Joe Loss wrote in part: You are forgetting one big advantage of castings ... can produce intricate shapes <snip> Joe partial quote from previous email: "The advantages of castings are cost and the ability to easily make complex shapes" I would have guessed you're an engineer but I dang near guarentee you don't work in the automotive industry. Remember the chain of events that let the Challenger fly whereby an engineering "NO" became a managerial "YES"? Imagine what happens when you win a contract by being low bidder and then are required to reduce your selling price 5% per year. I could recite a dozen instances off the top of my head - I spent three years in customer tech service calling on the BIG 3 and their tier one suppliers. In case you haven't guessed I'm one also - work in research nowdays. Bill
