How to Make Green Sand for Casting Aluminum

How to Make Green Sand for Casting Aluminum

 

 

How to Make Green Sand for Casting
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I needed learn how to make Green Sand for metal casting. If you watched the furnace video you saw me making refractory, and making green sand is about the same process. Simply put, it is a mixture of sand, bentonite clay, and a bit of water. Using this kind of sand is called green sand casting.

Since I had some fireclay left over I was going to use it, but after some research I realized that since fireclay vitrifies (fuses) with heat, I probably could not reuse it after I molded something. So I figured I would go with Bentonite (as everyone else does)

Where to Get Bentonite Clay Cheaply

If you cannot buy bentonite clay in bulk (luckily my ceramics supply store has it), you can grind up clumping kitty litter (cheap without additives) and reclaim the bentonite. It must be ground up VERY FINE and you will need a dust mask.

Bentonite now gets added to a 5-gallon bucket of “fine” masonry sand (I used play sand, but the finer the sand the better quality your castings will be). You need a 1 part clay to 9 parts sand. Mix this dry, and then add water in small increments (like coffee mug sized). Mix between additions over several hours. You want the clay to coat the sand evenly, so the more you mix and the slower you work the happier you will be.

Test if your Greensand is Packable

The next thing you need to do is check to make sure the sand is “packable” You can read about this in the Gingery book, or watch my video. Basically you just grab up a handful of sand and squish it in your fist. It should mold to your hand. Then break it in two. If the lump of sand holds its shape and breaks cleanly when you snap it then it’s good to go.

Store your greensand in a covered container (I use 5 Gallon buckets with lids) and the longer you store it (unless it dries out) the better it will be

More Resources:

You can read many good books and articles on green sand casting, or just the process of casing metal.  I have several reviews on this site.

4 Fundamental Firearm Safety Rules

4 Fundamental Firearm Safety Rules

 

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Four Fundamental Firearm Safety Rules

Firearm Safety is essential.   It is not hard to be safe around firearms; it just takes the knowledge of basic safety rules and a little common sense.  There are many variations of safety rules taught by differing organizations but they all encompass the same thoughts and goals.

The following are what is commonly called the four fundamental safety rules.

Four Fundamental Firearm Safety Rules

Treat every weapon as if it were loaded.

This rule is sometimes over-zealously and incorrectly taught as load every firearm.  This is not what it means.  This rule means that no matter what condition you believe the firearm is always act as if it is loaded.  It is generally not possible to tell just by looking if a weapon is loaded.

Never point a weapon at anything you do not intend to shoot.

Firearms are tools.  And like any tool it has a purpose.  A firearm’s purpose is to punch holes in things.  You would never use a saw on something you did not want to cut, or hit something with a sledge hammer that you did not wish to break.  It is the same with a firearm.

Keep your weapon on safe until you are ready to fire.

If your firearm is equipped with an external safety device, never disengage it until you are ready to cause your firearm to discharge a bullet.  There have been many instances where people have disengaged safety devices while their firearm was in the holster and then proceeded to shoot themselves.  Do not turn off a safety device until the firearm is actually pointed at the target.

Keep your finger straight and off the trigger until you intend to fire.

Actually placing your finger on the trigger should be the very last action before firing the weapon.  As soon as you are done shooting the finger should be immediately taken off the trigger and lain along the frame of the firearm.  This helps ensure a firearm is not discharged accidentally.  Humans have a flinch response that causes them to clinch their hands when startled.  If your finger was on the trigger while you were walking with a firearm and you tripped, you would instinctively pull the trigger.  With your finger outside the trigger guard and alongside the frame of the weapon this will not happen.

It is also important that there are other rules common to firearm usage, or even specific shooting disciplines.  You may even create other rules as you see fit. Anything that makes you safer with a firearm is acceptable.  Nothing will reduce accidents 100% however, these four rules will greatly increase you safe and enjoyable use of firearms.

 

 

How to Build a Solar Dehydrator

 

Solar Dehydrator
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I like dehydrating food, sometimes because it makes food storage easier, and sometimes (like in the cases of apples or meat) I like eating dehydrated food.

The devils of food storage are:

  • Heat
  • Light
  • Oxygen
  • Moisture.

Dehydrating helps increase shelf life because many organisms (like Botulism) cannot thrive in dry spaces.  If you vacuum seal moist food and botulism is present,the bacteria grow and create enough toxin to kill.

However, if you vacuum seal food with less than a 10% moisture level the bacteria stays dormant.  So it does not produce toxins.  This works well for things that you don’t want to super heat using a pressure cooker.

I have a pretty good electric dehydrator that I use to make jerky and other dried foods.  However, it is small and takes up valuable kitchen space when it’s working.  Besides that, my wife doesn’t sleep very well if I try to leave it running overnight.  She worries about the catching the house on fire.

Research

Build it Solar was first resource I found online, and I went there quite a bit.  The idea of the J R Whipple solar dehydrator is really cool, but I wanted it in wood.  Root Simple also provided some ideas.

A large wooden shipping crate came from the trash and I decided to get to work.

*I later found a PDF entitled How to Build a Solar Crop Dryer that I believe this research was based on, I linked to it in my download section.

Building the Solar Dehydrator

Basically all I did was to cut a shipping crate to a manageable size, add a door, some legs and a few tray supports on the inside to make the drying cabinet.  I will probably add some ventilation later once I know how much I need.  I don’t want to cut a bunch of holes on the front end of the experiment as I don’t want to cut too many.

The next stage was to build the solar collector.  My original idea was to use some glass scrounged from a storm door.  Unfortunately, it was a couple inches too wide.  (BTW you cannot cut storm door glass; it’s tempered and will shatter into thousands of pieces).  But for an unnamed reason I ended up going with a large 24 x 60 piece of Plexiglass as the top of the collector.  The sides and bottom end are 1×6 boards, and the underside is a piece of plywood I had left from my chicken coop shipping box project.

I cut the top end of the 1x6s at an angle (I did not measure the angle, just marked it as the angle it would take to lay flush against the drying cabinet with the bottom end of the collector sitting on the ground.  This allows me to hinge the two pieces together so that the solar collector rests on the ground when in use, but folds up for storage.  The inside of the collector is painted black to help absorb heat.  I painted the outside white because I had white paint.  I also cut some ventilation holes in the bottom end of the solar collector, as there will need to be airflow to remove the moisture out of the drying box.

The drying trays and screens for the air vents are aluminum screen.  I simply made some frames out of strips of molding and stapled the screen tightly to the frames.

I still need to experiment with the correct drying times and amount of airflow needed, but the plan is to set this on the sunny side of my house, fill with vegetables and see how long it takes to turn them nice and dry.

Stay tuned, and I will add to this post as I learn more about my Solar Dehydrator….