Dry cast

[Dumitrescu]

Dear All,

Do you know any reference regarding drycast concrete?

I appreciate,


Catalin Dumitrescu,

Bellinghausen Beton SRL
Romania

 

[archprecast]

First off, depends on what you want to dry cast - it is used for pipe, for pavers and tiles, for curbs, and for cast stone (small architectural products), and perhaps for other items as well. For cast stone, there are trade associations in both the US and the UK. Both are called the Cast Stone Institute, but they are unrelated to my knowledge. Both have decent websites. Except for cast stone, which is often compacted with hand tools, all the other products are made on machines. The machine manufacturers, or their reps, will have good resources. Hope this helps. If you want more, i need to know what it is precisely that you want to know.

http://www.caryconcrete.com

 

[Dumitrescu]

Dear coleague,

I want to use a machine to produce manholes. I successfully casted one, but I failed twice before, as I use transport concrete, and I must have some guidance on the parameters of the concrete.

Thanks,

Catalin Dumitrescu,

Bellinghausen Beton SRL
Romania

 

[archprecast]

In US, the relevant trade association is the NPCA, National Precast Concrete Association. They have some resources at

http://www.precast.org/

But I think the sales rep for the machine you are using is your best bet, as the mix must be matched to the machine.

I assume that "transport" concrete is what here we call "ready mix". In that case, you are very tied to the quality of the transport concrete supplier. Your problem could be the mix, it could be the supplier. Most precasters batch their own concrete, as they get better control of it that way.

http://www.caryconcrete.com

 

[Zambo]

Catalin,

I was lucky enough to spend a year in your contry (Craiova and Bucharest)I did notice that the ready-mix concrete companies are of variable quality. What sytem are you using to cast your manholes? Is it a steel formwork with hydraulic rams? I think more info is needed, but as a first thought maybe you will get better results if you reduce the size of the course aggregate, try a 10mm max size aggregate.