Thread: Sand Cast Cowl Steering Blister

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Hi everyone, I am a new guy here I did an intro just the other day on the main forum. I am aware that this forum is for '32's but I thought you guys might be interested in how I made a cowl steering blister for my '29. Same methods, slightly different geometry.

I've been casting parts for awhile now, mostly motorcycle parts for friends on the side. I dig cowl steering and am going to run it on my 29 roadster project. I wanted to design and cast something for a "blister" to make the pitman arm look a little more integrated to the cowl. I have 3-D cad and a 3-D printer so I designed my "master" scaled it up for shrink and printed it out followed by some finish work.

There is a lot of stuff on sand casting online so I wont go into too much detail on the process.

Pic#1 shows the finished master.
Pic #2 and 3 show each half of the mold "rammed up"
Pic #4 shows the mold just after it is poured.
Pic #5 shows the finished cast part still attached to the sprue and riser. Basically I filled the sprue until I saw the molten aluminum come up the riser. In this case both the sprue and riser continue to supply aluminum into the cavity as the part shrinks.

I will add more pics going forward but if there are any questions on the process ask away.

Very cool! We did some sand casting in a class I took many moons ago, casting & welding, and I really enjoyed the casting part. Nice work!

Here are some follow up pics of the blister finished up and mounted. Thanks for checking out my work!

Very nice work! That turned out awesome!

Amazing work and one has to appreciate the fine polished finish. I would like to see how the steering is held etc inside the cowl and whether it cuts down foot room please.

That's cool!
Nice job.

Pretty slick using the 3D printer to create the master.

Thanks everyone for the kind words. Actually a well placed cowl steering setup allows for more foot room. I had to squeeze in a third pedal and it was a lot easier not having to dodge the steering column. Note the position and angle of the steering wheel which is another nice result. My car has a glass body so there was no way I could run cowl steering without some major support under the cowl. I built a frame that the mopar steering box mounts to. The pedal assembly sits up behind the steering box also mounted to the under dash frame.The frame mounts through the floor to the chassis.

Thanks and yes, I had noticed the three pedals which I find very cool in these days of automatic transmissions as first choice. Again. amazing work Sir and the '29 looks real cool and been built in the style that I have grown to appreciate more so now then the modern " Street Rod " style. Heck, I must be getting older or I have had a knock on my head.

Very nice work. Love the look of cowl steering.

I've looked into casting and it's something I want to get into for more than just car stuff.

The 29 cowl is pretty narrow yet I was able to fit the pedals in an ergonomic fashion. That is a VW jetta e-brake nestled in next to the shifter. If anyone is interested in one of these blisters I do casting on the side.

Would you mind telling us what 3d cad software & printer your using, I think there are a bunch of guyson here that are interested, I have been making wooden sand cast patterns, I am a cabinetmaker by trade so its not overwhelming for me but I am very interested in the 3d printing process, I have a friend with a printer but have always wondered which software is most user friendly. Your work looks great!

Thanks, I highly recommend getting student versions of either Solidworks or Pro-e Creo software packages. I have experience with the professional versions of those but the student editions will work just fine and they are much cheaper. I have never used AutoCAD Inventor but I think they have a free download. As for 3D printers look into the Makerbot or one of their competitors I think they can be had for under a grand.

I took a couple semesters of Solidworks, I was told by other students that it is much easier compared to Autocad.

You might consider casting another and post it on FeeBay just to see what happens.