Page "Crankshaft" Paragraph 31

Crankshafts can also be machined out of a billet, often a bar of high quality vacuum remelted steel.

Though the fiber flow ( local inhomogeneities of the material's chemical composition generated during casting ) doesn ’ t follow the shape of the crankshaft ( which is undesirable ), this is usually not a problem since higher quality steels, which normally are difficult to forge, can be used.

These crankshafts tend to be very expensive due to the large amount of material that must be removed with lathes and milling machines, the high material cost, and the additional heat treatment required.

However, since no expensive tooling is needed, this production method allows small production runs without high costs.