Col Posted August 2, 2015 Posted August 2, 2015 (edited) I use an old food processor to blitz batches of unscented bentonite cat litter and then dump it through a 30 mesh screen. I use the screened fine stuff for non critical bulkheads etc. For nozzles i add some coarser mesh stuff and incorporate paraffin wax into it evenly by heating the wax and litter in a pan. When its cool i drop it through a screen and bag it up. Edited August 2, 2015 by Col
Col Posted August 2, 2015 Posted August 2, 2015 (edited) Cheers DDI`ll let you into a little secret, the silica gel cat litter (white crystal type) is also dirt cheap and very useful as a dessicant / drying agent. Its more effective if you blitz it into a fine powder with the old food processor. You can further process the powder into a very cheap source of sodium silicate using sodium hydroxide, water and a little gentle heat.My motto is only buy what you cant make yourself Edited August 2, 2015 by Col 2
montanasoftware Posted April 13, 2016 Posted April 13, 2016 (edited) What you want is Fresh Step scoopable kitty litter. It has to be the scoopable kind. This makes plugs, and nozzles like no other material I have ever used. It makes an easily pressable, very hard, and easy to drill plug. If you use Fresh Step, you will never try anything else! Hi folks: I wanted to revive this thread to ask a question: has anyone tried using "Scoop Away" scoopable kitty litter? I live in a rural area. My local store doesn't have Fresh Step. I looked it up online and "Scoop Away" and "Fresh Step" are both made by the same company (Clorox). And they both make the same claims about clumping and scoopability. The images of them both look like the same whitish color. Even the boxes are the same size and shape. My guess is they are the same. Has anybody else used "Scoop Away" for rocket nozzles? Thanks! Edited April 13, 2016 by montanasoftware
DavidF Posted April 25, 2016 Posted April 25, 2016 I only went back a couple or 3 pages, so forgive me if I 'waste' anybody's time by possibly repeating some things. I've used many different kinds of nozzle mix, hoping to find something I could be satisfied with. For me, the ideal nozzle mix is chunky so it bites the tube, too soft to scratch my tooling, soft enough to consolidate properly at normal pressing forces, and doesn't stick to my tooling. The closest thing I have found is Dr. Elseys Precious Cat litter (blue bag). For each cup of that litter I add 1 level teaspoon of powdered graphite, and shake well to coat. The graphite is for lubricating seed tracks in crop planting equipment, and is available at farm supply stores. Dr. Elseys is also bentonite. But, bentonite is a natural mineral. There are a few kinds of bentonite. It is mined in many different places. So, when one guy says bentonite works and another says it doesn't, I understand. Some bentonite cat litter is too hard to consolidate properly, and some is fluffy and waxy, squishing up around the rammer. I find Dr. Elseys to be a good compromize. But it sticks tenaciously to the tooling- unless you use graphite. My .02.
OldMarine Posted April 25, 2016 Posted April 25, 2016 Yeah Dave, I'm hooked on the graphite. Haven't had a stuck spindle since I started adding it to my clay.
dagabu Posted April 28, 2016 Posted April 28, 2016 I only went back a couple or 3 pages, so forgive me if I 'waste' anybody's time by possibly repeating some things. I've used many different kinds of nozzle mix, hoping to find something I could be satisfied with. For me, the ideal nozzle mix is chunky so it bites the tube, too soft to scratch my tooling, soft enough to consolidate properly at normal pressing forces, and doesn't stick to my tooling. The closest thing I have found is Dr. Elseys Precious Cat litter (blue bag). For each cup of that litter I add 1 level teaspoon of powdered graphite, and shake well to coat. The graphite is for lubricating seed tracks in crop planting equipment, and is available at farm supply stores. Dr. Elseys is also bentonite. But, bentonite is a natural mineral. There are a few kinds of bentonite. It is mined in many different places. So, when one guy says bentonite works and another says it doesn't, I understand. Some bentonite cat litter is too hard to consolidate properly, and some is fluffy and waxy, squishing up around the rammer. I find Dr. Elseys to be a good compromize. But it sticks tenaciously to the tooling- unless you use graphite. My .02. I too am a convert to using Dr. Elseys Precious Cat litter (blue bag) but I found that I can press it without the use of graphite using a lower pressure and a longer dwell time. For those of you that are looking for cheap graphite, all of the Farm and Fleet stores carry it in 1 to 5 pound containers. The link above has it for under $10.00 delivered for a full pound of graphite powder.
chuckufarley Posted April 29, 2016 Posted April 29, 2016 (edited) Hey guys, Just FYI, the graphite from farm and fleet is a seasonal product. After the planting season they won't stock it any more (maybe a month?). Also it comes in 1lb, 5lb, and 8lb size containers(just picked up a pound today 😀). Edited April 29, 2016 by chuckufarley
dagabu Posted April 30, 2016 Posted April 30, 2016 Hey guys, Just FYI, the graphite from farm and fleet is a seasonal product. After the planting season they won't stock it any more (maybe a month?). Also it comes in 1lb, 5lb, and 8lb size containers(just picked up a pound today ). Its available year round online for the same price (plus shipping).
MadMat Posted April 30, 2016 Posted April 30, 2016 Yeah, graphite is used as a "seed lubricant" in planters (seed drills). BTW, I'm a farmer lol. As far as the brand of kitty litter, I get good results from either Tidy Cat or Fresh Step. I guess Fresh Step is a little better, but I'm a cheap bastard and usually get Tidy Cat because it's cheaper. I usually run it through my blender for a few seconds. I don't bother screening it; just use the fine and coarse stuff together. The ONLY time I had a nozzle blow out was when I was experimenting with smaller nozzle diameters. Even then, most of the rockets had the tube blow up before the nozzle let go. I ran into problems with my headers blowing out, but after doing some experimenting, I found out it wasn't the kitty litter. I use cast Rcandy and a small film of it was sticking to the inside of the tube while I packed the rockets. I fixed the problem by lining the top 3/4-1" of the tubes with masking tape. After packing the tube, I remove the tape and have clean walls on the inside of the tube to ram my header.... haven't had a header blow out since.
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