Welding Tips and Tricks

A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to look at a table saw belonging to a company next door. Seems the employees broke something inside while cranking too hard while trying to tilt the blade. I have had poor luck with cast iron in the past, and almost turned them down. Then I remembered Jody's video about using Aluminum Bronze and AC current. I even had ordered some rod thinking I might try it someday.
I finally tore into the saw and found the broken part. Cast iron as expected, and no replacement parts available. I quoted the saw owner a price, with the stipulation that he was paying for my time, not results. Told him I figured the odds were about 50/50. He agreed, and I rewatched the video for pointers.
Using a stone in a Dremel tool, I beveled the edges of both pieces all the way around. Small sanding disk to clean the paint back a bit, and cleanup with solvent. Set welder about 110 Amps max, AC current, 80 Hz and 40% cleaning action. Used a 3/32 2% Lan tungsten that was sharpened to a 'longer than normal' sharp point. Hand stroked on 500 grit sandpaper to remove any grinding marks.
Welding (Brazing) was fairly straight foward, about 1/2 power for a few seconds to clean an area, then full power till the rod melts and flows into gap. Move to different area, and repeat again. I was quite happy with the results. Wasn't trying to stack dimes, but was trying to get a bit of buildup in the groove.
I never would have tried this without the video from Jody. Never heard of Aluminum Bronze welding rod, or brazing with AC current till I stumbled across that video about a year ago. Thank you, Sir. Please keep the videos coming.

Great job - it looks like the bronze wetted out well - hope owner was suitably impressed & maybe you'll this will score you some more work & as you said thanks to Jody for the information which allowed you to do it.

Yes it did wet out well. I attribute that to the AC cleaning. The saw is about 35 years old, so it may have been a better grade of iron than today's junk.
The fact that it only needed about 100 Amps to wet out, helped to keep things straight. The clearance stayed about even, where the repaired part overhangs the sector gear.
The reason I made the post, was to thank Jody for the video, and to encourage others to give it a try.

Thanks for posting a picture. It’s really amazing how much difference sharing a photo makes to a post.

I always remember that video also because I have some machines with castings and figured the technique might help.


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great looking job. I have just one question. I've tried the al/brz rods on a practice repair of old farm equipment and found that I had one heck of a job making the arc stabilize. Did you find it the same or did it light right up for you?

Way to go Rick, looks good

No problems lighting up the arc on the cast iron. I did have a very sharp point on my Tungsten. The arc was a bit less stable over the Aluminum Bronze, but not hard to deal with.
I did place a copper mesh pad under the part to improving grounding and prevent spark bites.

I'm trying to find the video...

Can you post a link?

VA-Sawyer wrote:Yes it did wet out well. I attribute that to the AC cleaning. The saw is about 35 years old, so it may have been a better grade of iron than today's junk.
The fact that it only needed about 100 Amps to wet out, helped to keep things straight. The clearance stayed about even, where the repaired part overhangs the sector gear.
The reason I made the post, was to thank Jody for the video, and to encourage others to give it a try.

nice job.
certainly a good grade of iron helps. a lot of cheap stuff is random rubbish metal.

ekbmuts wrote:I'm trying to find the video...

Can you post a link?

Jody did a bunch on TIG-brazing:

https://www.youtube.com/user/weldingtip ... ry=brazing

Specifically cast-iron and al-bronze:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQN_yz-4Hhg

Bye, Arno.

I'm sure VA Sawyer is already quite aware of this but maybe some readers do not know. That part, on what looks like a table saw, and they could not find a replacement for.

Really good new table saws can easily cost $3,000 and up. I'm only a student of welding but I have an expensive table saw and a fair amount of experience behind one. Judging from the photo shared, I suspect your neighbor customer is more than happy.

And, it is really cool that Jody helped make that a reality. His videos have probably solved problems all over the world and maybe even some major dollar problems?

Radishfever wrote:
And, it is really cool that Jody helped make that a reality. His videos have probably solved problems all over the world and maybe even some major dollar problems?

absolutely. hes made a massive impact around the world.

even on this forum in recent times there has been companies asking questions and i'm sure your answers have saved them some big $$$.

Who, Me?

What if Welding was my Religion also?

Hope the safety warlords notice I'm wearing my gear bare footed. don't forget I'm just strolling in the garden and don't bother to worry. I already found out the hard way that molten steel will not be stopped by its journey to earth by a sneaker. That day I ordered some nice Red Wings. The first day I wore them I stepped on molten metal and was glad I had them.

I think I just spotted a Brown Breasted Greenwing in your yard.

VA Sawyer,

That was priceless. What you don’t know about me is that nature is my great love. Have been an amateur birder for several years.

I actually searched the web to see if that bird existed. It doesn’t and I laughed my ass off. [emoji23]


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