[TheForge] fish plates? just how big are they?

[Walter]

Terry, not all zero turns are as they used to be.  This one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4IR9u1hbaQ

Tilting steering column adjusts to any operator for added comfort, *it 
also tilts nearly vertical to help in getting on and off the mower*


On 6/22/2017 8:19 AM, terry l. ridder wrote:
> hello
>
> the mower deck is in good shape. paint missing and some caked on grass.
> there are no dents nor bends.
>
> the broken weld in on right front scalper wheel bracket. (as you are
> looking at the tractor from the front.)
>
> the bracket is a hollow cylinder welded to a trianglular piece of formed
> metal. the hollow cylinder is 1/4 inch wall steel about 4 inches long.
> the triangle formed metal piece is 3/16 to 1/4 inch steel.
>
> ASCII art will not do any better explaining it. the best i can do
> setting here in this &*%^$ wheelchair is imagine a 2 inch wooded dowel (
> perhaps a broom handle ) held, straight up & down, at the corner of a
> kitchen counter top.
>
> I am trying to envision the shape of a fishplate that would be required.
> it would require multiple curves for sure.
>
> The dealer has attempted to talk me into a new tractor.
> the new mower decks are drive over type and automatically engage the
> mid-point PTO. He has also attempted to sell me a zero-turn mower.
> zero-turn mowers pretty much require functional legs to climb into the
> driver seat.
>
> this broken weld was caused by the infamous "nobody".
> nobody was driving the tractor far to fast when somehow the scalper
> wheel bracket came into contact with an immovable object. I would assume
> that "Nobody's" teeth would have been shaken.
>
>
> On Wed, 21 Jun 2017, jerry Frost wrote:
>
>> I was hoping someone else who knew how to do this would speak up. 
>> Glad for
>> the input Jenifer. In the OP Terry expressed his in inexperience and 
>> doubt a
>> repair would work. I felt a little moderate overkill wouldn't hurt 
>> and give
>> him a little confidence. Like Dumbo's feather.
>>
>> My only difference with your experience is to mention how badly the 
>> deck is
>> bent up effects how serious you have to get in the repair. But, yes an
>> experienced welder wouldn't need more than a stop hole in the break's 
>> ends.
>> Fish plating is for heavier repair or less skilled welders.
>>
>> I don't have a Tig welder so it's GMAW or stick, making my beads 
>> heavier but
>> I have a needle scaler that does a wonderful job of stress relieving 
>> welds.
>> Then I grind them smooth and flush.
>>
>> Terry: No, that's way too small. The fish plate is there to distribute
>> stress and making a fish plate the size of or smaller than the weld bead
>> will only make it worse. You have to add up all the beads around the 
>> tiny
>> little fishplate you're thinking about.
>>
>> Do NOT put a fish plate on a mower deck smaller than a business card and
>> that's pushing it.
>>
>> Frosty
>>
>