Joe, The short answer is no, the customer did not balk at the cost, and yes I am well compensated for my efforts. I'll try to unpack this a bit. First I think it is important to note that although I generate a fairly steady income with foundry work, I also have a full time job that pays my bills and supports my family. This fact alone gives me the ability to run things in a way a traditional business owner could not. Because the foundry is essentially side hustle, I can afford to be very selective in the work that I take on. I am primarily a one man (occasionally two) shop, and carry very little overhead. My niche market/customer is loose pattern work, one off castings, and pattern making. Most foundries no longer have an in house pattern shop any more. If they do, they have replaced their traditional wood patternmaking equipment with newer CNC equipment. Danko Arlington, a foundry in my area, recently invested in several new pieces of equipment that can 3D print massive resin bonded sand molds for complex castings on the weekends and after hours when the employees are home. While this is very exciting for the foundry industry, it means there are not many options for customers that have a need for more "traditional" foundry services. When assigning a value to these services, we can approach pricing in the same way most businesses do when evaluating what to charge for goods and services. First I need to know what my cost will be for the project. Once I have that number in hand, I need to decide how much above the actual cost I will set the total price. This gives me my margin. The margins on foundry work can vary greatly depending on the job, so I try to position myself for the type of foundry jobs that can provide me the highest margins, and the least competition. For me this means one-off castings, and pattern work. The advances in 3D pattern making make the cost of todays tooling/patterns a substantial investment. It doesn't make fiscal sense if your only looking for one or two pieces. Most foundries have no desire to run one-off patterns now days. If they do agree to run the pattern, it is usually priced high, and they provide no set up or preparation of the pattern. Additionally, if the pattern has to be modified for shrink, repaired, or if there is no original to cast from, a commercial foundry is even less likely to take the job. These are the types of jobs I look for. Jobs that require the original pattern to be repaired, modified, or fabricated completely. Traditional patternmaking equipment is hard to find, and heavy to move. Over the years I have invested in this equipment, purchased mainly from foundries that were moving away from wooden patternmaking completely. The fact that very few folks have the equipment, and desire to take on these types of casting jobs, give me the ability to charge top dollar for my skills, and still remain substantially lower cost wise than what a commercial foundry would demand for the same casting. I also strive to provide customer's with a "one stop shop" when it comes to castings. Customers don't want to have to go to another business after they leave mine to have their casting machined, or polished, etc. If you can handle everything in house and give them a completed product at the end, they are usually willing to pay a little more for the convenience. Hope this helps. Dave
Progress continues on this project. Photo below shows the reproduced casting fitted and mounted to the larger section of the fixture. After the casting was installed, everything was primed and painted. This completes the first phase of this project. The rest of the components for this fixture will be installed on site after the post has been set in the ground and the new gas line has been installed. Before this leaves my shop, I have been dry fitting some of the components to make installation on site a little easier. The call box as well as the other components will be installed as they are completed. Dave
Alright guys, I've been a little slow to post my progress on this project. I took some time today to upload some photos. Here are a few photos of the main fixture leaving my shop and being hoisted via crane into the museum courtyard. Here we have the installation of the pedestal at the museum. I set the pedestal in the ground and ran a new gas line into the pedestal with the help of the local gas utility. Here is the lamp and call box after paint. The lamp frame and components were reproduction castings (sorry no photos). The call box is an original with some of the components (door) recast for this restoration off originals. Also shown is the recasting of the brass number plate that designated the fire alarm call box location in the city when it was in service. Last photo shows the call box ready to mount into the fixture at the museum. Today was the final install day at the museum. The call box was installed in the fixture and the gas lamp mounted. The burner shown in the lamp is an original upright burner circa 1920. Dave
