Thanks for the thumbs up Beater
I think a buck a pound is for bulk rough cast parts with no cores and extremely high volumes. (think in terms of a run of 1000 man hole covers) . . . And done in China.
At most, these are run in batches of 10 - 50 pairs. They all require precise mold cores and second operation degating and then machining on two different planes.
You would be hard pressed to get the patterns properly made, cast, degated, and ready for machining for a batch of fewer that 50 headers anywhere near a dollar a pound let alone $5-$10 a pound.
