Brazing Cast Iron

[Brad93]

I was asked do I weld cast, I said yes I’ve TIG brazed some bits before, I went to pick up an aluminium bell housing, and out comes this rocking horse poop casing in bits.

I was also given a handle with a crack in it and that has brazed up fine like other small bits I’ve done in the past.

 

[tom2207]

I was asked do I weld cast, I said yes I’ve TIG brazed some bits before, I went to pick up an aluminium bell housing, and out comes this rocking horse poop casing in bits.

I was also given a handle with a crack in it and that has brazed up fine like other small bits I’ve done in the past.

If it was easy , some one else would have done it , always seem to save the tough jobs , I thought it was only me that got them ,, Is it going to work again , or just look pretty ,,,,

 

[Shox Dr]

If it was easy , some one else would have done it , always seem to save the tough jobs , I thought it was only me that got them ,, Is it going to work again , or just look pretty ,,,,

there comes a point in life then you look at jobs like that, take a gob full of tea, and say narr, think I’ll leave that one with you fella. Best of luck. Brad just hasn’t got to that point yet

 

[tom2207]

there comes a point in life then you look at jobs like that, take a gob full of tea, and say narr, think I’ll leave that one with you fella. Best of luck. Brad just hasn’t got to that point yet

yep , but if the machine isnt going to work , the rules change ,, lots ,,, ie , drill a few more holes in it , fiber glass the whole thing from behind , pushing glass through the new holes , like a rivet ,,, fill up the gaps with body filler , sand it and paint it ,, no ones any the wiser ,
If it has to work , thats not an option , hence the seemingly odd question.

 

[brightspark]

I got landed with a stupid job brazing up a cast iron doormat that was all flowery patterns had to braze 6 pieces together . it wont happen again it took ages I rarely do anything mechanical or engineering wise for anyone apart from good friends or people that can do u a favour

 

[zeppelin builder]

embed the lot in charcoal then weld with o/a
square rods and flux from sif
you can also stick weld it with almost any rod But has to be dull red just expose the bit youre welding and cover up , when finished add more fuel and cover with fire blanket and cool slowly

 

[Brad93]

embed the lot in charcoal then weld with o/a
square rods and flux from sif
you can also stick weld it with almost any rod But has to be dull red just expose the bit youre welding and cover up , when finished add more fuel and cover with fire blanket and cool slowly

the problem i am having is getting hold of a good quality gas welding torch. Can’t get hold of a Harris or a victor.

 

[TechnicAl]

There are some cast irons that you just cannot weld or even braze......thin stuff is often such a type......it cools too quickly on casting

 

[Robbie260]

the problem i am having is getting hold of a good quality gas welding torch. Can’t get hold of a Harris or a victor.

Esab ones are fairly good supposedly, thier higher end sets i think may even be victors. If all else fails try a ship chandler that stocks Unitor welding appliances and consumables, we use the unitor ones on ship and they are really good i suspect they are just rebranded harris or victors as all our arc welders from them are rebadged millers. Part of the wilhelmsen group.

 

[Brad93]

Esab ones are fairly good supposedly, thier higher end sets i think may even be victors. If all else fails try a ship chandler that stocks Unitor welding appliances and consumables, we use the unitor ones on ship and they are really good i suspect they are just rebranded harris or victors as all our arc welders from them are rebadged millers. Part of the wilhelmsen group.

The ESAB torches are all Far Eastern now, and the Victor (owned by ESAB) stuff has been moved from the USA to Mexico and Far East.
Quality is **** poor.

The Harris stuff you get over here is not USA stuff either. Made in Poland.

I’ll have a look into Unitor thanks.

 

[tom2207]

you can get an old safire set off e bay for pence ,, few want gas and cheap mig has left yhis stuff as great value.
buy a combi kit , and heat it with the cutting torch no need to spend big money.

 

[Mid Wales welder]

Could try oxy/fuel instead of Tig

 

[Steveblade]

Ive only done cast repairs with arc welding (not always worked) but the best results Ive had have been with silicon bronze an oxy acetylene and a gas fluxer. So long as its not structural thats how I would go at this. There's a lot of that casting missing Brad by the looks of it, repairs gotta cost a couple hundred quid by the time your finished messing about twith it. How big is the whole thing? Im normaly repairing motorcycle parts, old classic British junk hence the cast repairs. Have you had any joy yet?

Seems to me the problem is too much heat input with the tig, but thats just going off the pictures

 

[BensonBoii]

Any luck with this repair how did you get on with it.

 

[Brad93]

Any luck with this repair how did you get on with it.

I’ve now sent to a fellow member on here with much more experience with cast iron than me and the brazing gear to do the job.

 

[chris pruteanu]

I would tig it with copper wire, I do all sorts of castings from old tractor engine blocks to cast iron/alloy water pumps for irigating crops...some weld lovely, some are a pain in the proverbial !
Only block I could not weld was an old fiat 650 diesel block which had water damage and had stress cracks at every point/ crank big end bolts. While welding the metal would not wet into the copper wire so made it impractical to weld properly. That was the only time I backed out of work !

 

[Brad93]

I would tig it with copper wire, I do all sorts of castings from old tractor engine blocks to cast iron/alloy water pumps for irigating crops...some weld lovely, some are a pain in the proverbial !
Only block I could not weld was an old fiat 650 diesel block which had water damage and had stress cracks at every point/ crank big end bolts. While welding the metal would not wet into the copper wire so made it impractical to weld properly. That was the only time I backed out of work !

I’ve tried TIG brazing. It’s a no go. Needs oxy/propane or oxy/acetylene

 

[chris pruteanu]

it's not a braze, you melt the cast ! The copper wire makes the cast more malleable/elastic and it hardly cracks...use the pein method and preheat with short runs of welds !

 

[Brad93]

it's not a braze, you melt the cast ! The copper wire makes the cast more malleable/elastic and it hardly cracks...use the pein method and preheat with short runs of welds !

If it’s cracking with a braze that has barely wetted the cast, it’s going to crack If you weld it.

 

[chris pruteanu]

Try it, you will be surprised...as I said, I weld all odds and sods, you will be surprised what folk bring me to weld, from old cast ally/iron cooking pots to copper/bronze alambics to make alcohol in...I sometimes wash the weld with stainless steel wire to raise its strength...Today I welded 4 pieces of cast iron from an apple press which they dropped down from chest height, machine all shattered...you should see the jigsaw puzzle I had to work with !