Heat and bend cast iron?

RivennHewn · Feb 16, 2014

I have a small cast iron part that is a few degrees off from lining up with a mating part.

Any chance I can heat and twist it without breaking it?

The part is about 6" long, and 1" X 3/8".

I'd rather live with than break it.

Any thoughts?

1953mercury · Feb 16, 2014

Pics would help. If it has a flange it could be offset milled to fit. Have never tried to heat and bend cast, but thinking it may be hard to find any joy in the attempt. Mike

theoldwizard1 · Feb 16, 2014

I would NOT try it if your are NOT willing to accept the consequences (cracked/broken) !

RivennHewn · Feb 16, 2014

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I went ahead and gave it a try.

Set up some firebrick, and just used my mapp gas torch.

One side in the vise, one with the vise grips and just enough pressure to tweak it into position.

rsanter · Feb 16, 2014

First off what is it?
Sometimes cast parts will have stress in them from the casting process like manifolds. Then once used they start to warp because of it.
Or did the part get bent?

I would say if you can clamp it to something straight and then evenly heat the part like in a BBQ over several hours and then let cool slow you may have a chance

Bob

Joe69 · Feb 22, 2014

Cast iron is too rigid to bend, it will break instead. That's a big advantage of steel over iron, it's malleable.

Joe

Craptain · Feb 22, 2014

RivennHewn said:
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I went ahead and gave it a try.

Set up some firebrick, and just used my mapp gas torch.

One side in the vise, one with the vise grips and just enough pressure to tweak it into position.

So did it work? You told us what you did but not the answer to the $25,000 question. It sounds as if it did but you left us hanging.

Elvenhome21 · Feb 22, 2014

It really depends on what grade of cast it is. Grey iron will shatter, versus ductile/engine iron you have a chance. But it needs to be dang near glowing to bend. But you have to heat and cool very slowly so not stress crack it.

Professur · Feb 22, 2014

Isn't the Model A axle cast?

zkling · Feb 22, 2014

Yes you can usually* do it with even heat and even pressure. In my experience cast iron parts are most safely done at room temperature using a very slow controlled creep method.

*Can depend on the quality of the casting, porosity, grain size and shape of the piece.

Out of curiosity what was the part that you were working on?

Heat and bend cast iron?

RivennHewn

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1953mercury

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theoldwizard1

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RivennHewn

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rsanter

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Joe69

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Craptain

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Elvenhome21

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Professur

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zkling

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