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Is there anyone out there who can do really good repairs on a broken cast iron piece? I seem to recall someone mentioning that once upon a time.

TinfoilPhono wrote:Is there anyone out there who can do really good repairs on a broken cast iron piece? I seem to recall someone mentioning that once upon a time.

I don't know about who can do it, but it can be done by heating the casting and mig welding
Steve

I have had a few cast iron pieces repaired in the past. My fathers best friend is an extremely skilled jeweler, and uses some sort of "laser" to weld these pieces back together. The problem is however, that the piece mustn't be too large. They must fit inside the closed environment where the laser is located. The whole device looks like a sandblasting vessel. the piece fits inside, then his hand are in protective gloves to work with it, and two microscopes come up to his eyes. The largest piece I've ever had him fix was a polyphone are for a gold plated Edison concert machine.

Hope this helps,
Aaron

I can't recommend anyone, but I found an interesting article that at least explains in plain English why welding cast iron is so problematic. Success is hit or miss, because the carbon content of cast iron varies considerably. The author reveals several interesting welding techniques, but nothing about cast iron welding is certain.

http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/wel ... -iron.html

Below is a link to an antique coffee grinder site which lists a couple of restorers who offer cast iron repair. Since many of the old grinder parts are visible, I suspect these guys do a really good job. I've never had a need for to send anything off for repair, but it may be worth inquiring and getting some references.
David

http://javaholics.net/html/links.html

http://www.castmetalwelding.com/

This guy is REALLY good. He's expensive, I had him do a bunch repair work on a hard coal stove. He mostly does work on antique car manifolds, but will work on about anything if he knows he can fix it. He showed my brother and I some incredible repairs and really likes pre WWI Buick engines. He had about 20 of those that he was doing repair work on the cylinders. The repair work he did on my stove was impossible to see on the face once he was done. Since the back side was not seen, I told him not to worry about it.

Anyway, if you contact him and send pictures, he will let you know about the cost. It seems like he told me once that you can figure about $50 an inch for the work and he does stand behind it. Since it's something that won't be subject to high heat, it may be a little less. The last thing you want is for someone to screw it up I do know that. Sometimes then it can be almost impossible to get sorted out. Good luck with it now, Earl