What would you use under your furnace if it was installed on grass? Sand, fine gravel or something else? Flag stones with sand over them?
Nothing... Based on whether or not I have a plug in my drain hole I would end up with a brown patch...lol Generally I keep an angle iron ingot tray under my furnace while in use. I rather catch perfectly fine material than have to separate it from whatever. The are around the furnace where the pouring will happen is just turf.
Spills will grab onto gravel, you'll end up trying to pick the pieces out of a frozen blob of metal or dealing with them later while skimming and pouring. So I'd choose sand over gravel if those were my choices. That said, my melt/pour area is in the shade pretty much 24/7, so it's mostly just dirt with few weeds/plants growing in it there, which I don't particularly encourage. I try to keep it clear of debris and not spill, but sometimes there are a few dead leaves that blew in since the last time I raked, and/or a handful of small nuts from the nearby basswood tree I hang my oil tank up on. Jeff
I just started over grass at my old place. I was renting then. Now that I have my own place I spread and tamped 4" of #2 limestone on an area 12x20' behind my barn. After picking stone out of my metal one too many times like Jeff said, I went to Lowes and got some of those 12x24" sandstone pavers 2" thick. I dug the limestone out of a 4x8+ area, framed with 3x5 landscape timbers, leveled with sand, and set the pavers with sand in between. I don't have a layer of sand on top, but I keep it sandy. Works great. I'm actually planning on extending the stone area another 8' so I'll have 20x20' so I can build a carport-like shelter. I'll have to bring in some fill first because the land slopes pretty good. I'll be looking for advice on that project! Pete
I have a gravel driveway....well a grassy gravel driveway. I just setup on that The grass burns off and I have just left a bunch of the sand from my molds there so it works well (first few casts were with sodium silicate sand...the Whole mold, so I had to do something with it). CBB
You should try ceramic shell CBB... This way you can leave it in the gravel driveway. The cars will break it up and mix in with the rocks.
Jason, If I had a project in the pipe that could justify the cost of a whole pail of ceramic shell... I'd do it! but right now I'm just getting the hang of screwing up sand casts. Though I am collecting parts and bit for a smallish burn out furnace /kiln (really thinking electric for this one so I can use it with powder coating etc.) CBB
I do a bit of powder coating now and then. I found a junk kitchen oven and installed it in the back of the garage. Ya only have to hit 400 for flow out then I back mine down to 350 for the 20minutes. Unless you are trying to PC a car frame, electric is the way to go. I've even seen guys use a toaster over from wally world. I got my old stove for free and removed the top burners and moved the oven controls to the side of the box. The drawer on the bottom stores my jack stands instead of cookie trays.
some Navy foundrys had sand pouring floors because concrete would explode if you got too much molten metal on it
