Well, Joe, to start with the summary that would be almost 20 hours of my own (in-?
)effective time for each piece and, theoretically, if I hurried every step as far as the circumstances allow it, it could be done in, say, 4 to 7 weeks.
In detail I can see from my notes that I spent 13 hours spread out over a fortnight turning my documentation of the original blade lift arms into CAD drawings. Then the 3D printing shop apparently printed the mould patterns within 24 hours of receiving the CAD file. After that I had to manually adjust the patterns, because some bevels and free form surfaces had been too complex to model with my CAD program. Additionally I had to fill and sand the surface, since the 3D print layers were too coarse. I guess that took at least 3 hours for each pattern. The foundry sent me the castings about 3 weeks after ordering. I suppose that could go faster if you are a well known customer. Now I´ll probably need another 2 hours machining per casting and I just noted that there are some surfaces in need of filling due to shrinkage - add another 2 hours. Also add some overhead for contacting the service provider and mailing things.
Now, Joe, it´s time to give more meaning to the word "theoretically" used above. As you may have come to understand by now, I don't feel much urge to hurry things, and in fact the first session of drawing these parts took place as early as in December, 2007.
Cheers!
Stefan