welding cast iron

[willy3486]

I am getting ready to rebuild a walker turner drill press. Its a nice floor model. It only has one issue that I can see. It has a round clamp that goes around the steel pipe that is the stand. The clamp is split where it is split it has a piece that goes out with a hole on each side. A bolt goes through each side and then it clamps tight when a bolt is put through and tightened. There it goes out at a 90 degree it is broke. It is cast iron I believe. I am wondering if I can weld it? I have a lincoln 220 volt arc welder and a 110 campbell hausfeld arc welder. This is all I have access to. Or would I be better off to just fabricate a curved piece that I can attach to it and bolt it on to the original piece. I don't have pictures of it or even have it home yet. I hope to get it soon. If you look at this picture you can see the clamp. It is the last clamp under the table that has the bolt in it. The drill I have isn't this one but I am thinking of going back with this color. I really like it.

 

[Professur]

They sell cast iron rod. See your local welding shop.

 

[badinf]

Here is a method that was shown to me by an old time welder and has worked well.
Make sure to grind out the crack so you will leave enough of the weld after grinding the weld for cosmetics. Build a fire with charcoal briquets, place the cast part in the the coals. Need to have your welding equipment set up and ready, when the part is glowing red pull it out and start welding the crack. If it is a long weld, weld part of it and place back in coals until it is glowing red again, repeat until welding is complete. When your done welding, place part back in the coals and leave it to cool at the same rate the coals cool. Next day pull it out clean it up. I use 7018 welding rod for this. I hope this makes sense.

 

[Joe From NY]

Grab some of these;

http://www.harrisproductsgroup.com/...ding/Maintenance-and-Repair/111-Kastweld.aspx



and a can of this:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000ZI7O4M/?tag=atomicindus08-20


Let it cool in a pile of this for a day

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...D28X-_-202187625&locStoreNum=1216&marketID=20




Hot pre-heat, weld, then very slow cool down. You are lucky the part is small to heat in a barbeque.

 

[trackwelder]

Grind the crack out, then preheat to the temperature recommended by the cast nickel road manufacturer. I usually weld 3/4" to an 1" and then peen with a needle scaler. Preheat again, checking temp with a templestik and weld a little more. When the welding is done post heat and bury the part in a bucket of kittly litter to cool slowly.

 

[rsanter]

if you preheat the base material you can weld it no problem

I heat with my BBQ and then use a torch to get the item from hot to red hot in the weld area
put it back in the BBQ to slow cool and cook off the stress
after a little you turn the BBQ off and let it sit in there till cool

do you really need that part?
can you live without?

bob

 

[djjsr]

JMO, I wouldn't "practice" welding cast iron on that piece. It's way too nice to have something go wrong. Find somebody that REALLY knows what they are doing when welding cast.

 

[bdkruger1]

Several years ago I used a ton of cast rod that was made by Esab. I believe it was designated as 460T, I think. Anyway, with this stuff there was no pre or post heat required. The stuff was awesome. I did peen after welding though.

 

[willy3486]

Thanks for the replys. I got to look at it again today. It is just a cast iron clamp that a bolt goes in the side that is split. The bolt then is tightened and holds it tight. I think I have figured out how to fix it without welding. I think I can drill a couple of holes in the side of it then tap the hole. I then will just hammer out a piece of metal that will fit the curve of it. Then just bolt to it. I think as a extra precaution I will get a couple of 3 inch muffler clamps to place under the clamps. Then they will be what actually holds it up. And the clamps I patch will be used to keep it from moving left to right. I am just not brave enough to weld it and this way I have figured out I think will work just as well. Then there is always the possibility of it breaking again since it is a clamp that will be tightened.

 

[Joe From NY]

how about a photo of the part...

 

[willy3486]

I will try to get one and post it.

 

[uhcrandy]

Could you braze it?

 

[willy3486]

Well I got it fixed without welding or brazing. I took a piece of metal about 1 inch thick an drilled two holes in it. One was for the bolt that claps the piece and the other was for a hole to bolt it to the cast iron piece. I bent it to curve the shape of the part. I then drilled a hole in the cast iron piece and tapped it for a bolt. It wrapped around it and holds tight. I did this for both pieces. You can see them in the picture below. The bottom piece you can see good on the bottom clamp. That's the clamp the rod goes into to hold it.The piece I added you can see on the side. The other piece is on the top where the rod goes and the knob that turns goes. What it does is to hold the rod that raises and lowers the deck. I also got a couple of 3 inch muffler clamps. I use one on the bottom piece to help hold it and take pressure off the clap that is repaired. The other clamp I use to hold the drill head. That way if I need to turn the head all I do is to loosen it and spin it. The muffler clamp will not allow the drill head to drop. I think for the most part the location where I have clamped the deck will be fine. So it seems to hold good and such so I think I will leave it at that. The tap set really did the trick. And the cast iron was thick enough to hold the bolt.

 

[Joe From NY]

I like your home-made vice stand in the background, country as hell...

 

[willy3486]

I guess the vise fits in here where I live in Middle Tennessee. The stand is a piece of cedar I had from a tree stump. I placed a board on one side and then another at a 90 degree angle. It hold it up good. As far as the vise I bought it at a yard sale over 20 years ago for a buck. Its a old one but it did not have the base. So I put it on the cedar with large lag screws. I have used it to hammer,bend,curve and hold. Its a handy piece. The pieces I made for the drill I shaped on it. I also made a lot of the parts for my truck on it. A handy vise to have. With it on a post and not a bench I can work all around it.