Metal-

[DonC1]

Casting my Bird wings in aluminum these days...

Uprights weigh about 15lbs ea. This piece still to be drilled top and base plates put in..

These parts come out pretty smooth and only need a coat of high solids primer...or one could polish

[held1823]

amazing talent

[BigBlockSam]

Nice!! what does one of those cost ? 

[JB400]

 

[Lighthorseman]

Wow!   

[DonC1]

Thanks!
Cost?....less than the cost than the going rate for a used or NOS wing:) pm me please.
also considering casting the fender scoops both bird and 'tona...in aluminum, wing too.
and see if casting a Daytona nose cone in one piece is viable..

[Stevearino]

 

[BigBlockSam]

have you weighed one?

[DonC1]

I haven't cast the tona cone in aluminum yet...but I would guess around 75lbs give or take...

[daytonalo]

Nice job ! They appear to be cast in two halves then tigged together ? Pretty much the only way to do without spending a million on an insert that would be in center of mold . 

[hemi68charger]

 

[dyslexic teddybear]

I haven't cast the tona cone in aluminum yet...but I would guess around 75lbs give or take...

Interesting.....very interesting.


Great work.


Hope your not planning on retiring anytime soon.....cuz I know I'm at least 3-4 years out from building a clone......

[BROCK]

I haven't cast the tona cone in aluminum yet...but I would guess around 75lbs give or take...

Interesting.....very interesting.


Great work.


Hope your not planning on retiring anytime soon.....cuz I know I'm at least 3-4 years out from building a clone......

+1  I'd be interested in a Superbird nose & wing section!

[DonC1]

Off to the foundry tomorrow for a fresh batch of Daytona and Sbird aluminum fender scoops to be cast- these are the ' plugs'



( Stuart- haven't forgotten about ya:)

[daytonalo]

Curious why someone would want an aluminum fender scoop ?

[BigBlockSam]

better then fiberglass

[daytonalo]

why is that ?

[BigBlockSam]

why is that ?

how much money have you raised for my new paint job?

[JB400]

I'd take the more durable and rugged aluminum over fiberglass.  If someone ever leaned on a fiberglass one, I'd be a little bit worried.  Not so with the aluminum one.

[Daytona Guy]

Good work. People have been asking me to build aluminum wings for the Bird's - too much work to make it hollow. I didn't want to do it - Are yours solid or hollow? Even if they are solid, it would only weigh 100lbs, and that is no big deal - it is like throwing a kid in your trunk only kidding...

Dane

[DonC1]

Thanks.
My wings are hollow and your right - it is a lot of work!
The wing blade is still at the foundry, when I get it back and done I'll post complete pics.
Anyone weigh an original bird wing ...ie each upright and blade?

[Daytona Guy]

I have wondered what it would do if they let the aluminum cool for a moment, then pour it out leaving the center open - like they make hollow candy chocolate bunny's. But then again, there would be no mounting points.

Dane

[Stevearino]

Anyone ever look into the cost of extruding the center section. Cost of the dies , set up ect.  Now that would make for a slick piece. Also is the center the same on the Charger as on the Bird wing?

[DAY CLONA]

Anyone ever look into the cost of extruding the center section. Cost of the dies , set up ect.  Now that would make for a slick piece. Also is the center the same on the Charger as on the Bird wing?

I work in a Precious/Alloy metal foundry, there's 2 ways to do an extrusion, one is heated billet, forced extrusion where we're talking thousands of degrees, and hundreds (900+ tons) of tons extrusion pressure, equipment time is in the thousands of dollars per hr operational costs, as well as the actual die costs (engineering and tooling will cost approx $10K  to produce a die in H13 alloy), plus not counting mat'l costs to manufacture aluminum billets for extrusion, the "cheapest" route is continuous extrusion casting, that's done with a graphite extrusion die (which runs $5K-$10K) slow process, but a much better product when you need to control shape in regards to camber/twist/coilset (re:flatness/straightness) RF (radio frequency) is used to melt the alloy in the upper melt chamber/crucible and the alloys weight forces the extrusion to exit the lower RF crucible die where it solidifies, and then is driven in a hydraulic pulse drive to "move" the extrusion down the roller bed, in this scenario, extrusions can be made up to 50-100 ft long, or cut to length as they exit the roller bed, either way your looking at a 5 figure outlay before you've made one piece....that's why most of the wing makers are doing a 2 pc sand cast and Tig welding the halves together




FYI the original Wing's center was an extrusion, same profile for both cars, just cut to desired length, the Superbird is approx 55 1/2", the Tona is approx 57 1/2"

Mike    

[Stevearino]

Mike, Next time give me a little more detail on the process. I figured with all the wing makers out there some one would have already considered the extrusion route. Definitely not worth the outlay for such a small market but very interesting to find out about the costs of such a process. How about the cost of cutting the halves out of billet on a CNC milling set up  from a computer model. Then welding the two halves together. That would allow for all the internals to be correct and as light as possible. I have seen some pretty sweet one off stuff done this way.