[TheForge] Re: Re: Welding cast iron

[Ekaterina Harrison]

Larry,

Thanks for this. I did not even think of that. Now some of what I  
experience in welding up an old loader part makes more sense.
I tig welded this piece without preheating. I did not know whether  
this piece was cast iron or steel so decided just to try welding to  
see what happened. I did have to chase out and re-weld a few spots  
that tried to crack. When I was grinding out those welds I did find  
them to be much harder than the surrounding metal. This may be another  
way to tell whether the piece is cast iron or steel!
Well, the weld held up anyway as more than a year later Old Gomer, The  
loader, is still running on that wheel.

Ekaterina

On May 23, 2008, at 2:03 AM, theforge-request at mailman.qth.net wrote:

>
> Message: 5
> Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 17:36:17 -0400
> From: Larry Brown <lp.brown at verizon.net>
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Re: Welding cast iron
> To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
> Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.20080522173243.0405da88 at incoming.verizon.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
>
>
>
> A word of caution about using steel rod on castiron, it picks up  
> carbon
> from the cast. It then becomes the equivalent of dealing with tool  
> steel if
> you have to drill it or thread it in the welded area. Otherwise I  
> have had
> it work fine.
> L Brown
>
>> I have found that in following these steps I was
>> able to make the repairs with regular steel filler rod as well as  
>> cast
>> iron rod. Te results seemed to be about the same.
>>
>> I hope this helps in your next cast iron repair job.
>>
>> Ekaterina
>