My muller build

[dallen]

Ok guy's heres a new video and hopefully I got the thing running slow enough to see whats going on in the tub. First let me say this has been a nice build except for the heat, would of been nice building in a nice cool shop but I don't have so.

This thing is built off of a piece of 24 inch pipe that I have had for a while, I rolled the pipe outside of the shedly place it was stored in, stood it up on end, and started putting iron on top, this is what I ended up with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97X72bSna3s

I still have some to do on it, like the wheel thats not in it, some shelves to hold stuff like a sand tub, and one to ram up molds on, no sense in carring them heavy things all over the yard, I been thinking about adding one on the side about the bottom of the tub so I can just sit the molds down on it and grab a cup full of molten metal and pour.

I thinnk that this thing is coming together pretty good and will look pretty nice when I am done, if I fix the shelves so they slide in or fold up and it, so that if it has to be moved do to someone just wanting to force a big wad of cash onto me for it. well I an't that attached to it.

And for alls interest, earlier today I picked up like a chipping hammer, C clamp, and a Vise Clamp, and pitched em into the tub, well you got it I been asleep since I did that and forgot that they were in there, and turned it one to demo for a friend. well it didn't really want to stop chewing on the tools, so I guess its got plenty of torque, that old motor that I took off my 12 inch Enco still has some torque left in it.

Ooh yea that pruple plastic tub with the sand thats in it, well I have had whats in the muller plus whats in the plastic tub in the machine all at one time, and it just walks thru it.

David

[Nudge]

It did look to be running a bit quick but time will tell once it is complete. Looking good so far.

I have been looking for a big bit of pipe like the bit you have... it is not easy to find

[dallen]

I had to sneek into the gas companies yard by the dark of the moon and whack it off and carry it out on my back while being attacked by Rabid Dogs that didn't know i already had the diasese, from crawling around in swamps down home.

Naw, I bought the 24 inch seceral years ago cost me a hundred bucks, its funny theres times I can get the stuff free if I took all of it would have the yard stacked 3 feet deep and belive me thats a lot of pipe, other times you couldn't buy a one foot long piece if your life depended on it.

you get this way I know of a pipe yard that don't scrap no fall off, But for a muller, I would just have someone roll a piece of 1/4, 8MM, into a ring and for me thats really too big, but someone like Harry yea or 30 inch. or keep your eye open for a tank thats free even if its too big in diameter a plate thats rolled is easy to pull down to a smaller size.

David.

[Harry]

I cant tell you how much of this pipe I have put into the ground over the years. There is always cut to fit pieces on these water line jobs so if you can find one in progress they might have a piece in their yard. Also might look at propane tanks, the 50 gallon and up sizes are fairly squat and sometimes you can pick them up cheap if they are in rough shape, check the local propane supply companies as they often will have stacks of them.

I would certainly go as heavy a gauge as you can because the abrasiveness of the sand will do some wearing especially on the blades. The 3/8" flat edge of the concrete form stakes I used are sharpened to fine edge and well polished.

[dallen]

Well its the Fourth of July again guy's, and I had to get up and go look at the mess in the muller. Forgot well didn't forget just damn well didn't think till it was too late. It rained last night and belive me you don't want'a leave your muller unattended in a rain storm or a shower for that matter with greensand in it. Thing was half full of mud. So I fire it up, and yessir it started with all that sticky Bentonite in it. Well it didn't last long cause as I was shoveling some dry into it to take up some of the water, it had all it wanted and bucked up and throwed its chain, So I get that all sorted out, and shovel it out to get rid of some of the mud

Fire it back up and start all over again, well this time I was able to catch it and unplug it (unwired it from the generator it was out of gas), I finally got things to where I was runing it without any problems except for the build up on the sidewall, so I throwed together a scrapper ( seen some big old coil springs with three inch tails on em at the feed store) our of a couple pieces of junk, fianlly got it lined up sorta right, its made to light thou.

Anyway long story shortened is I'm gonna fire up and see about making a flask side I need four more so I only have to set up one time on the mill to do all eight.

So we might just have a try at doing back to back pours. thats if I get the damn grass mowed.

Oh yea I cut up and old 3/8 wire 1.5 inch shaker screen I had and am in the process of making a top guard for the arm buster, can't be to safe ya know.

I ever get all the bugs out I think this thing will be right up there along with Boone's Farm wine as one of the fineer things in life,

I will say this much the drive set up that I have on it will move a whole lot more sand then the motor I have on it will. That old 1992 model motor that I took off the lathe seems like it will be ok, I know oil bonded sand is a lot stickier is what people say, well it can't be any worse than greensand with about thirty percent water in it.

I may take a couple of the wires out of that screen cloth and see about making some damascus not like I can't get to welding heat.

Ooh Yea and for Harry, I dragged the roaster out yesterday was out of coffee, so I thought I would raise the stakes a little and went for a 1.75 pounds to see if the little beast would do it, and I'll be danged if it didn't, after a few mild setbacks from the cheering section I was able to do a roast that is tasting pretty good this morning.
David

[Harry]

That screen sounds stout, build it right and put a vibrator on it and you could have a shakeout table right into the the muller.

We have had clouds moving through here the last couple of days and it looks like isolated t storms for tomorrow, will have to batten down the hatches on anything I dont want getting wet.

Having a fresh cup myself now, that Blue Bell Mountain I had mentioned to you.

[dallen]

theres not been much going on with this project here the last couple of days, I have been waiting on some bearings that I ordered of of the internet, for the wheel that I am puting in the tub to smash and bash the clods and such.

I have ran it the last two or three times that I have casted, still working on getting 8 of those side plates made so I will have enough for a flask, from this as a start I hope to cast up a could more in differant lengths and heights so I will only have to handle as much as is nessarray. I have it from a good source that the flask that I have been using to mold this flask pattern is holds the way it is right now a 5 gallon bucket of sand. so any reduction in weight will be a godsend, or a blessing, or just a big damn relief. Leaf all the heavy lifting to the younger guys that are into this.

I have the materials to install a scraper blade that will run around the wall of the tub, the sand (greensand is all I have at the moment) really sticks to the tub wall it gets almost as hard as rock from the pressure off the end of the paddle I guess.

After looking at the sand that I did have that didn't have any bentonite in it, I decided that I had better run downtown and get a couple bags cause first chance I get I'm gonna try to make some oil bonded sand, I have all the stuff, just like baking a cake except I don't have to mess with eggs, and milk.

Ok that about catches us up to where we are today, Yes I had to run the sand Green of course thru the muller, stuff was dry as my back yardd, it just didn't have any grass growing in it. Anyway I dumped in a bucket and turned the thing on, and started adding water, I found out that you want a spary bottle one of them little half gallon ones you pump up cause it doesn't take a lot. For a five gallon bucket i would say I probably sprayed in a cup full of water, all I have to do is watch the sand and spray a little water wait a couple minutes then add a little bit more, untill you see the sand start to look wet or start to get a darker color to it, at this point you have to really watch it or you will add way to much water.

David

[dallen]

Well work on the muller has slowed down to a crawl some of the slow down is due to the hot weather that were having, no fun in the back yard when its a 110 degrees in the shade.
The other reason is that I have been waiting on some bearings that I ordered from online they should be here this week, hopefully tomorrow but we will have to wait an see what brown brings besides more hot weather.

Anyway heres a picture of what I plan on using for a wheel, its a gear thats 1.5 inches thick, should give enough heft to dig down thru the sand, I welded a section I cut off of a piece of 8 inch schedule pipe about 2.5 inches wide to give it a wider foot print.



This one don't work I got another one thats 4 inches wide i can stick in or add a spring to increase the down force on the sand.

[Harry]

That looks like it will make a fine wheel David. Like you said maybe spring load it but I kind of doubt you are going to need to. After the first batch you wont see that gear anymore, my guess is the sand will pack in there making it look like a sand wheel

Kind of anxious for you get to mixing on your petrobond. I know loads of folks get great results with greensand but finding this sand from IFSCO made a complete right turn in my casting because I couldnt get a decent batch of greensand for anything.

[dallen]

since I have gotten the muller to the point that it will work the sand, I have been getting better and better results from the sand that I have been using, I'm not real sure of the actual content of bentonite in it as I have added to it a couple of times with sand that was blended by hand and some that was blended in a cement mixer dry then added to the tub as needed.

Moisture was my greatest problem I could never get it consistent, but with the muller it will in greensand take a full five gallon bucket of sand without any problems. I have one of those half gallon sparyers that I put water in and them with the machine running i wll start spraying water in a little at a time when I see the sand start to come together like cookie dough I stop and start ramming up my mold, the sand is just so much easier to work with, and i don't have spots that are soaked and sand that doesn't have any moisture in it at all.

But I am really wanting to try oil bonded sand, I haven't done anything with the sample yet that you sent as I don't have a flask small enough to use it in, except if i use in only one half of a mold.

I have redone the Scraper blade that runs the wall into a better setup then what I had originally put it which was just a tempory one anyway, I am going to need a plow or wing of something in it to push the sand into the middle of the tub so that the wheel can do its thing with it, but I have been hesitant to put anything in that I might have to redo after the wheel is in, so I have been waiting on the bearings that I have ordered to arrive.

Thanks for the comments,