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Speaking of spray welding,

enginebuilder

Stainless
Joined
Dec 1, 2005
Location
Kalispell, Montana
Here's some pics from todays challenge. Broken crank pulley from a Model A Ford engine I'm rebuilding. You ain't gonna just go down town and buy a replaceent
Broken pulley:
BROKEN.jpg


all welded up
WELDED.jpg

all done
ALLDONE.jpg


inside view finished
INSIDE.jpg


Takes some time, but for parts you don't stand a chance to find it is a good option.
Thought you all might like to see.
Jim

[ 01-25-2006, 11:37 PM: Message edited by: enginebuilder ]
 
You say you spray welded that ?

how ?
What kind of prep and what kind of spray welding process? is it Oxy-acetylene?

I don't see how it would hold. I've never seen it done that way, but nice job.
 
Jim, I have a brand new O/A sprayweld setup that has never been used with 9 bottles of powder. Its an Eutectic. I tried to sell it once on ebay and couldn't even get 90 bucks for the whole setup, i figured i would keep it for that...Bob
 
SND, yep spray welded. Prep is simple must be clean and all sharp edges smoothed out, as well as any roughness from the break, just use a small carbide burr to slick eveything up. Most of the time I preheat first, especially if repairing a crack, but for a fix like this just go to it. uses oxy-acetyline, small hopper on top of the torch, feeds a granulated powder into the flame, kinda like brazing or soldering, filler powder is way tougher than the original iron.
Bob, where did you buy the powder? I cant get it local, have to buy it thru one of my auto machine shop suppliers about 32 bucks for a little bottle. Know of a better place? I'd appreciate input!
Jim
 
Very impressive! I am curious, how did you
form it back to shape, and how long did it
take? If that's a dumb question I only just
started arc welding so I am a novice. Enginebuilder, you were they guy thinking of
re-inventing your business right? If you
don't have a website, get one now! Show some
pictures of your handywork, maybe place an ad
in an antique car magazine, your problem is marketing not your skill.
 
Or get a Yahoo account and add some pics to the photos section of your profile. You can put a million pics there and use that URL to hook everyone else to the pics. Add little captions to the bottoms a wola a mini instruction manual...Bob
 
Dualkit, You hit the nail on the head exactly. I can do damn near anything I set my mind to, MY problem is I suck at going out and blowing my own horn.
As far as the repair, total time was about 2 hours. After the weld I rough in with the grinder as close as I dare, turned out a quick mandrel for the lathe mounted the pulley , set the compound to the inside angle of the groove and turned it out. The only trouble is , the weld is so dame hard, must use carbide and slow feed to keep from breaking bits, takes a lot of time. Thats a 120$ repair job. Mostly because you just cant waltz into napa and buy one or go the junk yard. If I could get more of this type of stuff, along with the Harley work, things would be great. Guess a website might be a good idea after all, promote this kind of stuff over the run of the mill jobs.
Thanks for the kind words
JIm
 
MY problem is I suck at going out and blowing my own horn.
Same here, and most of the good ones don't
brag, most of the talkers in the trade are
just that and nothing else. That and the fact
you look like you wrestle Grizzly Bears on
the weekend for fun, doesn't help either!
(Not a put down, I have been described as
un-approachable myself)

Anyway one more thought, logistics might be a
problem living in Montana, you might want to
see how many antique car shows, tractor shows,
etc are within driving distance. Bring pictured
samples of your work and plenty of business
cards, get that website going.

I am following my own advice and attending
a trade show myself in Las Vegas next month.
I have set up a younger more friendly looking man
to distribute my products. I sell dual alt/ac
mounting kits to the Limosine Industry.
 
Engine Builder,
How much can you lay down with each pass using the spray welding technique? I wonder if you could use this same technique to build up a small area of shaft or spindle and then turn it back down to regular dimensions? I would love to see a pic of the setup.
You might have stumbled across a money making idea for your company, repairing old junk? I have a farmall super A and a john deer model A "popping john". I would come closer to spending money on them for a part than I would my own truck. I figure most anyone who has an old baby sitting in the shed feels the same way. With your talents in engines you could be sitting on a gold mine.
Wish you the best of luck!
Chris
 
muleworks, spray welding was practically invented for build-up work on worn shafts. So yes, it could most certainly be used for such. The problem as I see it is that the weld metal laid down is kind of porous, and it seems to enjoy catching grit, so if you were planning to use the process to build up a worn seal diameter, you might be better off using another method.
 
muleworks, the process doesnt really work like normal welding. try to imagine getting the metal hot with A torch till it just gets the "wet" look, then the powder is added in and it just melts in.you can stay in one spot and make "ant hills" or you just travel slowly, bulding up as needed. Temp control is the key, too cold, porosity and poor adheasion, too hot, you bring the carbon out of the base metal and it blows out just like to much power when normal welding. the biggest advantage is the fact that you weld cold enough not to draw carbon to the weld
joint, any kind of acr on cast, brings the carbon out to the weld joint and makes a barrier layer between the 2 pieces
the powder is available in differing grades and color matching qualities, hard facing is a option
Jim
Jim
 
Mine came froma co called Maintenance Welding, I would look for a different brand. I have use one from the co. that taught me how to do it, Cast Welding Technologies(CWT) in Atlanta, nice torch but expensive. Do a search for Eutectic (SP?) Should find one, OR if BOB (aametalmaster)sees this, he might be willing to tell you where he bought his.
Mine, has some things I dont like, particularly the feel of the powder feed lever, the way the torch is constucted as far as the O rings on the internals, nad aslo the feed valve plugs up esaily andis a PIA to make work properly, The one from CWT works very nice but as stated, they aint cheap, but most things worth bringing home these days isnt.
IF you are really interested in doing this, SOmwhere I have a VHS tape from the Co. that made mine, If I can find it, I'd be glad to send it too you to watch, give you a good overview of the process.
Jim
 








 
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