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  1. #16
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    Jul 2006
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    Quote Originally Posted by BaronJ View Post
    Hi Eskimo,



    Its a very long time since I did any cast iron welding ! I would make sure that you preheated it well, even if you are going to arc weld it.

    Having said that, I was taught furnace welding of cast iron, mending cracks in marine engine blocks. Hot heavy work for a 15 year old, my first job ! I got a City & Guilds certificate to prove it. The old guy that was teaching me was a real stickler for doing things right.

    What is furnace welding Baron...anything like blacksmithing?

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
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    York, North Yorkshire UK
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    Well Eskimo, this could be a long post.

    Quote Originally Posted by eskimo View Post
    What is furnace welding Baron...anything like blacksmithing?
    No not really !

    Basically the work was placed on a large steel sheet and an igloo shaped furnace of fire brick was built up around it. Then a number of gas burners were placed in between the bricks near the bottom. Two or three strategically placed bricks were set so they could be removed without disturbing the others.

    These bricks were so you could put a welding lance through and also light the gas from the burners. One brick was removed so you could see your work area, another so you could feed the filler rod in. Sometimes you were five or six feet from the work surface. Dressed in leather trousers, jacket and gloves along with head gear you would weld up the crack, fill the hole or what ever.

    It could take a few days to get the work sufficiently hot to weld, depending upon how large the engine block was. I've seen a big block take over a week. Of course it took a long time to cool down as well. Very often we would take a few rows of bricks away when they became cool enough to handle.

    It was nice to stand in front of the furnace and brick pile as they cooled, particularly in winter when it was very cold.

    When the work had cooled enough to be moved, it was taken away to be machined. Much later I learned that metal stitching had started to be used. A far cheaper method of repair and a lot faster as well.

    I hope that this explains the general process, and why I said what I did.
    Best Regards:
    Baron J.

  3. #18
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    Baron, how big were these engines?...rough physical size?

  4. #19
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    Sep 2012
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    Hi Eskimo,

    Some big engines were 12 Cylinders, probably 10 tons plus. Hey bear in mind that I was only 15 when I started that job. Some of those furnace igloos were several feet taller than me, and I didn't get started off on little ones either. As far as I'm aware they came out of tug boats and barges.
    Best Regards:
    Baron J.

  5. #20
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    Athelstone, SA 5076
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    Quote Originally Posted by BaronJ View Post
    Hi Eskimo,

    furnace igloos were several feet taller than me,
    sounds like an old name for what we now call a pizza oven

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Melbourne
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    54
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    I see the main purpose of a repair is to return the upper section of the rails to a flat condition that can be used to position work being held so it's parallel to the drill press table.

    I agree that a repair will not make it as strong as a new one but most of the strength in these vices is in the vertical section of the rails beneath the wider section that supports the sliding jaw. Unless there has been a substantial amount removed from these I doubt the structural integrity will have been reduced to the point it will fail given normal use.

    As long as any repair removes as little of the remaining structure as possible then I doubt it can make the structure any less strong than it is now. This a 3" drill press vice, I reckon you would have to gorilla down on the 8" handle to an extraordinary degree to break it and I suspect the handle would bend before that happened, even in this ones weakened state.
    Cheers,
    Greg.

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Adelaide
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    837

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    Quote Originally Posted by bts View Post
    Must have been a close cousin to the one who did this.

    Attachment 383456
    More likely the offspring of close cousins.

  8. #23
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    Jul 2006
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    Athelstone, SA 5076
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    Would this work?
    Retain both ends and make new rails as per picture?
    20200106_173102.jpg
    Run a bolt up thru the rail from the bottom to pull ends down into and onto rails as per the scribed line

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
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    York, North Yorkshire UK
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    Hi Richard,

    I think that I would just go down the path of filling the holes with metal plugs and bog for the small ones ! Cleaned up and re-painted they wouldn't be too obvious.

    Or grab a stick of Loctite 3463 epoxy metal putty. Once its set you can barely tell its there. Leave it a little proud and finish it by filing or scraping. Marvellous stuff. Though I do confess that I was given a sample kit by the local rep. I posted pictures of it a while back.

    10-07-2019_003.jpg 10-07-2019_001.jpg
    Its that yellow stick laid horizontally in the first picture.
    Best Regards:
    Baron J.

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Location
    Norwood-ish, Adelaide
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    59
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    6,540

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    It would work, but it is a lot of effort for a small vice. Probably starts approaching a 'can it be done' exercise rather than a cost effective fix.

    Michael

  11. #26
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Melbourne
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    1,105

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    What's one of these vices worth in good condition?

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