Route 66 Foot Pegs

I needed a cool set of foot pegs for the Route 66 Chopper project that I'm building and decided to cast a set out of aluminum and I know that there are a lot of people out there that really get into this stuff so let's see what it really takes to get the job done and don't worry, you'll get to see it all from start to finish ! There are a lot of steps involved and it's a little time consuming and can get pricey but that's what it's all about ! This isn't a "catalog custom" we're building here, it's a "one off" and yes I know, you could blow these out on a water jet and mill the ends on a cnc milling machine in no time but anyone can do that, this is old school baby ! People have been casting metal for over 4,000 years ! ! !
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I started out by drawing the shape onto a piece of poster board but you could print one right off of the computer. This template will become the profile of the extruded foam that i will cut using my hot wire cutter.
I took a few minutes and bent up some heavy mechanics wire to match the shape of the template that I made. I will attach this mechanics wire to the table of the hot wire cutter and setup a back stop to make the cut. Take your time and try to get the bends as smooth as possible because the smoother the wire is, the nicer your foam part will be otherwise you'll be spending some time sanding it down.
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Once I get the shape to where I want it I face the ends with some 180 grit d.a. paper on a sanding block which also squares the end as well as gives me a nice surface to add the mounting boss and the resin cast detail on the end of the peg. I'll get more into that in the next section...
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As you can see in the picture above, I added the foot peg mounting boss with a drop of Elmer's glue.
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Creating a "shell" mold
The foam pattern is now covered in plaster (or you can use drywall texture mix which works really well also) Once the shell is dry it will be placed in a coffee can then filled with sand and gently rammed to firmly hold the mold in place while I pour the metal.
The part that I am casting will not be the actual part but will be a solid model for the finished product as I will be adding further detail to it in the next phase.
The finished mold will be a "Lost Wax" method with "Ceramic Investment" that will be dipped once a day for a week before firing at 1,400 degrees.
Coming up !
Adding detail to the plaster model !
I will be adding pictures as this project progresses. -Hank

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