Need your wisdom guys...

[oldschoolace]

Does anyone know a place that can do aluminium sand casting at reasonable rates? Got a little project i'm working on and i'm just plucking companies off the net. Usually when i do this i end up paying over the odds. I need friend of a friend prices 

Cheers all 

[Peter J]

What do you need doing ?

I may two a man or two

[oldschoolace]

Its pretty much a case of getting something cast in sand from a plastic original. One is about half the size of a mobile phone and the other is about the size of a bmx wheel 

[Peter J]

You know that the casting will be slightly smaller than the original ?

Where are you based ?

[oldschoolace]

Yeah 1/77 by all accounts  im in Manchester.
The Larger casting can take that sort of tolerance and i will just make the smaller plastic piece a fraction bigger. If it helps i have worked out the larger one will have a weight of around 2.7kg

[Peter J]

Prob the best place I'd say would be:

http://www.arrowbutlercastings.co.uk/

Lad who run's it called Steve Butler it was his Dad's firm and he's fooookin amazing with anything cast non-ferrous  

The price he'll give you will be fair  

Another one is http://www.brassfounders.com/

The guy who (I think) who still runs it is Barrie McCabe again amazing quality but might be a bit more expensive, Barrie is one of the best non-ferrous foundry men I've ever known he's forgot more than most people know  

One other thing I'd say is just be aware that the finishers in a foundry are not the best...there paid to be fast, not precise   so make sure you make them aware because they'll linish the bloody hell out of it

I'd just ask them to cut the feeds off and finish it myself to be safe  

[oldschoolace]

Nice one fella i will give them a try 

If this crazy product idea of mine comes off you are in line for a couple of free ones 

[Peter J]

Also know a couple of good Pattern makers if ya need em 

[oldschoolace]

Nice one i will bare that in mind 
Its been a long term project ( a year or two ) that i keep dicking about with when i get a moment. At the stage now where i need a few prototypes to try and break and work out whether i should get stuff die cast or cnc'd 

If it was timber i would be laughing but metals are a whole new world top me. I'm a quick learner though 

[Peter J]

The casting will be a rough finish

There is another option and that’s to get a digital prototype get a local engineering firm who has Inventor or Solidworks to generate a 3D CAD model

Both these had a basic FEA (finite element analysis) package they that can test the strength, deflection etc etc.

It would be cheaper that a casting and you may get a surprise at the results.

If I had a half decent PC I could have done it for you 

[oldschoolace]

I have access to a load of cool machinery for free like a 3d printer, small scale cnc milling, laser cutting etc so i will probably use these to knock up a few prototypes. Its what to do with them when i'm happy with them that i need to look into. It may be a case of casting a base model then milling small areas which need a better tolerance? 

[Peter J]

Good luck fella 

Sounds like you've got a good start 

[oldschoolace]

Cheers for listening to a dumb layman, very much appreciated