Knucklehead repair

[Steve Little]

Hi.
4th day of winter and it is cold as a mother in-laws kiss.
I have a set of Carl’s “spring board” repair kits which I am hoping to weld onto a set of Knuckleheads. I live a sheltered life and have only ever seen this repair done with bronze.
Hoping someone can offer firsthand experience in welding them with cast iron rods.

My weld prep includes: Both weld areas are clean, bright, cast iron and have V weld prep around the repair pieces to allow for penetration. The heads will be placed in the oven to preheat and then back in the oven for post heat. Then the oven will be turned off to allow them cool slowly.
I have ordered a small pack of 2.5mm “Cast Craft” welding rods for the experiment. Carl’s spring boards have an extra inch of length which is cut off when getting correct fitment to the heads. I have these off cuts and a piece of original spring board which I plan to have a experimental weld tomorrow. Any other tips would be welcome.

[larry]

What is your objection to Everdur (bronze) ?

[T. Cotten]

What is your objection to Everdur (bronze) ?

I've had good luck, Folks,...

With a Henrob torch and piston rings.

Peen every bead...

....Cotten

[wideglide38]

A friend welded a cracked cast iron fitting on my VL frame. Used a high nickel rod. During the process, he welded a 3/4" to 1" bead, stopped and peened each bead as it cooled. I get head work and frame maybe different; but, peening is key!
William

[Steve Little]

Hi. Thanks for the replies and suggestions. I don't have any objection to brazing but wanted to have a go at cast welding.

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[Rubone]

A friend welded a cracked cast iron fitting on my VL frame.

The fittings on VL frames are not cast iron, they are forged steel. No special rod is needed for repair of them.

[exeric]

I just happened to watch a YouTube clip the other day about welding close grain cast iron. I think you might get a lot of good tips from seeing how other welders do things, Steve.

[T. Cotten]

I'm no pro welder, Folks,...

But I have learned by trial and error that flame-brazing cast iron with piston rings (no brass) is a helluva lot easier to clean up and machine than cast iron "chilled" by electro-welding with nickle or silicon bronze.

Particularly fins, Indian frame members, sewing machine stands, "wrought iron" lawn furniture, etc..

My box of 'rescued' air compressor ring sets should last a lifetime.

....Cotten

[MMasa]

Are those diving boards iron as well? They look cast. I used to sell Don Sullivan (aka Head Hog) some that I made out of A36 and he used them to do the same repair. Mine are long so you cut them down to what you need. They also don't have a hole and have extra material on the top side. This way they can be drilled and decked to the exact location required.
Don wanted them made out of A36 because then he just needed to butter the broken ends of the cast iron on the head with SOMETHING??? Probably a Nickel rod. With that done, he said that welding the A36 to that material was easy-peasy.
Mark Masa

[Steve Little]

Thanks for the suggestions and ideas. I don't know what grade material Carl is using for the repair kits.
I could feel that they are a bit harder than the parent metal of the heads during the grinding and fitment stage.
I rang CIG and spoke to the weld adviser about the recommended procedure for these rods and then had a look at a couple of youtube videos.

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[Steve Little]

The first pass with these electrodes was a trial by error. It welded nicely to Carls parts but trying to get it to contact the head was interesting. It looked like a MIG weld without gas. To get a good looking weld I had to lay a pass on the head and then grind it clean. The second pass would weld much better. The middle bracket in the pictures was my first attempt and I used original material from a longer piece. The foundry must have added something else into the pot when pouring these heads. Or maybe they were dusting the pattern or the mould with something.
During the weld process I found that these electrodes need to be kept almost vertical or as steep as possible (about 10 degrees) for the best weld appearance. If I layed the electrode down any further it would spatter the weld material out the back of the weld instead of laying it down.

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Once it was welded I stuck it back in the oven for an hour and then turned the oven off so it would cool slowly. I can report that there was no cracking.
Next operation was machining. Cast iron swarf and dust will ruin the ways of a lathe or mill so a little precautionary setup was needed.

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A couple of inclusions showed up. But the rest of the weld looked nice and solid

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[Steve Little]

Next step was to check the integrity of each side of the weld. The weld in the following picture had me worried.

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I performed a dye pen test on all the welds.

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All the welds checked out OK

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I just realised that I used the next picture out of sequence in the previous post but it doesn't matter. It still shows a quality of weld that I can live with. I have 2 more heads to repair and now have knowledge and confidence to build on.

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Thanks for the tips suggestions.

[exeric]

Beautiful work, Steve. Your photo sequence really shows the challenge of that job, and how well you did it. I sure wish you were my neighbor

[DaveAus]

Nice work Mr Little

[Steve Little]

Thanks Eric and Dave.

I think purchasing these heads was an impulse shopping moment. It was about 10 years ago and there was nothing wrong with the eBay seller’s description or pictures (I think he had them listed as Donor heads) but in retrospect, I could have been a bit more discerning.

I chose the best head to start with and now that it is finished I will try to get the other 2 right. The picture shows that I have already started the reclaim process. I have changed tack and have pre-welded the areas with the cast rods to get good material before adding the new spring boards. Hoping this will exclude any inclusions in the weld.

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