Portable Sand Muller Rebuild

Discussion in 'Sand Mullers' started by HotRodTractor, Feb 8, 2021.

  1. HotRodTractor

    HotRodTractor Copper

    Over the weekend I went and picked up my sand muller purchase. It's been sitting outside on its side in the mud for a few years, but up underneath protected from rain there is a relatively new Baldor single phase 3hp motor. The gearbox seems to be in good condition and spins very freely, but the main shaft that goes up through the tub appears to be locked up. I know one of the muller wheels spins freely, the other is either locked up or pressing hard down onto the tub... TBD when some warmer weather gets here.

    If I get a chance, I'll get the wheels off of it and get them fix up (maybe I can just pump them up..... Wishful thinking). Until then this is probably going to sit until the weather warms up in March.

    I'm already thinking it needs blasted and a cool hot rod inspired paint job. I have a stack of cheap white walls I picked up last fall and could put a set on it. Lol

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  2. Petee716

    Petee716 Gold Banner Member

    You might have a winner. Cold iron is a bastard so yeah, springtime. Ive got a pair of Cadillac hub caps I'd be willing to donate.lol.

    Pete
     
  3. HotRodTractor

    HotRodTractor Copper

    Isn't that the truth. We had a hard enough time getting it out of the frozen ground. You can see on the bottom left there is about a foot thick chunk of dirt/mud still frozen to the machine. This week through the weekend is looking to be even colder with a couple of days not even breaking double digits. It can wait.

    I am pretty excited. I wasn't sure what I was going to do once I started making molds - and I needed one big enough that I wasn't just spending all my time running sand through a muller. I'm going to need quite a bit of sand to make the parts that I want to make.
     
  4. Petee716

    Petee716 Gold Banner Member

    It's not as cold here (Buffalo) as is normal for this time of year. Its hovering around 20F +/- 5 or so. First and second week of Feb it's usually between 0-10 with no letup till week 3 or 4. It's cold as hell in the unheated workshop regardless. It's not the ambient that's so bad as I've got space heaters that I turn on when I get in there, but every tool and bit of material is ready to give frostbite. Sometimes I'll spend 10 minutes heating up a few items with a plumber's torch just to make the work doable. But some things just have to wait.
    Hopefully that muller wont take too awful much to get running. It looks like it'll support a sizable heap.
     
  5. HotRodTractor

    HotRodTractor Copper

    I don't miss cold New York winters. I graduated college from Clarkson University up in Potsdam New York. I will honestly say I didn't know what cold was until I was trudging through the snow at -15*F before the windchill going to final exams the first week in December my freshman year. That was where I learned to appreciate the concept of "too cold to snow"
     
  6. HotRodTractor

    HotRodTractor Copper

    Its been a LONG time since posting, but I'm back. That's a subject for another thread.

    I needed to take some frustrations out on some rusty metal, so I finally put the muller into the shop for some heating and beating. After cleaning most of the crud out, applying generous amounts of penetrating oil, and applying some heat and pressure, I have almost everything freed up on the muller. Still have one nut on the main spring that pushes on the wheels that is being stubborn, and the sand dump door needs some more TLC to move smoothly, but the main shaft now spins nicely and both press wheels spin freely. This is a nice step for me to get things functional so I can start casting.

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    I took the time to order a push button start and paddle switch stop box for it. Basically the same thing a lot of table saws have on them. I should have that next week so I can get the motor wired in. I pumped up the tires on the unit, one actually holds air.... but I need to get the old tires removed, get the rims cleaned up, painted, and new tires installed. Add in a handle to help pickup and move the unit like its intended to to and I will be in business for mulling sand.
     
  7. HT1

    HT1 Gold Banner Member


    you will want two handle use like a wheel barrel, you will really want to weld some oversized pipe to the side to slide pipe handles into and out of ( with the handles in place it has a HUGE foot print), you may even find the handle mounts under the tub or on the sides of the base


    V/r HT1
     
  8. HotRodTractor

    HotRodTractor Copper

    I should have clarified - when I said handle - I was thinking either twin handles like a wheelbarrow or possibly with a crossbar between the handles. Not sure yet. I don't plan on moving the unit much from its working location - but having the handles on it will be nice when it does need to move.
     

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