Repairing broken bracket

[FranV8]

Someone was asking about having a lathe and milling machine recently, thought I'd bore everyone with what I used mine for today (the mill).

I repaired a mower bracket that I'd previously repaired (previously I just vee'd out the cracked area and re-welded, so the result was inevitable really).

Made a new flange(?) from 3mm plate, cut it freehand on the plasma. Milled the end flat of the remaining piece of the bracket, then tidied the new piece on the bench grinder, drilled the holes and then got into welding the two back together. I thought it'd be tricky with the relative thickness of the new piece vs the tube walls, needn't have worried. I did use the pedal on the TIG.

Would love to have comments on the welding, feel like it's coming on but think there are still bits I can do better. In particular, the coordination, I spent more time positioning the bracket to my comfort, not going to be possible on larger items.

 

[FranV8]

More pics

 

[FranV8]

Even more pics!

 

[FranV8]

And still more

 

[FranV8]

Thanks for staying this far!

 

[Engineer1964]

Excellent and i bet you was chuffed with ya self

It really is a labour of love i had it with 3 old series 3 landrovers.

Well done you

 

[FranV8]

Thank you Gerry! Next mission will be the welding trolley! (After I've made another widget for guiding the plasma cutter when cutting angle)

 

[Robotstar5]

Nice job bet it cost a fortune in time but you can't put a price on the satisfaction value

When doing straight cuts with a plasma, I use a piece of small angle as a guide, reduces clean up time.

 

[FranV8]

Thanks for the tip RS! Probably took me about an hour and a half, I was quite surprised I did it in that time.

I think I need to address my drinking habit re: freehand plasma use!!

 

[CRB]

Doing it the way it should have been. Cheaper to flatten a piece of pipe than weld a plate.

Very neat. I will get there eventually.

 

[500e]

Neat job slightly overkill I would have thought,
Re the drinking habit less water should do the trick

 

[hotrodder]

What everyone else said and as you specifically asked for comments on the welds...

First pic of post #5 is a bit on the hot side with what looks like quite a bit of undercut. Obviously it doesn't matter for this job but cleaning the old paint/millscale etc back further than you did will help a bit in that regard and make it nicer to weld too. A mixture of good and not so good bits in this pic...



but still stronger than the origional and i've seen far worse from people that charge for their work

As for the co-ordination thing... it'll come with time, you just need to practice and stuff like this is perfect as it doesn't matter, just tickle it with a grinder if goes wrong. Some tube to plate coupons would let you practice... clamp the plate in a vice etc and make yourself do the weld in 'two bites' (or at least not more than 3) rather than keep stopping and repositioning. Can clamp the plate horizontally and then vertically

 

[backpurge]

Very neat, proper job versus bodge

 

[FranV8]

Thanks for the encouragement everyone! Double thanks Hotrodder for the detailed feedback!
I'll have to break out some tube and plate.