DESIGN OF A PORTABLE FOUNDRY SAND MIXER

Kaburu, Michael Kimani , Owino, George Omollo , Chirchir D. K

Molding sand mixer is an effort towards mechanization of sand preparation in a foundry workshop. It’s used to evenly and uniformly mix foundry sand with binders and water in given proportions to attain the required state and moisture. There are varieties of equipments and methods available to achieve this ranging from simple devices to completely mechanized units including electric powered machines. The degree to which a foundry can be mechanized depends almost entirely on economics of operations rather than availability or lack of a particular piece of equipment. With an auger screw simply pour the dry sand on top of a hopper adding water and bidders at the required quantities the turn the handle clockwise, no standing time required as the mixture rapidly mixes the material whilst keeping the body of the sand fluffy and light all in one simple action then straight into the molding box through a sprout. The overall objective of the project was to design, fabricate and test a portable foundry sand mixer which is affordable and locally manufactured and assembled using less power for small scale enterprises in the field of foundry engineering. Also use the same kind of machine in learning institutions like the technical colleges and universities foundry workshops for demonstration and practical activities.