[TheForge] Re: Re: Welding cast iron

[Bruce Freeman]

Ekaterina,

If you don't know it already, the easier way of testing metals is the
spark test.  Put the metal against a grinder wheel and observe the
sparks.  This test appears in text books and has been discussed on
this forum.  I suggest getting known materials:  pure iron, low-,
medium-, and high-carbon steels, and cast iron, to use as reference.
The differences in the sparking are larger and fairly easy to
interpret.  Won't help with alloys, but pretty diagnostic for carbon
content.

Bruce
NJ

On Fri, May 23, 2008 at 11:16 AM, Ekaterina Harrison
<ekaterina at wildblue.net> wrote:
> 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
>>
>
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-- 
Bruce
NJ