Welding Tips and Tricks

I broke the arm on my old POS cast iron vice. I contacted the Mfg. and even though it was lifetime warranty, the warranty is up as they don't support bench vises anymore. The good side is they are going to send me $50.00.
Question is that now I have a great 'chunk-o-iron' to experiment on. I've done tons of cast iron welding so I'm not worried about conventional welding with stick but I'm wondering what would be the strongest way to weld it. I'm going to treat this as a learning experience.

A check for $50 will take some of the sting out. What's the plan to weld: grind a groove, pre-heat, weld, post-heat? Will a weld bead in that location prevent the jaws from meeting?

If you have a boat............

If it's cast you could braze it then do some destructive tests. If it doesn't hold up then give it a weld try.

My plan is to crunch it back to zero crack then grind out the easiest to reach 1/4 to 1/3 then weld it. Next I can take the vise apart drill the 2 ends of the original crack and grind, heat, weld and beat those 2 ends. Then I'll go back and grind out the cold weld section I did first and lay that in. If you braze it first then that's pretty much what your stuck with unless you grind all that back out.
What I was looking for was opinions on what weld material or process might be strongest. I have most every ni-rod known to man but of course they are all mixed in the same container. I've been itching to TIG weld with silicon bronze some cast but I'm not sure this would be the best application.

Oilman wrote:If you have a boat............

ya don't learn much that way,,,, Broken shit around the shop is a great way to experiment with different weld processes but you can go fishing if you want.

I apologize John, I just couldn't resist.

I happen to agree with always trying something rather than pitching into the scrap pile. I just wish I had more time.
I don't even have time to fish.

As to the vise repair. Some of those style vices are hollow in the tube section. Where the round meets the head is probably solid, but if there is some way to internal sleeve it...I'm guessing that you will need to preheat the surrounding area before welding to help reduce stress. I've seen lots of cast iron weld repairs. I worked in a die shop where some dies got pretty much smashed. We usually did the prep work and sent the dies out to be brazed or welded back together. I am certain this was done with lots of preheating, 500-1000 degrees. Lots of rosebud torch. I think most was done with silicone bronze. However there might have been a nickel root pass.

Oilman wrote:I apologize John, I just couldn't resist.

I happen to agree with always trying something rather than pitching into the scrap pile. I just wish I had more time.
I don't even have time to fish.

As to the vise repair. Some of those style vices are hollow in the tube section. Where the round meets the head is probably solid, but if there is some way to internal sleeve it...I'm guessing that you will need to preheat the surrounding area before welding to help reduce stress. I've seen lots of cast iron weld repairs. I worked in a die shop where some dies got pretty much smashed. We usually did the prep work and sent the dies out to be brazed or welded back together. I am certain this was done with lots of preheating, 500-1000 degrees. Lots of rosebud torch. I think most was done with silicone bronze. However there might have been a nickel root pass.

OH hell. No apology needed for me! What I have been thinking about was TIG with silicon bronze. I've done hundreds of nickel stick repairs but never TIG/bronze. I was even considering a TIG/nickle filler. I don't mind loosing the vise. Like the title said "POS vice" . The thing is that if I'm going to attempt a new procedure I'd like it to at least have a chance of holding.
It is a hollow beam but there would be no practical way for a sleeve to be attached.

Tig nickel works very well & should be a great deal stronger than silicon bronze - not sure about aluminum bronze - it's meant to be significantly stronger than silicon but seems unavailable here so never tried it - if you have old nickel stick rods they work fine with the flux removed - I use them regularly on manifold repair as they tolerate high temperature & don't go crazy hard making machining difficult.

Noddy, I get my supplies of al bronze from the UK because its only available here in big expensive quantity. I buy a small coil of wire which I twist into rod when I need it (not often). Google it or ebay.

All done, I hope. I ended up Tig with cleaned Ni-Rod. It ran like butter, smooth and quiet. I pre-heated to steady 700*. I ran in short stringers of around 3/4 inch. I did the root pass at 160amp wide open. Then dropped to 130 and feathered amps as necessary. It's not the prettiest but it was a tough weld. Destruction test to follow.

Can you post a photo? I'm interested to see the before and after.

Ugly but it didn't break, and I did beat the snot out of it.

Did you do something to slow the cooling like burying in sand or wrap in a blanket, or just air cool?

After welding I brought the overall temp back up to around 500+ and then wrapped it in a bunch of old gloves and wrapped those in a leather bib. It took about 2-3 hours to come back to less than 200. An infra red is really helpful in welding cast. You can use the oil smoke method but the infra red is much easier.