[charper]

I would like to machine something like this. It was a cast aluminum piece, so how do you guys think this was manufactured. I saw it at a Giger show in NY back in 93..man this guy is my FAVORITE artist. Here is the link for some of his work.

http://www.hrgiger.com/frame.htm

[SPEEDRE]

Speedre here. Looks to me as if it the pattern was made in reverse, then cast so the details are positive, then polished. Presto, one floor plate.

[charper]

What do you think the master pattern was made in order to be aluminum cast hmm...too beautiful not to try

[SPEEDRE]

Could have been wood, Ren board, metal. Any number of materials, even MDF.

[Stepper Monkey]

From what I understand, the tiles like the one you pictured were actually cast in zinc for some reason. I'm not sure there were any aluminum tiles. I don't know a lot about low-temp white-metal casting like zinc, but I am betting that this was done for reproducability and cost. They probably did not investment cast each one - very likely they were poured directly into the master mold. This may help you narrow down the type of materials that the master was cut in.

I believe that these wound up as or were the pattern for the floor tiles in the Giger-designed bars that opened in New York and Tokyo a number of years back. There is still at least one open in Switzerland, and they are really creepy places. Way beyond cool.

If you were to try something along these lines as a one-off job and not for volume, you might think about just doing it in wax and going the shell invesment route. Way cheaper and less time for small numbers.

[todd71]

Did you ever complete this? If so, I'd be interested in seeing some picture's.