> he was extremely dubious about the claim that the final product met US production standards.
I have my doubts about backyard foundry guys having traceable calibration paperwork for their ultrasonic testing equipment (which is the only standard they mention; there are many many more).
this is almost certainly illegal, but they paid someone to look the other way, because it's cheaper, and faster (and hence more dangerous/problematic) to do it this way.
I agree with the comment as far as it goes... but it's only cheaper and faster, if you need a relatively small number of these parts. If you can standardize the forged part (before mill/lathe), then it's almost certainly cheaper, faster (per part), and more repeatable/efficient to build an automated forge to do it.
- complete lack of safety gear for the workers, especially against hearing loss
- open coke burning contributing to air pollution
- no quality control with obvious cold working of the metal
- no noise or pollution abatement for the neighbors
There were more criticisms, but he was extremely dubious about the claim that the final product met US production standards.