Picked up a vise for $20 bucks. It's an older Chinese model, 5 inch rotating. Yes it's a china knock off, but I took a risk for only 20 bucks. It works fine, so I took it apart to clean years of grease and dirt. Discovered the cracks in the pics (below).
I have been reading about how to weld cast, and while I am not a "welder" I do have "above average home owner/handy man" experience with a typical stick ac/dc (older century) welder. No trouble making good solid welds in mild steel. Have been welding ac/dc for over 20 years for typical repairs, fabrication, and built a few utility trailers for on and off road, etc. I know what a good weld (and penetration) looks like..
Just not familiar with cast iron. I will grind/recess the cracks, clean as best as possible, preheat, and I will keep the part hot while welding and cool slowly (I have a powder coat oven to heat things up as well as cool things down in the oven slowly) or place in sand.
Planned on using Hobart "nomacast". The length of the crack (one on each side) is about an inch long, maybe a little less, and I can access the parts being welded from the front and from the back side, so I can really build things up from both sides if needed to ad strength.
The cracks are at the inside of the 90 degree, the line you see circled in yellow (in last pic)is just a casting mark and is not a crack.
I plan on grinding the cracks, heat part up, run a bead, peen the bead, keep a torch handy to keep part hot if things are going slow, peen some more, then going to the crack on the other side, run a bead over there, peen, then let cool slowly, work my way from one side to the other.
My question is, running multiple beads to build the area up for strength and fill. Should I make multiple passes in one session? Should I make single pass on each side, let cool slowly, grind if needed, reheat, then make another pass or two? Multiple passes without grinding?
I was planning on building things up with multiple beads for strength, as well as welding things up from the other side to make the area stronger also. This is the part that the acme rod passes thru and is torqued when the vise jaws are closed on an object, so I am thinking I need to reinforce and build up the areas that are cracking.
I know it is a 20 dollar Chinese vise. It is big beast, seems to be built better than some of the current Chinese models, and I could put it to use it if I can successfully weld the cracks up and make it solid. If I fail, then at least I have a boat anchor and some experience with welding cast. Gotta start somewhere. Any advise on the welding or repair would be great. Thanks for your time, KD
I have been reading about how to weld cast, and while I am not a "welder" I do have "above average home owner/handy man" experience with a typical stick ac/dc (older century) welder. No trouble making good solid welds in mild steel. Have been welding ac/dc for over 20 years for typical repairs, fabrication, and built a few utility trailers for on and off road, etc. I know what a good weld (and penetration) looks like..
Just not familiar with cast iron. I will grind/recess the cracks, clean as best as possible, preheat, and I will keep the part hot while welding and cool slowly (I have a powder coat oven to heat things up as well as cool things down in the oven slowly) or place in sand.
Planned on using Hobart "nomacast". The length of the crack (one on each side) is about an inch long, maybe a little less, and I can access the parts being welded from the front and from the back side, so I can really build things up from both sides if needed to ad strength.
The cracks are at the inside of the 90 degree, the line you see circled in yellow (in last pic)is just a casting mark and is not a crack.
I plan on grinding the cracks, heat part up, run a bead, peen the bead, keep a torch handy to keep part hot if things are going slow, peen some more, then going to the crack on the other side, run a bead over there, peen, then let cool slowly, work my way from one side to the other.
My question is, running multiple beads to build the area up for strength and fill. Should I make multiple passes in one session? Should I make single pass on each side, let cool slowly, grind if needed, reheat, then make another pass or two? Multiple passes without grinding?
I was planning on building things up with multiple beads for strength, as well as welding things up from the other side to make the area stronger also. This is the part that the acme rod passes thru and is torqued when the vise jaws are closed on an object, so I am thinking I need to reinforce and build up the areas that are cracking.
I know it is a 20 dollar Chinese vise. It is big beast, seems to be built better than some of the current Chinese models, and I could put it to use it if I can successfully weld the cracks up and make it solid. If I fail, then at least I have a boat anchor and some experience with welding cast. Gotta start somewhere. Any advise on the welding or repair would be great. Thanks for your time, KD