In a message dated 9/13/02 2:43:25 PM Eastern Daylight Time, mvheim@attbi.com
writes:
> That's $50 for a 1-inch piece of plastic. Of course the cost goes down as
> the quantity goes up (in this case the total universe of applicable
> vehicles
> was only about 20,000), but how many MGA grilles does Moss sell in a year?
> The total possible market is 100,000, divided by the two grill types, minus
> attrition (probably 25% at least), and minus good existing grilles, and
> owners who don't care about a few flaws, or can't afford it at whatever
> price it winds up. The main thing is, tooling for a large, complex metal
> item is going to be a lot more, possibly by a factor of ten.
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I knew there was a trick to it!
It seems to me that they can make castings in sand. They make an accurate
piece, embed it in tightly packed sand, remove it, and pour in the liquid
metal. When it cools, voila! Just paint it with chrome paint, available at
all auto supply stores!
I guess it isn't that easy, but didn't they used to make arrowheads that way?
Maybe I should bring this up on the shoptalk list.
Allen Hefner
SCCA Philly Region Rally Steward
'77 Midget
'75 Midget "The Project"
'92 Mitsubishi Expo LRV Sport
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