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A trick with old sand that saved our pour last week

We had a big job for a local machine shop and our green sand was acting up, too wet from the rain. My foreman in Toledo said to mix in some dry, used sand from a batch we ran three months ago. We tried a 30% mix and it fixed the mold strength right away. The castings came out clean with no blow holes. Has anyone else tried blending old sand back in to fix moisture problems?
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3 Comments
grace_allen
Hot take: Old sand is a lifesaver. Longer response: That's just good shop practice, we do it all the time. It's way better than trying to dry out the whole batch with more heat. You just have to make sure the old sand is clean, no leftover binder chunks. Cat litter works in a pinch but it's not the same.
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johnp98
johnp981mo ago
We once used cat litter for a similar fix.
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vera681
vera68129d ago
Cat litter can soak up oil but it's not a good swap for old sand like grace_allen mentioned. The clay can mess with the mix and leave lumps. You really want clean, dry sand for a proper fix.
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