Broken cast iron mail box bracket.

[jmpgino]

Help please, a friend has an ornamental bracket for their mail box that has been broken by a car backing out at a recent party. They have asked me if I will have a go at repairing it. The distance from the road back to an electrical outlet is 100 feet. for 110 work have a Dynasty 200 DX and a Millermatic 211, I would rather stick it with the Dynasty, my only rods are 6010, 6011, 6013, 7018. I was just going to tack it a few times, as that should be enough.
So would you tell her to get a real welder or have a go and if have a go what rod should I use. The casting is about 3/8 in thick. I have never welded cast iron before but have seen broken castings that look like pot metal but this stuff looks very pure from what I can see.
Thanks for any help.

[aametalmaster]

Can you unbolt it and take it inside? Out of the rod choices you listed 7018 prob would be the best of the 4 rods...Bob

[jmpgino]

Can you unbolt it and take it inside? Out of the rod choices you listed 7018 prob would be the best of the 4 rods...Bob

Sadly not that easy, the bracket has three welds on either side, each about three inches in length. It would obviously mean cutting it off the metal pole, I suppose it is an option doing it that way but would a lot more time.
In a way I wish I had said I can not do it. I have helped so many people out with a repair of something or other many times now, I can do all that is needed to build a house and a lot more, never charge them. I have only seen this person once in my lifetime, she is an old lady living on her own and wealthy as well, if I can help some people I just do it, after all why not.
Anyhow, would you cut it off and then just weld it back after the repair ?

[Manisoba]

Why not just braze it? Just roll a set of tanks out there.

[jmpgino]

Why not just braze it? Just roll a set of tanks out there.

My tanks are back up in Alabama 128 miles away. Now I do have silicone bronze I use in the Millermatic 211 and a tank of Argon handy, would that be better than a rod of 7018

[aametalmaster]

My tanks are back up in Alabama 128 miles away. Now I do have silicone bronze I use in the Millermatic 211 and a tank of Argon handy, would that be better than a rod of 7018

That could work. Give it some clean up with a grinder to remove the paint and maybe some preheat with a propane torch and go for it. But i would be tempted to try the 7018...Bob

[Manisoba]

That I can not answer. When I've welded a manifold or turbo mount with any success I've only used braze or arc rod with nickel in it. 7018 may work for that because there is no huge thermal cycles like on exhaust, but when I've tried 7018 or arctec 223xc in a pinch it never lasted.

[dave powelson]

Help please, a friend has an ornamental bracket for their mail box that has been broken by a car backing out at a recent party. They have asked me if I will have a go at repairing it. The distance from the road back to an electrical outlet is 100 feet. for 110 work have a Dynasty 200 DX and a Millermatic 211, I would rather stick it with the Dynasty, my only rods are 6010, 6011, 6013, 7018. I was just going to tack it a few times, as that should be enough.
So would you tell her to get a real welder or have a go and if have a go what rod should I use. The casting is about 3/8 in thick. I have never welded cast iron before but have seen broken castings that look like pot metal but this stuff looks very pure from what I can see.
Thanks for any help.

What others have failed to mention is voltage drop for 120v welding with 100'
run will see extremely poor, cold, erratic results...even with a 10/3 cord.
Couple the 100' run with more voltage drop from the house outlet wiring, which may well be only a 15 amp circuit to boot.

Time to consider another plan, or just bow out gracefully.

[gnforge]

Can u get a small generator that has 220? I just used a 3500 wt to finish a sign with my dynasty worked great.
U need NiRod for cast, u can buy a very small pac. Our local autoparts store even have these small packages for this type job.
Need to Pre heat 300 to 500 deg. Weld very short bead then peen each bead. I sometimes heat between beads to keep from cooling to much. When finished wrap with Fiberglas insulation to cool slow.

[jmpgino]

That I can not answer. When I've welded a manifold or turbo mount with any success I've only used braze or arc rod with nickel in it. 7018 may work for that because there is no huge thermal cycles like on exhaust, but when I've tried 7018 or arctec 223xc in a pinch it never lasted.

Well like a fool, I went down there cleaned off the paint, tried to hold the bloody thing in place with a couple of clamps, waste of time, they kept falling off, this thing looks like a New Orleans gate, fancy scroll work, nothing would hold it in place. So I thought if I could get someone to hold it roughly in place and I could use my left hand keeping all in place, I could stuff the 7018 rod in and get a few tacks. Well no bloody way, tacked it at the top, went down for the second tack and it had already warped out of place. So I have cut the remaining part of the bracket off the pole.
Late, cold, dark and now pissed off, I am going to have another go at home tomorrow. No way I could have used the Mig, it is blowing down her in Albany Ga today.
I honestly have a huge amount of respect for those of you here who are real welders. Some years ago I had some dry cleaners. An air piston had broken at the top of a large pressing machine cylinder, no spare and next day air for the part would have been high price, so before I ordered a new one, I called out the local welding chap, truck came, fired up his machine and in ten minutes the thing was better than it had ever been. Charged me about $60, the part was well over $300, I sold the stores eleven years later and it held up all of that time, it had massive force hour after hour and year after year. I will never forget that, little did I know that one day I would try and add his skill to my quiver.