10% clay. That's the info I've been looking for. Never could remember how much because most people just say x amount of clay to x amount of sand, and when you watch a lot of videos, the numbers run together. Thanks for simplifying it.
Looking at adding a small foundry to my workshop. I've read several articles about making sure the sand is moistened to the correct consistency. Your video was very helpful in demonstrating just what it should look like. Thanks for sharing it.
The clay in oil bonded molding sand (ie Petrobond or K-bond) isn't regular bentonite clay, it's been chemically modified to absorb oil the way normal bentonite absorbs water. A catalyst is also used to help the "organoclay" absorb the oil. So if you use oil instead of water to temper your bentonite based greensand, you might be able to make a mold with it... but it probably won't have a lot more green strength than those sand castles you mentioned. It's difficult but possible to find the right "organoclay" and oil to make your own oil bonded sand, but the organoclay can bent tricky to find in small quantities. So if you're going to all that trouble it makes sense to get the right sand too. You need the right grain shape and size distribution if you want to match the performance of real Petrobond. The sand can be trickier to source than most people think. Agree that beginners don't want to buy a heap of molding sand (and build a sand muller) are better off making small batches of greensand.
@lexichronicle2 Thanks, I agree. This is only enough to fill my 10x10x2.5" flask. I have an additional 3 cubic feet of it in the garage but I'm sure you understand why I don't temper more than I have to, relaxing or not! :D
curious why should one mix sand with the ground up clay or kitty litter. How is very fine clay or kitty litter on its own different then mixing sand with it.. is it nessary does the sand in dry form still act like aggregate to strengthen the clay powder?
To get really good results with mixing, put the prepared green sand into a 5 gallon bucket with a tight fitting lid. Put the bucket in your clothes dryer with the heat on the lowest setting possible. put in some blankets, pillows, or cardboard boxes to sort of keep it from damaging the bucket or dryer. OR - if you gonna be doing a lot of this stuff, get an old dryer and disconnect the heater..... WaLa !!! a mulling machine
I agree with the oil vs water though some foundry favor mixing oil or coal tar based things. Water would evaporate or be more easier to regulate for home sand castings in my opinion. Definitely more environmentally friendly to. It still a little difficult to see what amount of ratio of sand to clay is best as well as water it seem you need very very little water just to damp it enough.
This is the best video I've seen so far, I made my furnace already I'm going with charcoal.. Where did you get the fine sand ?? I went to Home Depot and they do not carry it. Exactly what kitty litter did you use and how did you grind it ?
I get all the rocks out if it has any then I use an old blender to get it real fine, I add the sand and water into it when it's in the blender. After it is a fine power tho
How did you grind your kitty litter? I did some in a homemade ball mill, but it took forever and needed several batches to do one box of litter. If you have a better way, I would like to know about it.
Jeremy Hall Have you personally ground the kitty litter(Bentonite) in a coffee grinder? How does the coffee grinder hold up or does it take a few grinders?
Jeremy Hall Thanks for advice man!!! This is something that I'm trying to get all lined up for my first pour! I haven't made anything yet. So many foundry designs, molds, ingots etc. I have a limitless supply of motor oil too...
an old caster called jack couts told me to use molases to bind it but i still need to cook the mold and it goes like a rock and when you put it in a pail with a lid it will soften for to be reused a have used it and i like it he told me never to use chemical set sand as it is bad for your health so he said to use molases as a setting agent it may be a pain cooking it but is cleaner and safer on your lungs i have used sand and clay but with the molases it gets hard enuff to cut and file or sand
Ahh, another video on RU-vid that has just enough detail to capture my interest but not enough detail to actually follow through. What kind of sand and where did you get it? What kind of kitty litter (brand)? You mention Home Depot. What did you purchase there? I'm afraid I didn't get enough detail in this video to mix anything with some level of confidence. Please elaborate.
@Tom Grant- "What kind of kitty litter (brand)? You mention Home Depot. What did you purchase there?" You too did not answer my questions but instead responded for what reason I do not know? So the point is that you are satisfied and know the answers but will not supply them? The questions I asked were not adequately answered.
Just use any fine sand. And the kitty litter has to be made out of bentonite. Look at the ingredients or buy bentonite from somewhere else. Kitty litter just happens to be a convenient source for bentonite.
should use 2 cycle 50-1. saw it in another vid. What I would like to know is why not use a small cement mixer to make your green sand? you could let it mix as long as you want till it is the right consistency while you are doing something else.
another vid on here shows a homemade mixing rig akin to a cement mixer; so long as everything is clean and you arent contaminating your sand, you could indeed use a cement mixer. though youd have to be there for the moisture-adding part.
hay man i went to make this and got some cat litter to use but didnt c till i got home it says Made from natural zeolite will that still work or should i find Bentonite cat littler cheers
how can you tell if you have too much or too little clay? i just mixed mine up today and added all of the clay with 25%of the sand in broke good and had good strength. but now that i have added and mixed the rest of the sand in it's more fragile, but still breaks clean. about 8bls of clay in about 80-100 lbs of sand
if i was going to make lots of it , i would get a moisture tester like a farmer has. Figure out what the perfect moisture level was. Testers come in two kinds, probes and hand held cups, you put a couple of handfuls of corn in (or green sand) push a button and in 3 seconds you have moisture level. I could be wrong maybe that kind of tester wont do rocks.
hello, in my country the moisture is made by adding oil to prevent vaporizing if it's made by water, and oil dries only once burned, do you know what i mean
olive oil, just a little bit, try for a small sample, i'm sure you'll love it, i men when the oil bunrn generate CO2 and swallows air and the air in this case is melted alluminum and the shape will be garenteed
+Kaydee457 He said silca sand and also mentioned the chemical makeup of the cat litter. Thats the problem with making videos on youtube, people watch, dont pay a bit of attention, then ask questions that have ALL BEEN ANSWERED! PAY ATTENTION!!
either or; the recipe has some room for play, so its just a guideline. if its a little more or a little less, it doesnt matter so long as you have the desired consistency
Look for kitty litter that only has one ingredient "ground clay". Other kitty litters with odor control can have toxic chemicals. Home Depot is where you can buy the white silica sand.
hi, how can i make my own composition of slurry for the solution investment in lost wax? what i need?, i wanth to make my own ceramic investment. thanks for the video from argentina
I'm a 52 year Foundryman, I say this because I was born at a Foundry my Father owned that he passed down to me from my Grandfather, which was passed down to me,,,,, and I still live there today, beside the Foundry, I know everything about oil sand green sand,natural bond sand, and olivine! LETS CAST SOMWTHING ; )
Turns out Bentonite clay powder is cheap. I had 15 lbs shipped for under 25.00. Works great. Thanks for the video. It got me in the right direction. www.baileypottery.com/clay/clays-chemicals.htm
Since your videos are shot, you should have just done the entire thing with one video. Since you didn't include "Part 1" etc., in the title, viewers have to search for the next videos in the series but I still have no idea why you simply didn't just do it in one video unless you uploaded these videos when time limits were much shorter.
its possible it just takes forever to upload; i shot a 10 minute video once and i dont know if it was the connection or what, but it took something like 3 and a half hours to upload. though you are correct; locating the other videos (if indeed there are any) is fairly difficult; and would have been more viewer-friendly had it all been one video.
so many people asking questions that are answered in the video >_> write your questions down then watch the video again. THEN ask questions, to avoid looking like an idiot and to get your questions answered faster.
Veisinia Lelea kitty litter (must be the clumping kind) is bentonite,a key ingredient in green sand. and you dont just use it out of the back it must be ground down to a very fine powder before it can be used,,this vid leaves a lot out watch a bunch of the other home made green sand vids.
No miten sitä tehdään? Typerä video missä vain hierotaan hiekkaa ja läpistään asian vierestä. Meinasin tilata kanavan mutta peruin päätöksen saman tien. Miksi katsoa sellaista missä pitäisi jotain kertoa mutta ei haluta kertoa mitään 😂
he had cat litter. he ground it up till it was fine. he added fine clean sand. he mixed it well. he spritzed water onto it and mixed it until it held its shape when squeezed with force, but did not stick to his hands. the clay to sand ratio is approximately 1:9, where 9 parts of sand are added for every 1 part of clay, though for desired consistency can be up to 12% instead of 10%. just add a tiny bit more of the clay. brand names dont mean anything; the kitty litter can be any CLUMPING CAT LITTER, just check to make sure it has bentonite clay in it. the sand can be any sand, as long as its fine (even powdery) and clean. use tap water.
All I get from this, is someone handling some sand in front of a camera... And perhaps trying to tell us something important too, but I'm not sure since he talks so fast.... Sorry, but better luck next time!
+Lucien Macrose Dry and solid materials are almost always measured by weight. Volume is reserved for liquids. It's more practical and exact to measure dry materials, such as powders, by weight, as volume can vary because of things such as granule size. Larger granules will trap air between them, affecting the volume measurement.
