Had a pour go sideways on Tuesday because of a bad vent plug

We were casting a big gear blank, about 200 pounds of iron, and the mold looked perfect. Right after we poured, though, we got a nasty blowback from a vent that was clogged with old sand (someone must not have cleaned the plug properly). It shot hot metal about three feet back toward the furnace, which was a real mess to clean up and meant the whole casting was scrap. Has anyone else had a simple thing like a dirty vent cause a whole job to go bad?

3 comments

3 Comments

sandrajackson21d ago

Ever had a close call like that? @caleb262, it's one of those things that seems fine until it very much isn't. That extra minute with a wire brush feels like a pain, but cleaning up a blowback or scrapping a pour takes hours. Seen it happen once and that was enough for me to get real strict about checking them.

jesse_allen28d ago

Man, that's the worst. We started running a wire brush through every vent plug before assembly, no exceptions. Saved us a ton of headaches.

caleb26228d ago

Running a wire brush through every single one" seems like a lot of extra work. How often do vent plugs actually cause a real problem? I've seen plenty go in straight from the box with no issue.