I finally gave in and tried the 'wet rag' trick for core box vents

For years I thought it was just an old wives' tale. My foreman kept telling me to lay a damp shop rag over the vent holes before ramming up. Said it stops sand from falling in. Tried it last week on a big gear core. Used a rag I soaked and wrung out. Not a single piece of sand got in the vents. Saved me maybe 20 minutes of cleaning each core box. Why did I fight this for so long? Anyone got other simple tricks like that for core making?

3 comments

3 Comments

patricia_carr561mo ago

That's a solid trick, wish I'd known it back when I was doing foundry work. Did you find the rag needed to be a certain type of cloth, or did any old cotton shop rag do the job just fine?

michael_fisher5516d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah, @patricia_carr56, any old rag worked, it's a shame that stuff wasn't shared more.

ryanburns1mo ago

What kind of foundry work were you in? Honestly, any old cotton rag worked for me, the cheaper the better since they just get ruined. It's a shame those little tricks aren't passed around more on the floor. That kind of knowledge would have saved me so much time and hassle back in the day.