Well,
I thought I had seen some garbage in the past, but a co-worker asked me to weld up a broken intake manifold for a OHV Tecumseh engine. It looked to be a low pressure die-cast part made from melted down Chinese kids toys. I swear it had more entrapped gas bubbles then actual metal.....hmmm maybe it floats? Anyway it had the typical broken off mounting ears from the engine being dropped. Put the parts in the ultrasonic for 15 min, wire brushed, the whole 9 yards. Typical Tig setting on my 300....and poof! Wow, what a mess, this isnt going to work. The metal gasses so much it just contaminates everything in a couple seconds. Ok put the Tig away, grab the torch. Flux everything up, same 3/32 4043 filler....yeah now we are getting somewhere. It was amazing to watch the base metal actually "deflate" as I welded. Not drop down...but actually shrink! Amazing how much filler was used...and not much of a bead when I was done. Long story short, the part was saved, and I have a new reguard for how bad Tecumseh castings were at the end of the companys life!

-Aaron