Roger Bailey contributed:- > Years ago, an acquaintance of mine purchased a set of >Schmoyer castings but, to my knowledge, he has not completed the project >(machining or assembly). Would these be useful as patterns to reproduce the >missing pieces? Let me know if this is worth follow up. >
Unfortunately aluminium shrinks 3/16" per foot of pattern size when cast so castings cannot be used as 'patterns for themselves' although it should be possible to use them to design replacement items in steel for modern 'shell moulding' techniques. Pattern makers use special rulers which are 'expanded' by the appropriate shrinkage factor for each material (e.g. 5/32" for bronze). These were always carefully controlled because if they found their way into a normal workshop could cause as much havoc as a today's computer virus. If anyone knows of a set of Schmoyer castings for sale I'd love to hear about it as I've always admired this wonderful concept and didn't realise they might still be available in this form. It's an ill wind.... Tony Moss.
