Milling Kitty Litter clay?

[davis050594]

So I was ramming bp and noticed that the big pieces of my clay plug were falling out when during the bp ramming. I decided to pull out a screen and just use the small pieces of clay. It worked much much better. So I was wondering if I could throw the clay into my ball mill and make it a powder like bentonite clay that one orders online? This would work much better

[ChrisNZ]

Yep.. I noticed that crushed litter works better too. I just pust some in a zip-lok bag and hit it with a hammer a few times. But I don't have a ball mill yet, so yeah.. You could mill it.

 

Ram it hard too!

[nater]

I've made some plugs with kitty litter as it came out of the box and ground up for a little bit in a coffee grinder, I had trouble with nozzles crumbling when they were drilled out with both ways. I mixed up some grog and hawthorn clay and it seems to hold a little bit better. All of the nozzles and plugs were pounded with a mallet.

 

I was at someone else's shop, who used straight up kitty litter and some nozzle mix with pieces of grog about the same size as the kitty litter to make some gerbs using a hydraulic press. These held up perfectly and had a nice glassy appearance. I suspect the press and consistent loading pressure is what made the difference. This builder claims to have great results with kitty litter or nozzle mix. He also told me not to mill or grind up kitty litter at all, it's best to use it as is.

[davis050594]

Guys, I started using a ton less clay, and it works much much better. I filled up the tube about a 1/4 Of an inch or a little more. It's works much better, and if you want more, just do a small one, then add in more

[Col]

I find ground cat litter with paraffin wax infinitely stronger than non ground litter. These plugs were pressed using the same amount of pressure.

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx341/colinspyro/bulkheadcomparison.jpg

[ChrisNZ]

I find ground cat litter with paraffin wax infinitely stronger than non ground litter. These plugs were pressed using the same amount of pressure.

 

They look real nice too!

[Seymour]

Different brands will work differently, but in my experience (using Homebrand if you happen to know NZ brands) I find that I get far better results using it as it comes from the bag.

 

Yes, it might not look as pretty. However, with rockets, when using powdered cat litter or bought bentonise the plugs would reliably pop out of the tubes. Using the coarse grains as it is in the raw cat litter this problem ended straight away. My theory, shared by many others, is that the corners of the grains dig in to the tube before it crushes in to a single mass, and grips the tubes walls.

 

Having cut open the plugs, they are solid right through, and don't look like the picture Col posted without wax added.

[Fly]

Go get a old hand meat grinder from a second hand store 10 bucks, works good for charcoal & cat litter.

 

Fly

[WonderBoy]

I used to run my kitty litter through a quick spin in a coffee grinder, but have since used it as is. I've found that the non-ground kitty litter takes more pressure, but will form into a nice solid nozzle. Also, after ramming a nozzle using non-ground kitty litter NEPTubes, I cut it in half and the individual grains of the kitty litter had left dents in the inside wall of the tube which help to keep the nozzle from blowing out. So I would recommend not grinding the kitty litter, and pressing with more pressure(or using a bigger mallet).

[Col]

I guess it depends on the application. I needed a very small grain size to completely seal 2.2mm visco into the plug during pressing and ensure the lift gasses/pressure couldn`t breach/break the plug. They may be slightly too strong as some remain intact during the break.