On Sep 30, 7:55*am, "Pete C." wrote:
wrote:

On Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:57:58 -0700, "charlie"
wrote:

"fourrings" wrote in message
....
I'm unable to find any information pertaining to "floating" concrete
when it is poured into a form. *My ultimate goal is to hide all coarse
aggregate from all surfaces when poured into a mold. *I plan to use
melamine surface for the mold.

So far, I've come up with two alternatives: *Only use sand as
aggregate and option two is to pour standard concrete mix and then
after braking mold, cover all surfaces with mortar mix. *While I plan
to have a rebar skeleton, I'm unsure of sand-only concrete strength.
And option two is not ideal as I'd like to bypass additional steps
post mold braking, if possible.

What I'm making are table legs that will be about 6"x3"x40". *Surface
finish I'm looking for is similar to this --
http://www.cgmprecast.com/images/picnic_table_leg.jpg.

TIA,
Dennis

i formed some concrete countertops using melamine as a form just using a
high strength sack mix. i formed them upside down so that the surface
against the bottom melamine was the top surface after flipping. i didn't
have any aggregate showing in either the sides or tops. i think the trick
was to vibrate the concrete when the mold was half filled, and then again
after it was full.

Isn't melamine the stuff that is killing people and animals from
getting into food? *I dont know what it really is, but I would not be
messing with that toxic stuff. *At least not without finding out more
about it. *How is is toxic? *For example, touching it, breathing the
dust, getting it into your mouth, vapors from it, etc. *How can it be
disposed? *This may be very dangerous....

Melamine is basically a plastic and is perfectly safe in it's intended
uses i.e. laminate on shelving, molded utensils, etc. All the problems
have resulted from melamine powder being added to foodstuffs
intentionally as a way to cheat quality control testing.


Solid plan. I will be making a test run (or two) to check out results
of the surface prior to final pour.

Thanks to all for advice!