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I recently converted my old,gravity-fed
hydronic system to a modern copper-lined
and pumped one. I had no luck in finding
some nice, heavy,”hinged” escutcheons
for various sized pipes coming through
the floor to my old radiators. All the
trim that I could find was either that
cheap,thin chrome, or chromed plastic.
I have some of my original pieces that
are nickeled and have thought of having
some new ones cast using the old as patterns. Anyone know of a business doing this??
I am wondering what the interest in these would be!
Thanks for your thoughts!
p.s. the old ones I have are marked
patented in 1903; a problem?
Replies
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I recently converted my old,gravity-fed
hydronic system to a modern copper-lined
and pumped one. I had no luck in finding
some nice, heavy,"hinged" escutcheons
for various sized pipes coming through
the floor to my old radiators. All the
trim that I could find was either that
cheap,thin chrome, or chromed plastic.
I have some of my original pieces that
are nickeled and have thought of having
some new ones cast using the old as patterns. Anyone know of a business doing this??
I am wondering what the interest in these would be!
Thanks for your thoughts!
p.s. the old ones I have are marked
patented in 1903; a problem?
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Bob
Hi, two possibilities:
1. Many small foundries can take care of this for you, quite reasonably. Their biggest charge is labor for pattern-making, and in this case you're providing it. By using your old piece instead of a pattern, your new one's will be SLIGHTLY smaller, but the difference will be only a few percent.
2. Depending on the area you live in, you might find that your local community college teaches foundry or "cast metals technology" I grew up in Michigan and took a lot of night classes in it. In every class there was at least one person taking the course just so they could cast pieces for the old house they were restoring. We did a lot of cast iron fence panels and bronze hardware for the old lumber baron's houses.
Good luck,
Scott