Help. I need some help and advice.

[Cider Maker]

Hi! I'm not a welder, I wish I was but I need some help and advice.


Yesterday, my wife and I and I went to the Slimbridge Wetlands Trust Centre, where we saw thousands of birds but the weekend also produced this acquisition.














Now here comes the Slimbridge connection and the bad news. When the cider press was dismantled and moved, the owners managed to break the cast iron part top right. I think that I'm correct in saying that cast iron is notoriously tricky to weld, which leaves me with the nigh on impossible task of finding or having a replacement piece made.

Its a great shame that its been damaged because first of all, its exactly what I've been looking for and secondly, its obviously quite a historically important bit of kit. Has anyone got any ideas? Its costing me absolutely nothing other than transport to get it home, so its certainly going to be worth spending a bit on it to get it right.

 

[brightspark]

u could take the part off v out round the cracked part heat it up with a propane torch to dull red and braze it in with oxy.acetylene ive repaired a few cast iron pumps that way that have burst through freezing and are as strong azz

 

[Cider Maker]

Cheers mate, so hopefully all is not lost.

 

[julianthegypsy]

What a lovely piece of kit! It should be repairable with a bit of incredibly clever engineering trickery which I'm sure someone will come along and explain soon haha.
I can't quite see it, but it looks as though if it was further dismantled you could get both pieces. They could then maybe be clamped together, heated up and welded. The big problem with cast is that it is brittle...and expands a lot, which means that youbcan do a beautiful looking weld...which cracks as soon as it cools.Short answer, it looks fixable, if not, glue it together and use it as the basis for s mould to cast a new one, someone here will have the answer!

 

[BrokenBiker]

another vote for brazing, its the only thing ill do to cast iron.

 

[desmo11225]

Hi Cider Maker
Cast iron is easy to weld, a decent welder would fix that for you, I have Oxy Acetylene welded lots of broken castings in the past, take the broken part off V the cracked component weld with cast iron filler using flux. As mentioned earlier cast iron is brittle and needs to be heated all over and then cooled very slowly, I welded lots of Stanley/Record planes snapped at the throat when dropped, after welding they were buried in dry sand [Make sure its not wet] until the next day.
On occasions an engine block was welded, preparing the crack before putting it in a blacksmiths forge welding the engine block and leaving it in the forge for the whole lot to cool.
As I said a decent welder would do that for you, most of the cost would be in the fuel used to heat it. Ring around I'm sure you'll find someone in North Wales Good Luck, Let us know how you get on.
desmo11225

 

[Cider Maker]

We visited my son down in Gloucester this weekend and the press is still down there. I'll ring him tonight and task him with trying to get the two halves of the broken piece off.

 

[Cider Maker]

I moved my son Rob down to Gloucester on the first of December and here's what I came back with. The Lister engine is now working like clock work. Here's how the weekend went.


I've had a very long and arduous weekend. Infact, I've only just got back from moving my youngest son and his new wife to Evesham in this.









I set off just after 5.00 am yesterday to deliver their furniture to a flat that they're going to be renting on an old farm that was mentioned in the Doomsday Book. Fortunately the flat is a nice modern one, now here's where my piece of luck comes into play.
After unloading the furniture from the van, we realized that there was already a fridge freezer in the flat and that it wasn't quite as good as the one we'd brought down with us. We asked the owners if there was anywhere that we could store theirs and they directed us to the most fantastic old stone dovecote. They opened it up and then apologized for what they described as a load of old scrap that was stored in the corner, that they hadn't got around to getting rid of. Well! :shock: My eyes nearly dropped out of my head but I had the prescence of mind to point out that as I'd be returning home with an empty van, I'd only be too pleased to take it off their hands. Here's what I've come home with.

A Henry Bamford Corn Mill.









A Lister engine to run it with.









A very old cider press.









and a chaff cutter for good measure.




Now whose up for getting things running?

 

[Robotstar5]

Chunko' would probably like to get the cider press working?

 

[Shox Dr]

If you need any help in drinking the Cider. I'm your man.

 

[chunkolini]

Looks an interesting assembly, and you found it?
That is a very funky looking press, almost high tech. Probably was for it's day.
if you are ever after advice re cider making I know some proper experts near Ross on Wye.
You may even have met them.
Feel free to drop me a line.

 

[Pete.]

I used to roll corn with a mill like that when I was a lad. Well, I used to shovel the corn anyway Had a big belt just like that one that was driven off a tractor PTO. Had one of those Lister Petters in my boat too, if that's a 2-cylinder.

 

[Cider Maker]

Chunkolini said

"
Looks an interesting assembly, and you found it?
That is a very funky looking press, almost high tech. Probably was for it's day.
if you are ever after advice re cider making I know some proper experts near Ross on Wye.
You may even have met them.
Feel free to drop me a line."

Hi Chunkolini, My wife and I love the county of Herefordshire and get down there whenever we can. We probably share a common friend in Mike Johnson from Broom Farm and we've been regular visitors for goodness knows how many years.
It was Mike who fired me up in the first place and thanks to him, we've been making cider commercially on a small scale for the last three years.
Now that we've successfully moved our youngest son and his new wife down to Gloucester, we need to get down to Herefordshire sometime in the next month or so. If I can get Rob to get the broken piece off, then maybe I could bring it down with me for you take a look see?
Its a small world, especially when it comes to cider.

 

[chunkolini]

Mike Johnson?
We must have met up sometime then, I am up there most weekends to pick up supplies and catch up with people.
I am the local with proper beardy thing and no hair.

 

[Cider Maker]

I know you.
John and Karen Cooper. www.ourcider.co.uk

 

[DAPPH]

Re your first posts,
All is not lost ..anyone who welds it up may have to make an alignment jig ....there are other ways .
Any decent iron foundry works should be able to glue the bracket together, coat it in gunge to bring it up to casting size, make a mould and then cast you a brand new part that can be bored out and finished. If you can't find a foundry try a big engineering company who has apprenticeships .

OK 3 years ago, my back yard casting of the table support for an ancient crown electric band saw , linisher and PTO was made from a lump of old gear box casing.
But the principle is exactly the same ... you might even find someone on here who plays with casting cast iron and or lost wax casting using home made silicone rubber moulds.

l

Some of these railway appreciation societies that refurbish old engines etc. should also have the full engineering capabilities and knowledge to cast you a new bit.

There is of course the final option to get it made of welded steel and use a weld pick and small ball peine hammer to knock grit & indentations in to the surface of steel so it replicates the look of cast iron ... the team that made the replica of Trevithick's steam engine ( It's in the Swansea marina museum ) did a fair bit of stuff like that.

 

[chunkolini]

Small world indeed.
I would not be able to help with this kind of repair, I am a self taught sculptor and not the slightest clue about this type of thing.
There is a guy in Ross I can ask about it, Bill does know his onions, I will pop round over the next few days.
I doubt the press will be needing to be used for at least a week or umpteen.
The kind of job that gets out back until it is too late.

 

[the snooper]

saw the op user name (cider maker) and then thought chunko carried on reading and you popped up no real surprise, where there is cider there is a chunkolini

Small world indeed.
I would not be able to help with this kind of repair, I am a self taught sculptor and not the slightest clue about this type of thing.
There is a guy in Ross I can ask about it, Bill does know his onions, I will pop round over the next few days.
I doubt the press will be needing to be used for at least a week or umpteen.
The kind of job that gets out back until it is too late.

 

[Cider Maker]

Chunkolini, I spoke to Mike yesterday and he seemed to think that it would be well worth getting the press up and running again.

 

[chunkolini]

Definitely it looks like a lovely piece of history and a functional thing, I love the mix of traditional beam press and gears, never see one like that before.