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chucketn

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I'm setting up my foundry almost from scratch. A friend is helping me make a Vontorne muller. Now I need a molding bench and want to get it built before the muller is available. Are there any good molding bench plans available? I will be using green sand to start.
I have a couple ideas but want to ask the experienced to avoid design errors. What plans did you build from? I need to know basic dimensions and useful features. I'm thinking 24" x 48" and 12-24" deep, slats on top for holding flasks, room underneath for tubs to hold new/mulled sand.
Is 1/2" plywood strong enough or should I go with 3/4"? Should I divide it into 2 sections for conditioned vs. used sand?
Show us pictures of your molding bench, any special features, why you like/dislike your bench.
Thanks in advance.

Chuck
 
Sadly I don't have any plans for you. The last molding bench I was involved in was the one the shop teacher built for shop class all those years ago. (Yes I'm old enough to have taken a real shop class). I'm not sure where he got the plans but it was possibly the sturdiest bench in the shop and the shop had kid proof benches. I'm putting a few comments below.

I'm setting up my foundry almost from scratch. A friend is helping me make a Vontorne muller. Now I need a molding bench and want to get it built before the muller is available. Are there any good molding bench plans available? I will be using green sand to start. I have a couple ideas but want to ask the experienced to avoid design errors. What plans did you build from? I need to know basic dimensions and useful features. I'm thinking 24" x 48" and 12-24" deep,
I'd tend to make the depth more than enough to hold the volume of sand you intend to work with. However there is one safety problem that you may want to consider if the storage area for the sand isn't low enough you will end up with a top heavy design which I see as a safety problem. You need to balance depth yet make sure the access is good as you don't want to be reaching to get the sand in the lower reaches.
slats on top for holding flasks, room underneath for tubs to hold new/mulled sand. Is 1/2" plywood strong enough or should I go with 3/4"?
3/4" and the reinforce it plenty. The other day I put 20 bags of 60 pound concrete mix in the back of my truck, that is around 1200 pounds. Those bags took up little space in the back of my short bed pickup. Sand, concrete or whatever is exceedingly heavy even in small volumes. Depending upon you and the size of the pieces you intend to cast you could have several hundred pounds of sand in the bench all in a very compact space.
Should I divide it into 2 sections for conditioned vs. used sand? Show us pictures of your molding bench, any special features, why you like/dislike your bench. Thanks in advance. Chuck

I'm sitting here right now with my back telling how heavy this stuff is, so if nothing else I hope you come away with the idea that the construction needs to be solid and commensurate with your intended usage.
 

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