How to Make Sand Casting Molds

A sand casting mold requires placing a duplicate of the object to be created into sand. The sand is packed tight around the object creating a mold. Once the sand hardens, metal or wax, is poured into the mold which creates an exact replica of the original object. There are a few different types of sand mixtures used. One is a mixture of silica sand, clay, and water called green sand. Making a sand casting mold is a simple process and can be done by most anyone. Follow these steps.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Green sand
• Shell
• Metal (wax)

1. Fill a bowl with green sand. This is a mixture of sand, clay and other additives which help harden and solidify the sand mold.

2. Choose an object you would like to make a mold of. For the sake of this article, the object will be a shell.

3. Compact the moist sand mixture around the outside of the shell. Firmly press the sand into all the crevices.

4. Let the sand mixture dry until it is hard. The sand casting mold must retain its shape until after the metal or wax is hardened. Once it is completely hard, remove the shell.

5. Pour into the sand casted mold, molten metal or wax. Once the liquid has solidified, remove the sand mold.

Tips & Warnings

• You can also pack sand into a flower pot or some other hollow object, fill it with sand, and then pour in melted wax. This makes very nice candles.
• You must use sand with a type of bonding agent included. Plain sand isn't strong enough to withstand the pressure of the poured metal.