truck pruduction? (prepare for rambling)

[akary]

FASTRACKS:

longboard store had them, but they all spontaneously combusted.

why didn't anyone else get that first run?


why doesn't mark get them?





-i've been inspired by frustration (and a class on fabrication, and lionel oliver II)
maybe i should just get into sand casting



what would it take?

do they cast the axle into the hanger? does the aluminum not crack when it cools and contracts around the hard steel?

i could easily solidworks some .stl files of my hypothetical trucks and get some patterns rapid prototyped for me (2% larger than the actual trucks to account for shrinkage)
$$$

that's assuming that i wanted to design my own and do it all the right way, until then i could just copy the trucks i have and ignore the shrinkage

most of my money has been going into veneers, fancy fibers and epoxy for the past 3 years anyway, then the rest to brazil for UpTrucks and moska wheels to go with my decks--i'm not making real money because i use rather than sell too much of my products, but each batch of decks is bigger and better made than the last. now the parent company of uptrucks and moska (tecpolimer ltd.) is taking over uptrucks and raising the price of trucks to distributors. i still love those trucks for their deck lean and tight turn, stability, low weight, and simplicity, but they aren't good for everything.

and now they're expensive.

assuming that axles can be cast into the hanger i could just buy long rods of a good quality steel, cut them to length with a little chop-saw $$$ and an abrasive wheel $$, then thread them

i imagine the cope and drag (boxes to hold plaster or green sand for molding) would be easy to make with plywood, handles, screws
whatever as long as they fit together
$

need plaster to make the interior of the mold
$

aluminum is easy to melt, a friend of mine showed me the simple furnace he made and we played with it/melted things.
if i were to make one it would be fairly cheap, use charcoal, an unloved old hairdryer, a can, a ceramic exterior (<3 teaching pottery)


i would need to find a source of some kind of aluminum alloy
if i'm ever doing lots of this, i could buy ingots of pretty alloys $$$
who knows, maybe cans would make good trucks
but seriously

[hexagon5un]

FASTRACKS:
why doesn't mark get them?

[making own trucks] what would it take?

do they cast the axle into the hanger? does the aluminum not crack when it cools and contracts around the hard steel?

Fastracks: Mark basically said he isn't gonna carry them until he tests them and makes sure they fit in his product lineup. (Admirable, and reduces his inventory overhead at the same time.)

----

Sounds like you understand the basics of casting, so I think you're in good shape. I've only done lost-wax casting with bronze myself, and I've only read about truck manufacture, so what follows is not from experience. Take it with caution.

Some trucks have cast-in axles and others have press-fit ones. My guess is that it's a lot easier to fit the axles in afterwards in terms of the casting process itself and getting the alignment/straightness right. Some people have complained about warping of cast-in axles.

It also seems pretty important to get the hanger faces exactly perpendicular to the axles so that the bearings/spacers align properly. MHMark had posted a link (to Harbor Freight?) for a facing tool that wasn't too expensive, if I remember correctly.

As for alloy strengths and etc, I don't know nothing. The internets will.

Pro-tip: Use your first mold to make a second mold so that you can cast a set of identical trucks in one pour.

[Mile_High_Mark]

This pretty much sums it up.