How To Recreate a Spot Weld

[Turbo]

My Mum has asked me to repair this.



It's the handle on a teapot which was originally spot welded in place.

Any opinions on how I can repair it?

I was thinking of drilling a hole where the top spot weld was and puddle welding through that into the bottom. The handle is 0.6mm and the main body is 0.7mm at the top though it will be thinner at the bottom from being formed. Any tips on what amps to use as I'm not used to such thin stuff?

Btw, If I don't reply to posts it's because I'm away this weekend.

 

[zx9]

Good luck with that one!
I can cope with 1mm wall SS pipe but I would not have a clue what to try on such thin metal. Most likely I would render it scrap by blowing a hole in the body having tried .8mm SS mig wire, a 1mm tungsten and some sort of backing like flattened copper pipe but don't take my advise wait for someone with more experiance / skill to comment.

 

[Shox Dr]

Make sure you have a very sharp tungsten, 20amps, preferably in lift, that way it will arc as soon as its away from the work.

It needs clamping or holding together, any gap and the handle will disappear

 

[bc30se]

braze it and polish..

 

[fenman]

nut and bolt

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Buy an identical one on eBay [there are plenty used ], polish it up to look good and give it to her - she'll not know the difference, you can then throw away her old one and save yourself a load of hassle.

Take note that when/if the proposed repair goes sadly wrong, it'll be your fault forever......

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

I would follow Slim Boy Fat advice.
Bean there, done that, ducked it fup. Brought a second hand one and got out of the dog house.

 

[sardine]

Pop rivet.

S/S bolt and dome nut.

Its only a teapot.

 

[Aesgarth]

Could you solder it?

 

[Richard.]

Not as difficult as people think. Can be done very easily with a tig welder and a 1mm length of Ss filler.
@Shox Dr has said it all so I am not going to repeat the already sound advice I'd also adopt.
I'd probably just use Hf start mind but either is going to work ok. Get your fill straight in as you won't be waiting long for the pool.

 

[hotrodder]

If the weld nugget that pulled out of the handle is still on the pot and it all fits back together tightly another way (after replacing the thing and then realising you have to try just to see) is to turn the amps up a chunk and give it a quick blast i.e. no slope times and a tap of the button or briefly(!) stomping on the pedal. As with the plug weld or weld the edges with wire approach everything needs clamping tightly together or it won't end well. Preferably with a scrap of ally or copper as a backer. Usually clamping everything together and still being able to get at the weld is more difficult than the weld itself with this sort of thing

 

[Shox Dr]

I was given some 1920's Ford hub caps to fill in the Ford pressed logo in the centres. The Stainless looked to be of a resonble thickness; maybe 0.8 -1.2 mm.

So got ready with some .8mm rod sharp tungsten and the pedal, set between 0-25amps max.

Almost as soon as the HF had found its mark and the arc fired up, the logo almost disappeared.

Turned out the hub wasn't anywhere near 0.8mm more like .4mm it was like foil.

I had to admit defeat. Probably for the best, I would have been very lucky for the weld after dressing and polishing back to be the same colour as the hub. He painted them

 

[Turbo]

Thanks for the advice folks.

I warned my mum that it would be difficult to weld so she is quite prepared to buy a new teapot. So if I screw it up it doesn't matter but if I fix it I will earn brownie points.

 

[DennisCA]

Not an expert in the least, haven't yet TIG welded anything in my life. But I saw a welding tips & tricks video where the host talked about tacking, basically he used a torch trigger and pressed and released the button as fast as he could to get a short burst at 2x the estimated required amperage to weld it. Resulting in a pretty good tack weld. Could something like that work here?

Or TIG braze with silicon bronze?

 

[Richard.]

Not an expert in the least, haven't yet TIG welded anything in my life. But I saw a welding tips & tricks video where the host talked about tacking, basically he used a torch trigger and pressed and released the button as fast as he could to get a short burst at 2x the estimated required amperage to weld it. Resulting in a pretty good tack weld. Could something like that work here?

Or TIG braze with silicon bronze?

Yep that's a typical tacking technique . Only works on perfect fit up mind. Gaps and autogenous tacks don't work and rarely do they give you a second chance either.
Have some thin filler on standby.