Thread: Considerations for building up a rusted way

Originally Posted by Scottl

Lead free plumbing solder is nearly as hard as brass, yet melts at a much lower temperature. Some here have used it for a quick and dirty rehab of lathe half nuts. That might be a middle ground between epoxy and braze/silver solder.

95% Tin, 5% Antimony, is it?

Might be onto something, there.

IF.. one gets the cavities CLEAN enough to get a thin "tinning" into them, THEN a heavier blob should adhere off the back of a good strike already at the interface?

Shaping is mechanical, thereafter. The stuff "shaves" easily enough.

Originally Posted by thermite

95% Tin, 5% Antimony, is it?

Might be onto something, there.

IF.. one gets the cavities CLEAN enough to get a thin "tinning" into them, THEN a heavier blob should adhere off the back of a good strike already at the interface?

Shaping is mechanical, thereafter. The stuff "shaves" easily enough.

This sounds reasonable, but you has to be carful with the heat! Not bashing your crank welder buddy but I weld cranks every day on a sub arc welder made for cranks never did one that didn’t bend. Ever. lots of pre heat, post heat, straighten rough grind , straighten again and sometimes they just plain crack I’m with Aaron, clean it, run it, make money.


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I had the same issue with an outrigger on a boring mill a couple years back .. the gouges were more like .06 deep, I replaced the turcite and filled the gouges with epoxy. still going with no issues today. That said the machine is running on borrowed time so spending the money for a proper fix was not even considered. I would be very weary about brazing it just because of the heat required.. I also dont have much experience brazing cast iron so I cant say for sure it wont work. If you do go ahead with brazing report back on how it goes I am curious. In the case of welding/brazing steel/stainless wrapping the heat affected zone in roxul insulation or a welding blanket to slow the cooling lowers stress and heat distortion, again not sure on how effective this would be on cast iron. Good luck!!

Anything in the brazing temperature range will most likely result in badly distorted/bend ways.

I had similar problems with galled up ways and was lucky enough to get some cast iron blocks for experiments before ruining the real part.

Leave it at it is or get it ground, angle grinder "scraping" might also be an option., with hardened ways. Brazing and welding will do more damage than good.

Originally Posted by DeadMahoDude

Anything in the brazing temperature range will most likely result in badly distorted/bend ways.

I had similar problems with galled up ways and was lucky enough to get some cast iron blocks for experiments before ruining the real part.

Leave it at it is or get it ground, angle grinder "scraping" might also be an option., with hardened ways. Brazing and welding will do more damage than good.

I’ve dabbled with the angle grinder scraping practiced some before I tried trueing up the base ways on my old Vmc 40. Used a 90 deg die grinder with everything from cutoff wheels stacked up to rolock 3m abrasive discs in the 60-80 grit range. Actually I was surprised of the contact you could get by carefully going at it seems kind of barbaric though when you start.


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One option would be to use a thin abrasive wheel and cut slots through the pits perpendicular to the travel of the saddle. By angling the wheel you can cut the slot as a small dovetail. This will allow whatever you use to fill the slots to mechanically lock in.

I would contact Belmont Belmont Low Melt Eutectic and Non-Eutectic Alloys (Fusible Alloys) and see what they suggest. Some of the low melting alloys expand after solidifying, which would lock them into the slots. With the low melting points you are not going to distort the ways. They also make low melting point solders, which were previously suggested.

Originally Posted by JST

I've had epoxy in some gouges in a lathe bed for probably 10 years, and nothing has let go yet. It was not any special type, just an ordinary hardware store clear epoxy, IIRC.

Clean the crap out of the pits to get all the oil out, then clean once or twice more. Should be good all you are doing is just filling, there is no structural function, and really no force that might pull it out. Way oil has not bothered the filled areas.

I need to fill in some gouges in a lathe bed so they'll stop permitting chips to get under the tailstock. Got any tips?

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Originally Posted by Cole2534

I need to fill in some gouges in a lathe bed so they'll stop permitting chips to get under the tailstock. Got any tips?

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Those WERE the tips. What I filled were gouges of unknown cause. Beyond that, I got nuthin, but it really is not very complicated. The issue is getting it clean enough to let the epoxy adhere. Usually rough gouges will lock it in, but you want it to actually adhere also.

Are the scores visible when the machine is assembled and ran to the extreme end of travel. If not leave them alone and just stone off any sharp edge. How about some photo's please so I can advise you better. If your going to replace the Turcite, I did a thread a few years back. I also have repaired several Fadals over the years. The tread is on a Kitamera but the ideas are the same. Kitamura Mycenter Head Way Turcite Repair
Also there is a GREAT grinding house north of you in Tennessee. Schmiede Corporation | CNC Machining, EDM, and Grinding Services

Originally Posted by Cole2534

I need to fill in some gouges in a lathe bed so they'll stop permitting chips to get under the tailstock. Got any tips?

Methods "as covered arredy", adhesive plastics the least hassle. No HEAT, just tedious CLEANING.

Milacron and I discussed his use of a metal-bearing plastic to fill ONE of the gouges in the HBX-360 ways. That was the only one that actually had to deal with the carriage travelling over it, AND up close and personal to the spindle where chip-load can be expected to be greatest risk.

What still needed doin' was to lift the carriage, CLEAR OUT crap already trapped and scratching the surface, then fit new wipers.

The wear rate thereafter ain't worth any more buggering about than trying to restore a competent wife's virginity would be.

Just keep it clean, "run what you got" and be happy it works as well as it does!

After much contemplation, I etched the rust off with citric acid, scrubbed till surgically clean and filled with JB Weld. Out of all the epoxies available, it seemed the hardest. The heat required to get any kind of brazing/solder to stick would have been excessive, and also impossible with a standard oxy aceletyn torch.The epoxy was scraped flat and seems to be well anchored. When I did the turcite in 2003, I left it .01 thicker then Fadal did. A .007 skim cleaned up all but the deepest gouge. Thanks to all for your suggestions.

Originally Posted by Zeus1050

After much contemplation, I etched the rust off with citric acid, scrubbed till surgically clean and filled with JB Weld. Out of all the epoxies available, it seemed the hardest. The heat required to get any kind of brazing/solder to stick would have been excessive, and also impossible with a standard oxy aceletyn torch.The epoxy was scraped flat and seems to be well anchored. When I did the turcite in 2003, I left it .01 thicker then Fadal did. A .007 skim cleaned up all but the deepest gouge. Thanks to all for your suggestions.

I'd call that "Practical" as machinists go.

Love of Old iron, or need to earn a crust, there ain't but so much TIME as well as MONEY we dare sink into what were MEANT to be "consumable" - however slowly - "means of PRODUCTION". Not museum display fossils.

Nobody gets to live thutty years longer just because they know a more durable way.. that eats up the extra time and money, even if it were to be applied!

I did say "practical"?

Good on yah!