# casting



## marcros (3 May 2021)

I am not sure if this is the correct place in the forum. 

does anybody have any experience with having things cast? I know what I want (table legs) but I cannot quite find what I want for sale. there are some vaguely similar items in the USA, but after shipping and duties it isnt really feasible. Making a pattern is easy enough for me, but I have no idea of the costs involved in the rest of it. I would like cast bronze but I expect that is way over budget, so I would think cast iron or aluminium and having them plated.


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## wallace (3 May 2021)

I've had a few things cast by AD castings in blackburn, they only do non ferrous. I had some mitres cast in bronze and the price is based on the finished weight of the casting. They worked out at £175 each. They do aluminium also.


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## julianf (3 May 2021)

marcros said:


> I am not sure if this is the correct place in the forum.
> 
> does anybody have any experience with having things cast? I know what I want (table legs) but I cannot quite find what I want for sale. there are some vaguely similar items in the USA, but after shipping and duties it isnt really feasible. Making a pattern is easy enough for me, but I have no idea of the costs involved in the rest of it. I would like cast bronze but I expect that is way over budget, so I would think cast iron or aluminium and having them plated.



Alloy can be anodised, but (and i may be wrong) not (generally) plated.

I would suggest that the price on a custom job with anodising may start to make your shipping and duties from the states start to look much better value.


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## Droogs (3 May 2021)

Powderhall Bronze are next door to my workshop and they are really good. Try giving them a call


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## MusicMan (3 May 2021)

julianf said:


> Alloy can be anodised, but (and i may be wrong) not (generally) plated.


That's correct.
Black anodising is generally successful, but other colours may come out funny on cast aluminium alloy (as opposed to extruded, which generally anodises well). I once thought I'd get a newly-designed instrument gold anodised to show off. It came out a dull khaki!

Cast bronze could probably be plated, but looks much better polished. Why hide an expensive surface with a cheap one?


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## marcros (3 May 2021)

MusicMan said:


> That's correct.
> Black anodising is generally successful, but other colours may come out funny on cast aluminium alloy (as opposed to extruded, which generally anodises well). I once thought I'd get a newly-designed instrument gold anodised to show off. It came out a dull khaki!
> 
> Cast bronze could probably be plated, but looks much better polished. Why hide an expensive surface with a cheap one?



I want the bronze look, I was only potentially thinking of plating a cheaper metal to look like bronze, and then polishing it.


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## kinverkid (3 May 2021)

I'm no help to you. I would just love to see the finished table or even the making of it if you go through with it.


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## converse (4 May 2021)

I had a complete set of cast iron downpipes/brackets/hoppers made ages ago back in the day when I did Conservation Building Work. East Coast Castings did the work. From memory the patternwork for hoppers (x2 designs), brackets, 6" rectangular downpipes was about £5k. I had bronze and cast iron costed, and the bronze was about 50% more expensive than cast iron. I went for cast iron in the end, but it would probably have been cheaper going for bronze given the cost of labout to paint them all afterwards. This was probably 15 years ago. But it turned out cheaper to have the patternwork made than to buy in standard cast iron (I needed about 25 big drops of downpipes), and I got an exact match to the missing ironworks.


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## Bm101 (4 May 2021)

I once played Bill Sykes in Oliver in my fourth year Junior school end of year play. 
Looking back now it was an act of casting genius from the teacher as I have gradually morphed into a modern day Bill Sykes all these years later. 
Relatively.
Within reason before anyone calls the peelers on me.
Don't have a dog any more. That's the saddest thing out of all of this. ☹


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## SammyQ (4 May 2021)

Chris, WHAT in Your Diety's name are you on? For full-tilt, surreal, abstraction, your last post takes some beating!

Reduce the strength, my friend! Or, preferably, switch to something less powerful, like benzedrine....

Edit: laughs are on me. Just copped on Chris's pun...I am.off to have a lie down on a couch...alone, I hasten to add!! At 65, there are some activities that are positively deleterious, if not practiced in moderation...


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## MusicMan (4 May 2021)

marcros said:


> I want the bronze look, I was only potentially thinking of plating a cheaper metal to look like bronze, and then polishing it.


Sounds good. You can probably find a bit about pattern design online; you'll only need a basic guide. Decide where your split will be - find out from the foundry if they are casting the leg vertically or horizontally. You'll need a taper of at least 2 degrees to get the pattern out of the sand. Allow whatever they tell you for shrinkage. In the design make sure you don't have abrupt or large changes of section. 

Let us know how it goes!


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## sploo (5 May 2021)

One other option is cold cast; basically resin, but with bronze power mixed in. Treated with a chemical after casting it looks pretty real.

Might be an option, depending on the required load of the legs?


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