Metal Casting Zone

I learned another lesson tonight. I went to cast a rammer and I thought that it would be fine if I only vented the top. "Heat and steam rises", I thought. HA! How wrong I was. The top turned out perfect, but the bottom has air bubbles. Lesson learned.

ive had the same thing happen! i was putting it down to too much moisture in the sand.i was having a lot of these type of things happen till i changed my sand management system. i was trying to keep all of my sand "just right" a larger hobby foundry i know of keeps their sand moist ready to use. i started to but as my sand increased it started to become quite a task. i now completely dry my sand ,run it through a sift and just wet up enough for what i want as i want. i discovered this by trial and error! i was given a book on casting in the backyard written in 1978 reprinted 1980,1982,1997. only a couple of days ago. in the book it outlines this practice as the best for backyarders!!! ( the backyard foundry by b.terry aspin. )

My current situation is that every time I do a cast, I am using almost all of the sand I have mixed. lol. When I put together a better mixing system, I will do exactly what you are now though. Right now, I keep my sand in a plastic bin. It is kind of aggravating to mix in there. It won't be long til I do something else though.

it was only 3 months ago that i increased my sand after i started to get really good results. good results allow for bigger investment.