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(mike) wrote in message . com...
A friend is hoping to cast some balusters in concrete and asked me
what mix he needed and whether there was any technique for not having
the aggregate obviously visible on the surface.

Interesting idea. How's s/he going to fix them in place? Or is it all
in one casting? If so, thats gonna be a heck of a mould to construct.

I'd consider painting them afterwards with a cement and very fine sand
mix to hide any visible stone. I mean much finer sand than the usual
stuff, so it leaves a fairly smooth surface. Very strong mix too.

What mix are they using for this? Concrete technology is really quite
complex nowadays. I'd want plenty of fibres in it as cracks become a
safety issue on stairs and the like.

I also cant imagine how theyre going to get a nicely shaped and
reusable mould without spending a lot of time on it. Will it just be
2x2 square? How will they decorate it, faux marble?

And why not wood? Sounds far easier, and 2x2 is not expensive. Plane
1mm or 2 off the corners and varnish and it looks quite nice.

He also asked where he could get an "explosion-proof extractor fan"
for use in a home-made spray booth. He's apparently found several on
the web at around the £600 mark but was hoping for something a little
more reasonable!

Induction motors are non-sparking, as long as they dont have
bimetallic thermal overheat cutouts. Another means is just to keep the
motor far away and use a drive belt. Motors in sealed metal cans also
cant produce external sparks. However there is always the potential of
overlooking something, so they would need to really know what theyre
doing in detail before trusting their life to it.

Regards, NT

PS Ohh I just noticed: did you want to cast in concrete an explosion
proof fan?

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