Metal-

[DonC1]

Casting my Bird wings in aluminum these days...

Uprights weigh about 15lbs ea. This piece still to be drilled top and base plates put in..

These parts come out pretty smooth and only need a coat of high solids primer...or one could polish

[held1823]

amazing talent

[BigBlockSam]

Nice!! what does one of those cost ? 

[JB400]

 

[Lighthorseman]

Wow!   

[DonC1]

Thanks!
Cost?....less than the cost than the going rate for a used or NOS wing:) pm me please.
also considering casting the fender scoops both bird and 'tona...in aluminum, wing too.
and see if casting a Daytona nose cone in one piece is viable..

[Stevearino]

 

[BigBlockSam]

have you weighed one?

[DonC1]

I haven't cast the tona cone in aluminum yet...but I would guess around 75lbs give or take...

[daytonalo]

Nice job ! They appear to be cast in two halves then tigged together ? Pretty much the only way to do without spending a million on an insert that would be in center of mold . 

[hemi68charger]

 

[dyslexic teddybear]

I haven't cast the tona cone in aluminum yet...but I would guess around 75lbs give or take...

Interesting.....very interesting.


Great work.


Hope your not planning on retiring anytime soon.....cuz I know I'm at least 3-4 years out from building a clone......

[BROCK]

I haven't cast the tona cone in aluminum yet...but I would guess around 75lbs give or take...

Interesting.....very interesting.


Great work.


Hope your not planning on retiring anytime soon.....cuz I know I'm at least 3-4 years out from building a clone......

+1  I'd be interested in a Superbird nose & wing section!

[DonC1]

Off to the foundry tomorrow for a fresh batch of Daytona and Sbird aluminum fender scoops to be cast- these are the ' plugs'



( Stuart- haven't forgotten about ya:)

[daytonalo]

Curious why someone would want an aluminum fender scoop ?

[BigBlockSam]

better then fiberglass

[daytonalo]

why is that ?

[BigBlockSam]

why is that ?

how much money have you raised for my new paint job?

[JB400]

I'd take the more durable and rugged aluminum over fiberglass.  If someone ever leaned on a fiberglass one, I'd be a little bit worried.  Not so with the aluminum one.

[Daytona Guy]

Good work. People have been asking me to build aluminum wings for the Bird's - too much work to make it hollow. I didn't want to do it - Are yours solid or hollow? Even if they are solid, it would only weigh 100lbs, and that is no big deal - it is like throwing a kid in your trunk only kidding...

Dane

[DonC1]

Thanks.
My wings are hollow and your right - it is a lot of work!
The wing blade is still at the foundry, when I get it back and done I'll post complete pics.
Anyone weigh an original bird wing ...ie each upright and blade?

[Daytona Guy]

I have wondered what it would do if they let the aluminum cool for a moment, then pour it out leaving the center open - like they make hollow candy chocolate bunny's. But then again, there would be no mounting points.

Dane

[Stevearino]

Anyone ever look into the cost of extruding the center section. Cost of the dies , set up ect.  Now that would make for a slick piece. Also is the center the same on the Charger as on the Bird wing?

[DAY CLONA]

Anyone ever look into the cost of extruding the center section. Cost of the dies , set up ect.  Now that would make for a slick piece. Also is the center the same on the Charger as on the Bird wing?

I work in a Precious/Alloy metal foundry, there's 2 ways to do an extrusion, one is heated billet, forced extrusion where we're talking thousands of degrees, and hundreds (900+ tons) of tons extrusion pressure, equipment time is in the thousands of dollars per hr operational costs, as well as the actual die costs (engineering and tooling will cost approx $10K  to produce a die in H13 alloy), plus not counting mat'l costs to manufacture aluminum billets for extrusion, the "cheapest" route is continuous extrusion casting, that's done with a graphite extrusion die (which runs $5K-$10K) slow process, but a much better product when you need to control shape in regards to camber/twist/coilset (re:flatness/straightness) RF (radio frequency) is used to melt the alloy in the upper melt chamber/crucible and the alloys weight forces the extrusion to exit the lower RF crucible die where it solidifies, and then is driven in a hydraulic pulse drive to "move" the extrusion down the roller bed, in this scenario, extrusions can be made up to 50-100 ft long, or cut to length as they exit the roller bed, either way your looking at a 5 figure outlay before you've made one piece....that's why most of the wing makers are doing a 2 pc sand cast and Tig welding the halves together




FYI the original Wing's center was an extrusion, same profile for both cars, just cut to desired length, the Superbird is approx 55 1/2", the Tona is approx 57 1/2"

Mike    

[Stevearino]

Mike, Next time give me a little more detail on the process. I figured with all the wing makers out there some one would have already considered the extrusion route. Definitely not worth the outlay for such a small market but very interesting to find out about the costs of such a process. How about the cost of cutting the halves out of billet on a CNC milling set up  from a computer model. Then welding the two halves together. That would allow for all the internals to be correct and as light as possible. I have seen some pretty sweet one off stuff done this way.

[talkiemopar]

Hi,
I have an NOS Bird wing center blade.  I would probably take $1000 for it.  If no one here is interested I will be putting it on e-bay with that as a starting price.  I plan to put it on in a couple of weeks. It has all the extrusion marks.
Let me know if anyone here is interested asap.

Rick
859-757-3645   

[pettybird]

Mike, Next time give me a little more detail on the process.

Don't you hate it when someone just phones in an answer like that?


I'd seen the first way on TV (on How it's Made, for instance) but hadn't heard of the second.  Would be pretty wild to watch...

[Troy]

I checked with several local aluminum extrusion companies a few years back (apparently I live in the extrusion epicenter) about making center sections only. The biggest issue was that the large machines necessary to make a 7" wide wing are much harder to find and much more expensive to run. The solution was to split the wing down the middle lengthwise (about where the center brace is) and make 2 halves with dovetail joints. The joint was barely noticeable but, to make it disappear, they could run a tig weld on each side after the halves were joined. Obviously, each operation costs money so, instead of a single extrusion with a bunch of band saw cuts, there were now 2 extrusions, cuts, an assembly of the parts, and 2 tig welds. Still came out cheaper than the one step process! The biggest costs were creating the die(s) and setup time on the machine(s). In any case, the price I was given was much cheaper than what Mike alluded to BUT the minimum order at any company was 2,000 pounds of material (4,000 at some). I calculated the potential market and decided there was no way I could sell all the wings I'd end up with and I'd have to find some place to store them or some other application (ricers?) to keep from having to throw most of them away. For the small number I could sell, the price would be so high that my potential market would decrease drastically. If an "insider" could get say 200-300 pounds at a time the die and setup costs would still be manageable.

Troy

[Stevearino]

We got Dane who makes great Daytona wings for what I think is cheap considering the effort and now Don C will have a nice Bird version. I think the limited market is now well served on nice aluminum wings. If we could only get someone to reasonably produce a correct piece of tempered rear glass of the Daytona I think we would be making some progress. I know new glass is available for the Vega but once you see a nicely done correctly shaped rear window plug it is hard not to want the real thing.

[DonC1]

Thanks Steve.
Daytona Scoops done - Cast aluminum.

[DonC1]

[Dodge Boy]

 

[Lighthorseman]

[BigBlockSam]

wow real Nice. did you contour the bottoms to match the fenders? the stinger ones were not contoured or have the mounting buns.

[DonC1]

Yes all the contours are there. 

[DonC1]

Troy,
I'll be casting my next wing blade in two and tig welding both pcs as you would have. This blade is cast in one piece and steps in at 33lbs.Both my hollow uprights combined come in at 30lbs. I'd like to drop the blade weight down some next time. However it is still a nice piece.

[DonC1]

Bird fender scoops

[tan top]

 awesome work !!        this is good stuff        

[DAY CLONA]

Troy,
I'll be casting my next wing blade in two and tig welding both pcs as you would have. This blade is cast in one piece and steps in at 33lbs.Both my hollow uprights combined come in at 30lbs. I'd like to drop the blade weight down some next time. However it is still a nice piece.

Don, 63 lbs total is fine, as the originals come in at 57-60 lbs total...nice work, a bird wing has been needed for years in aluminum

Mike

[Indygenerallee]

Don, How much for a set of those aluminum Daytona fender scoops?? Look killer.

[BigBlockSam]

excellent work    , those fender scoops are awesome

[oldcarnut]

Don, How much for a set of those aluminum Daytona fender scoops?? Look killer.

from the classifieds
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,110535.0.html

[odcics2]

Troy,
I'll be casting my next wing blade in two and tig welding both pcs as you would have. This blade is cast in one piece and steps in at 33lbs.Both my hollow uprights combined come in at 30lbs. I'd like to drop the blade weight down some next time. However it is still a nice piece.

Don, 63 lbs total is fine, as the originals come in at 57-60 lbs total...nice work, a bird wing has been needed for years in aluminum

Mike

Curious, what's the difference in weight between the very early production Daytonas that had the solid horizontal stabilizer and the later ones, which were hollow?

[DonC1]

Ongoing...Daytona cone in 18 gauge

[wingcarenvy]

Mind blowing! I think you have a budding business opportunity.

[BigBlockSam]

nice!!!

[tan top]

   wow , awesome   

[moparstuart]

Off to the foundry tomorrow for a fresh batch of Daytona and Sbird aluminum fender scoops to be cast- these are the ' plugs'



( Stuart- haven't forgotten about ya:)

i want daytona ones please

[DonC1]

Catchin' up...
Z bars still have some holes to drill...

[Dodge Boy]

 

[XS29L9B2]

very nice job

[Lighthorseman]

Those look great!   

[XS29L9B2]

have you got information for made my part for my car? have you got a plan?

[held1823]

such incredible talent. how about a twisted take on a troy-trade. a wing car toy mega collection for daytona nose pieces.








hey, asking is free...

[moparstuart]

 

[wingcarenvy]

Hey! Where have you been? How have you been?

[Stevearino]

Hey! Where have you been? How have you been?

He's been rat rodding.

[DonC1]

Thanks guys. A relatively simple part to lay out - the Z bars but end up taking all day to fab.

[nascarxx29]

Don your car? http://www.auctionsamerica.com/events/feature-lots.cfm?SaleCode=AF11&ID=r1165&Order=alphabetical&feature=&collection=&grouping=&category=

[DonC1]

Nope ., mine was a loaded rt/se sunroof California car,...no fiberglass., last painted red with a back wing.