Pool filter sand does not work. I ran out of Ranco-sil B and found pool sand to be of similar mesh and cheap. 50lbs for $8 at Home Depot. Fired strength seems similar but they fell apart during firing. Any suggestions for larger grained sand I can pick up locally? Will ceramic supply stores have something suitable? I don't mind the price of R&R stuff but with shipping it's like buying it twice. Kevin
Have you tried firing the sand first to drive out any absorbed moisture?. The silica sand we are using at the moment comes pre-calcined to a high temperature, it's intended for sand casting foundry use.
hmm.. Nothing you can buy at homedepot or lowes will work that's for sure! When I'm outta silica, I have R&R drop it off in Dallas and I bring it home. In Tennessee, I can't help you. I've never had these guys ship the stuff, but what are they charging to mail silica? You could always sign up for the Kitty Pooh club and they will bring it to you monthly for FREE! Speaking of.... It appears I'm getting shadow banned by youtube. Anyone see only 1 of my comments here? Because I see TWO comments of mine on this video. When the SOB checks his email tomorrow, I'm pretty sure he is going to lay an egg.
As far as I know they kiln heat it to 400 degrees C in a gas oven to drive off any moisture, at that temperature any water vapour from the gas combustion won't be absorbed. According to Wikipedia, heating silica/quartz over 573 degrees C, reversibly changes it from alpha quartz to beta quartz with a 0.45% expansion. So there's that to contend with as well.
I wonder if he deleted your silicosis comment because silica gel and silicosis are unrelated. Maybe he worried that uninformed customers would conflate silica gel with silica dust hazards. “Silica gel is non-toxic, non-flammable, and non-reactive and stable with ordinary usage. It will react with hydrogen fluoride, fluorine, oxygen difluoride, chlorine trifluoride, strong acids, strong bases, and oxidizers.[10] Silica gel is irritating to the respiratory tract and may cause irritation of the digestive tract, and dust from the beads may cause irritation to the skin and eyes, so precautions should be taken.[18] Crystalline silica dust can cause silicosis, but synthetic amorphous silica gel is indurated so does not cause silicosis. Additional hazards may occur when doped with a humidity indicator.” Denis
RANCO-SIL B (30X50) 55 LB BG 44.950 44.95 PREPAID FREIGHT 59.180 59.18 I went ahead and ordered it. Shipping is more than the product but I've already wasted enough time and ruined three castings.
The freight seems a little high. LTL would be a lot cheaper, but I'm sure the boneheads are using UPS. Been there, got that t-shirt. Remember the ass pain I went through last year trying to get a pail of slurry?
