Brass Casting

[Friartuck]

Looking to have two of the pictured fitting made. Its for a brass bed, the decorative horizontal and vertical tubes at the foot board. I would think this is a simple lost wax casting item. Comments and casting sources?

[Bhigdog]

Another way to skin the cat is to make it in two parts and solder/braze them together. Bit of lathe and file work and it's pretty easy especially if it's a "close enough" type of deal and no cleaning up the casting to contend with. .....Just sayin........................Bob

[Friartuck]

Bob, You are correct. If a casting option is not viable, I plan to do it in two parts, turn the tube portion down on a lathe and cut out the yoke portion from a hollow thick wall tube.

[Spinneyhill]

It looks like 3 parts. The bottom tube with bulge, a cap with little tube, and the wings.

 

The tube with bulge could be made from tube with a tube expander of the right shape. Anneal the brass first! (think of exhaust tube expanders)

 

The cap with little tube could be made by metal spinning - annealed first and maybe again during the build. Maybe spin the cap, cut the hole and braze the little tube in.

 

The wing as you say.

 

You could cast your own. Bill Canon's book on "Casting small metal and rubber parts" will help here.

Edited July 1, 2018 by Spinneyhill (see edit history)

[nickelroadster]

I would look locally for an art foundry.  They usually do a good job of keeping  the detail  of the item to be cast.

[Bhigdog]

23 hours ago, Friartuck said:

Bob, You are correct. If a casting option is not viable, I plan to do it in two parts, turn the tube portion down on a lathe and cut out the yoke portion from a hollow thick wall tube.

 

I would opt to make the yoke from flat brass. Cut to shape then form the radius in a hard wood die. Bore a wood block to the needed diameter hole, cut in half to yield the concave die. Turn a hard wood rod for the the convex punch. Anything from a press to a vice to a hammer will form the radius.

If necessary anneal before forming. Drill the yoke center hole after forming................Bob

Edited July 2, 2018 by Bhigdog (see edit history)

[chistech]

I will ask my neighbor as he is a professional polisher and specializes in brass beds and rare clocks. He has a huge inventory of original  bed parts. He might have the exact thing or something extremely close. Will need better pictures and measurements. Pm me for my email and once I get the info from you, I’ll see what I can do.