this is setup I can try the lost PLA.   Something to look forward to.  I want to experiment with using wax over the PLA prints to remove layer lines and impart more detail.

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Fins are out and it has been cleaned.   I am thinking a 2nd drier drum would make a good stand.  Or maybe just bolt some legs to it using carriage bolts.  The thing is a bit on the deep side.   Have to think about that.

After looking at other setup on YouTube I think I can get by making it lighter than originally planed.  It would be ideal if it could be stored in the loft when not in use.