My muller build

How to condition loads of sand to ease making molds.
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dallen
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My muller build

Post by dallen »

I guess this is where I should start. I am new to the Board, I have some casting under my belt, not as much as others and more than some. I have melter Aluminum, Brass, Bronze and Cast Iron. I have built all of my furnaces and tools, to include my lift out tongs and pouring shanks. Crucibles I buy, I find the peace of mind that I get is worth a lot more than the money that I can save on using a piece of pipe or a home made Crucible made from refactory.

Enough of that though, thats not what I started this topic for, My Muller Build as the thread is titled is what its about.
I am in the process of building a Muller based on the Steve C's. book, I'm not the first nor will I be the last, I just think that it is an easy piece of equipment too build, the design is simple, the parts are few, and yes there is some machining involved. This is where I started my Muller, no reason to build a big ole heavy tub and not be able to make the parts inside go around and around. So I started with the Drive Shaft, besides I already had the pipe for the tube piece of 24" .375 wall. and the plate for the floor was just a short drive away at the Junk Yard, and the method of power is the 1 HP motor that I took off my 12X36 lathe when I repowered it with a 3 phase motor and VFD.

Anyway for those that like pictures, heres the first of the ones that I will post to keep everyone entertained as I build my muller.
drive-shaft-componetes.jpg
drive-shaft-componetes.jpg (37.74 KiB) Viewed 5874 times
David and Charlie aka the shop monster

If life seems normal your not going fast enough" Mario Andrette
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Harry
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Re: My muller build

Post by Harry »

Nice to see a build thread on this. My own muller is really more of a mixer but it has some good action to it. Looking forward to seeing the progress.

I hear you on the peace of mind of commercial crucibles. The SiC I use are worth their weight in gold for the rock solid feel and how long they have lasted.
I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints the sinners are much more fun...
Muller
dallen
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Re: My muller build

Post by dallen »

I get my starbrite SiC from Mifco, but the first one I had must of picked up some moisture from somewhere, I had it in the first furnace I build and was preheating the thing and made a very small fuel adjustment to the burner and turned my back and it sounded like someone in the yard was shooting a pistol. blow big flakes off the side of it, I will post a photo of it so others can see what happened.

This is a Really nice board you setup Harry.

David.

Image

This is a pic of the last furnace that I built, it has a 3000 high strength floor, the wall is 4 inches of 2600 light weight insulating, adn the top has two inches of the 2600 against the outside with the 3000 degree facing the burner.

The top ended up the way it is because I ran out of the 2600 and had to finish filling it so I used the 3000 on top of the 26 while it was still moist so they bonded pretty good plus I have a bunch of welding rods welded into it for reinforcements to hold the refactory into the metal lid.

The tank was a called in the water industry a squat 60, in other words, instead of it being like five feet tall it was half that but its 21 inches in diameter, the bore is like 12 wide by 18 tall. I can put a pretty big crucible in it.
David and Charlie aka the shop monster

If life seems normal your not going fast enough" Mario Andrette
dallen
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Re: My muller build

Post by dallen »

forgot about this thread that I had started here so now I guess I better get it cought up.

I have been getting a little work in on the Muller of an evening time. I mounted the motor the other evening and then had to stop and wait for a couple of day's untill a Sheave that I had ordered came in, well it got here Friday afternoon.

So then it was time to get back in gear on the Muller. I wanted the drive done before I layed the thing down on its side to cut the pipe off, seeing as how the pipe that I started with was 4 feet long. That would make quite a muller if I have something in the range of a 25 HP motor to puller the thing with and a Three Phase Hookup from the electric company or a generator big enough.

well heres a picture that I snapped the other day after I mounted the motor.Image
I will grab a couple more shots this afternoon if I don't get called away.

Well right now its time to hit the flea market and see if I can find a cast iron muffin pan for an ingot mold. The one that I had made out of angle iron and some flat bar is scaling so bad it won't last much longer, the one thing that really gets to me is that when I pour into it the molten aluminum captures the scale and I have to beat it out of the alumium

OK, I know its a bunch to write in one day, but I finally got outside after it cooled down to about 95 and the shade hit the front of the shade.

Here's a link to some pictures that I took of the Muller its upside down, I started it that way so I wouldn't have to be bending over all the time while working on the stuff under the tub, like legs, and drive componetes. I think I posted a picture of the motor to get people all excited and in the mood to build their own.
So heres a link to some more pictures that shows some more of the drive. I would of grabbed a picture of the new v-belt thats strung up tight as a banjo string. But it turned dark on me and theres no lights out at the shed, But I got it all layed over on its side so I can cut about 3 feet of that 24 inch pipe off, then maybe I just might be able to get the thing up on its legs so I can drop the drive shaft into place,

By using a lock washer and my finger, with what part of the drive that I have mounted the motor and the two intermediate shafts I have a one to five ratio, so by the time that I get hooked to the Shaft it will be one to ten, so if needed I can get a larger sprocket and put it on the Drive Shaft to turn it down more.

http://s1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd4 ... %20Muller/
Last edited by dallen on Tue Jun 28, 2011 9:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
David and Charlie aka the shop monster

If life seems normal your not going fast enough" Mario Andrette
dallen
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Re: My muller build

Post by dallen »

heres some quick pictures that I snapped this morning, before it rained, now the damn grass is gonna grow.
I had to run to the hardware store and get a halfr link to get the chain tightened up on the final drive stage to the drive shaft. the chain was loose enough that on the slack side it was hanging off the sprocket, so it was either shim the shaft out and cut out a whole link, or cut off a whole link and replace it with a half, so I took the $1.49 route, cost me more for gas to go get the thing then it did, even with me on the bike, oh well its just money.
Image

Forgot from what little I ran the thing looks like its turning pretty fast with the gearing I have so I think I probably will get a say 7 inch sheave and put on the first intermediate shaft. slow the thing down some more.

Heres the link to the photos that I snapped this morning, not much of any thing else to photograph.
http://s1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd4 ... 28%202011/

The motor that I put on here is the one horse power motor that I removed from my 12 inch lathe. Well when I put power to the thing I started having problems with it, so you people not knowing me I tore the damn thing apart. Found that the start switch in the motor only had one mounting screw in it and that one of the wires had broken off of the mounting. So I grab up the solder stuff and back out into the heat and humidity of the back yard I go and fix the thing. Put the motor all back together except the cooling fan and squiral cage, fire up the generator and away she turned like it was suppose to. I have no idea why the thing didn't burn up from the arc marks that were inside the motor.

Anyway thats all I got done today, other then I was going to pour another flask panel except that when I pulled the pattern it ripped the sand out on the one corner that I need to do some work on and haven't done as of this moment.
David and Charlie aka the shop monster

If life seems normal your not going fast enough" Mario Andrette
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Jammer
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Re: My muller build

Post by Jammer »

Sun coming up, Muller running and the second cup of coffee. What more could you ask for?

I think your grass will have to recover a bit before it will grow. :P
quando omni flunkus moritati 8-)
dallen
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Re: My muller build

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the sun coming up, good thing I went back an looked at that picture again. yep thats east
Second cup of joe more like the eigth, I drink a lot of really fresh coffee, like I roasted a pound and a half this afternoon, so I'm a gonna be in hog heaven as some say.

And I can tell you haven't been in Oklahoma in the summer time after a rain, Grass since the rain this morning after that picture was taken has grown an inch, or anyway the damn weeds have.

But I'm a all most to the point of putting sand in the muller, I think that I will just start with a blade something similar to Harrys, although I do have plans for a wheel.
What do you say Harry hows your muller set up with a wheel of just blades, if it has just blades do they handle the petrobond ok. I mean will they mix the stuff as well as recondition it. I am turely hoping that this machine is my way to cheap petrobond. I can get the petrobond 1 powder and cat from Retco, which reminds me I need to scan something in that catalog and email to a guy in Oregon.

So come on guys tell me what I'm doing wrong with building this thing. theres gotta be something besides I have it running to fast on the business end of it, which means I need probably 8 inch sheave on the first intermeidate shaft, with a 4.5 or 5.5 thats the two sheaves on there now, and I'm hoping that I don't have to go to a bigger sprocket on the drive shaft but I may, its a shame I can't take back what won't work. but somewhere I am gonna end up with a sprocket or two extra.

I think that just for greensand that a rake and a plow would be enough to recondition the sand or to mull up fresh new stuff, the last greensand that I mixed I used a cement mixer and just mixed the sand and bentonite together and stored it in buckets untill I had to use it to help dry up my heap that got flooded.
David and Charlie aka the shop monster

If life seems normal your not going fast enough" Mario Andrette
dallen
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Re: My muller build

Post by dallen »

and heres another thought that I had, that plate that sticks out over the electric motor. I left it on there for a reason and its not to set my coffee cup on, I hope and this is just a maybe hope, to mount a say 5 HP vetical shaft gas engine on there, you know like one of them Briggs and Straton push mower motors.

I know it would be on the noise side but for no longer that I would run it at a time, that tub will hold a lot of sand,

Anyway that plates big enough to do that with or, if and when I change the motor on my mill to a three phase I can cut a hole in the plate and take the two horse off my mill and put the single phase one on the muller, Which would give me a bigger motor on it and three phase VFD on the mill.

David
David and Charlie aka the shop monster

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Harry
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Re: My muller build

Post by Harry »

Great progress David, you will be mulling sand in no time now.

My muller just has blades, they go across the bottom and up the outside. The blades are made from concrete form stakes and are angled into the direction they are turning. The thing with yours is if you want to use blades you will want to tilt the whole thing up. Mine is set close to 70* and there is a plate at the top the vertical portion of the blade passes behind that knocks off the sand being brought around.

I think I would go with wheels if it isnt much trouble. The reason is that I do not believe you get as good a mulling action with blades and this is important for batching. Since I use ready batched petrobond I just need to recondition it and the blades do fine for this.
I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints the sinners are much more fun...
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dallen
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Re: My muller build

Post by dallen »

heres a little video that I did this evening after working on the muller some, two points that I want to stress is first one I'm not done with it yet, who knows when that will happen.
Second thats close to a hundred pounds of sand in the thing, and yes it will start with that much in it, but I need to regear the thing its flying, you get an arm in this thing its gonna take it off for sure. And one big point is that the motor is 18 years old, so I'm gonna put a probably 70 tooth sprocket on the drive shaft.

http://s1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd4 ... 030444.mp4
Last edited by dallen on Wed Jul 13, 2011 4:47 pm, edited 3 times in total.
David and Charlie aka the shop monster

If life seems normal your not going fast enough" Mario Andrette
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