Unpopular opinion: I switched from manual sand ramming to a pneumatic vibrator for core boxes about a year ago

Miles Sanchez · 2026-03-14T06:10:07.643055+00:00

It cut my setup time in half, but some guys say it makes the sand too dense and hurts permeability. Anyone else tried this and noticed a difference in casting quality?

tessa_clark746mo ago

Maybe @shaneb30 got lucky, but we saw more gas holes in our steel castings after switching. The sand just packs too tight for the gas to get out.

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shaneb307mo ago

Switched to a vibrator for our green sand molds last spring. Saw a drop in blowholes on the heavier sections, honestly. The old guard griped about density too, but our scrap rate went down.

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wyatt_thomas7mo ago

Our shop in Toledo made the switch three years back. We used to get a lot of shrinkage on our gray iron valve bodies. After we started vibrating the cores, that problem just went away. The sand packs more evenly around the prints. I don't miss ramming those deep pockets one bit.

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