Greetings all, I've lurked here for a while. An unsuccessful search has lead me to making my first post.
Just for introductions, I would rate myself as an experienced home welder, stick and MIG, on mild steel. I'm OK on the "plain jane" stuff, but specialized processes and metals are beyond my experience.
I'm having a little trouble figuring out how to repair this bearing holder for an electric motor. The motor fell over backwards and broke the bearing holder into four pieces. Red lines in the pic show the breaks. I've got all the pieces fit back together good, just need to find a way to hold them there.
The piece is cast....something. The metal is magnetic. Gray color in the center. It will make some sparks when grinding but not too many, dark red/yellow if I recall correctly. I think it is cast steel, but not sure. I took it to a pro welder and he thought it was "weldable" but I didn't get the warm fuzzy feeling from his assessment. Cool guy and all, just wasn't 100% in the answer.
This piece doesn't really have any movement or handle any tourqe. It just holds the end of the motor amature centered, so distortion is a concern. It's machined to fit inside the motor case, so expansion is a concern.
I'd like to have the pro welder TIG it, but not sure if it will hold or if it will crack again. He mentioned nickle rod or even just MIG. I also thought about brazing it.
What say ye great minds? What kind of metal do I have here and how do you suggest I fix it.
Thanks for the input,
Nathan
Just for introductions, I would rate myself as an experienced home welder, stick and MIG, on mild steel. I'm OK on the "plain jane" stuff, but specialized processes and metals are beyond my experience.
I'm having a little trouble figuring out how to repair this bearing holder for an electric motor. The motor fell over backwards and broke the bearing holder into four pieces. Red lines in the pic show the breaks. I've got all the pieces fit back together good, just need to find a way to hold them there.
The piece is cast....something. The metal is magnetic. Gray color in the center. It will make some sparks when grinding but not too many, dark red/yellow if I recall correctly. I think it is cast steel, but not sure. I took it to a pro welder and he thought it was "weldable" but I didn't get the warm fuzzy feeling from his assessment. Cool guy and all, just wasn't 100% in the answer.
This piece doesn't really have any movement or handle any tourqe. It just holds the end of the motor amature centered, so distortion is a concern. It's machined to fit inside the motor case, so expansion is a concern.
I'd like to have the pro welder TIG it, but not sure if it will hold or if it will crack again. He mentioned nickle rod or even just MIG. I also thought about brazing it.
What say ye great minds? What kind of metal do I have here and how do you suggest I fix it.
Thanks for the input,
Nathan
