cast a mower Deck??

[fastolds]

I have a push mower deck I designed and I am unsure of how to have one made. Casting? forged? or???? If anyone knows what direction to point me in I would appreciate it.

[HuFlungDung]

You might post a pic for some feedback. Its generally best practice to know (in general terms) how you want it made before you design it. That way, you can modify your design to accommodate the peculiarities of the particular manufacturing method. That would be the economical route. However, anything can be done if there's enough money pushing it through

[ynneb]

Do you have a machine that can route/mill the original shape?
If you can make a negative of your original shape, you could then fibre glass the deck into the negative.
How many were you hoping to make? If it was a one off or prototype then the fibre glass method is probably the cheapest option. If when you have a proven design that you wish to mass produce, I would then take the finished fibreglass product to a professional sand casting mob and ask then for advice on the next step.

[Splint]

Hi Fastolds,
assuming you want to make one only to use it for actual testing you may find someone here who can machine the part from foam. With the machined foam part you should be able to find someone in your area who does lost foam casting who can cast one for you. Ask on the yahoo group hobbicast if anyone can help you, I'm sure you'll find someone, a lot of commercial foundries aren't interested in dealing with single or short run parts as they dont make much money from them.
If you want to make multiple decks I would suggest you have wooden patterns machined and use them to sand cast. If you take this path make sure you discuss the actual requirements for the pattern with your foundryman prior to manufacturing the patterns, in particular draught angle, oversizing the patterns to compensate for shrinkage when cooling, surface finish and sectional thickness in regard to gating and risers, there's more to casting than meets the eye and you may have to change your design slightly to improve the likelyhood of a good casting.
Cheers
Splint

[fastolds]

Thanks for the help. I have a prototype just about done but wanted to have an idea of producing them later.