I was reading some info on Habinson Walker website on mix ratio for kast o lite 30. they suggest 9.5 pints of water to 55 lbs of mix. This seems like a lot of water to me. However I have never had to mix refractory before. What have you guy's used for a mix ratio? Also, is this stuff like hydraulic cement as far as having an extremely short working time? I seen a post where Kelly suggested mixing in 10 lb quantities otherwise it would be regrettable. Why? Reason I ask is because one bag would be enough for the lid and floor in my foundry. My plan was to mix everything in a wheelbarrow by hand as expedient as possible. 3-5 min, questioning myself if it is even doable.
Follow the manufcaturer's instructions. The amount of water can vary a lot from one castable refractory to another. Insulating castables usually call for much more water than dense castable. Also, there is often a range of water, with more recommended for hand placement than vibratory placement. I attached the KL30 data sheet. 14-18liters/100kg so 3.5-4.5liters/25kg. Some dense castables would call for only 5-6 liters H2O/100kg! In general no, but can be temp dependent. HW says KL30 should be placed in <20 minutes. The first time I tried to mix (dense) refractory by hand, I tried to mix half a bag in a 5-gal bucket. -Almost impossible. I quickly seperated into several buckets but still took me nearly all the palcement time to mix it. Dense castable is nearly 4x as dry and difficult to mix as a high water content insulating castable, so you stand a chance with a bag of KL30 in a wheel barrow, but you'll need to work hard. 10-20lbs in a bucket with a paddle mixer and stout 1/2" drill gets the job done throughly in a couple minutes without breaking a sweat, and gives you more working time. This kind of paddle, not the bladed kind. Best, Kelly
Thanks, I'm feeling a little better about my plan of attack. I may even pick up a cement vibrator for easier placement of material.
Here are a couple PDF sheets for Kast-O-Lite 30 LI Plus, the TDS Kelly showed above and the SDS (USA version) from HWI.
Thanks, I had seen those documents in my searches too. Looks like it will be a respirator and glove kinda day!
