Hermes manifold and the realities of commercial casting

[Grumblebuns]

A while back I proposed looking into reproducing the Hermes intake manifold for the S2. That was a couple of years ago so I figured I'd give a status report on its progress.  While my fabricator is  proceeding down his slow path, I decided to check out some of the commercial foundries.

I got a very rude surprise on the cost of current foundry work. The first quote is from a well known foundry in the Los Angeles area. They do a lot of one off manifold work for car people.
The second quote is from a foundry located in Ohio. Steve Veris was kind enough to contact them for a quote.

LA foundry: Tooling and reverse engineering/pattern -  $10,892 + tax
                         Casting unit price -  $473.65 each with 5 piece minimum order

Ohio foundry: Patterns and core boxes - $6500.00 + tax
                             Castings - $275 each there will be a minimum order

Unless I win the lottery, this project will go back to the back burner till my fabricator can get back to work on it.

Joji Tokumoto
Fallbrook, Ca

[lotusfanatic]

 

[jbcollier]

Yup, one off and low volume casting work is expensive.  Sometimes it’s the only way forward though.  We worked on an Alvis Speed 20 with corrosion issues.  Had to have a few parts redone at exorbitant expense. 

[Sandyman]

If only there was a way to 3D print it in heat resistant plastic.

[Nero]

If only there was a way to 3D print it in heat resistant plastic.

There is material to do this.
https://3dk.berlin/en/3dktop-heat-resistent/195-3dktop-black.html

230C is definitely enough. The only thing is that you probably need to do something because of the length of the intake to support the weight of the carb.

[gideon]

Well, I'm waiting to see how well Serge's 3D printed manifold holds up.  In the meantime, if you have too much time on your hands you could always watch this fascinating video showing a custom Vespa manifold being cast at home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c4--yQMc-0

[Chuck Nukem]

I love watching Myfordboy's videos. He has done some pretty incredible stuff with a 3d printer making molds and patterns to cast with. I am working on making a large envelope 3d printer to do casting with eventually.