please help me before i do something i may regret

[johnthomp]

hello my fellow casters im just starting my foundry casting up again after a 17 year break when i used to cast lead soldiers now ive grown up im gonna try casting some engine bases but im haveing trouble with my sand it is ancient foundry sand i scuppered from a foundry being torn down the sand itself is black as coal verry coarse and doesent hold solid enough and a 90 year old geezer down the street tells me i need bentonite clay and can obtain this by grinding kitty litter is this true because i cant find it in any animal feed supplier and ive no hope of finding a pottery supplier round these parts and most civil engineers i know have never heared of the stuff
is it possible or am i just gonna ruin my 200kg foundry sand rescue

 

[Stan]

I just looked at a box of kitty litter and it is marked 100% natural clay and I suspect it is bentonite to be any use as litter. Where I live, bentonite is used by both water and oil well drillers and comes in 50 pound bags.

Nothing lost if you try the kitty litter and it doesn't work.

 

[tmuir]

A lot of kittie litter is indeed bentonite clay, but it is a lot of work to grind it up.

Where are you located?
Once we know that someone may be able to point a supplier out to you.

 

[johnthomp]

im situated in the uk about 8 miles east of manchester airport and ive only lived here for 5 years i got the sand from a town called rochdale where i used to live about another 30 miles east again from where i am now and the grinding part is not hard for me ill just put about 25lb of the kitty litter in the cement mixer with a 20lb bag of round washed pebbles and run it for about 2 hours itll soon crush up well it worked well with the chalk blocks i had once over it came out like talc

 

[tmuir]

I'm in Australia so I can't help but there are plenty of casters in UK on this forum so I'm sure someone can help.
I've got a pile of scrap aluminium and about 20Kg of bentonite but so far haven't found the time to make a furnace.

 

[shred]

The black sand material may have coal mixed in. The cast-iron foundry I visited in Colombia did that to all their sand. The entire place was black as night. I don't think it'll hurt anything, but FYI.

 

[metalmuncher]

Hi Johnthomp

If you go on ebay you can get all the stuff you need from this foundry supply company, it fairly reasonable priced too but post might be a killer.
http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/artisanfoundry

I shall certainly be using them when I start casting.

Regards Metalmuncher.

 

[rickharris]

Most supermarkets sell kitty litter - Almost all in the UK will be Bentonite - or contain a substantial amount of it -

try http://www.foundryengineers.com/index.htm they are in your area

these people are a foundry - you can try asking for a kilo or 2 of sand http://www.dealercast.co.uk/about_us.html http://www.deangroup-int.co.uk/

Also try local schools of your kids school. There DT department may well have casting facilities and be happy to let you have a little sand (in general they no longer cast because of H & S regulations. We had a dustbin full of the stuff going nowhere.

 

[johnthomp]

cheers for all the advice fellas i think im gonna first try what the old fart down the street says then try these links you sent me for suppliers and ill have a go at evrything
but first im gonna build a permanent furnace out of all these fire bricks i pulled out of the houses due for demolition on the estate since ive burnt the hell out of the one i made out of a gas cylinder and ill sort out all my ingots on its maiden fireing but this time im gonna try and make it burn scrap wood offcuts itll be free fuel as i am a joiner/ builder by trade

 

[oilmac]

John,
I was a greensand moulder, Without seeing the state of your sand it is difficult to ascertain its condition, But it sounds to me it is an ex ironfoundry moulding sand, Horsing a lot of bentonite in amongst it will certainly give it more bonding power, but you might overdo the clay content and tend to get bad castings due to lack of permeability (Venting) which allows the escape of mould gases Also if your sand is course in nature the bentonite wont help, Better going to Artisan foundry, and purchasing a couple of bags of their Bromsgrove green sand, This being mixed in will give adequate bonding &give a closer grained moulding sand more suited to your light casting production, I assume you are casting aluminium or bronze or iron.