More recent projects, lots of brass in this one

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Haven't been posting much for while now. Mostly because I was to busy doing production work that I had to be careful what details I let out. But those guys have moved on and it's back to the old repair gig. Unfortunately I got to busy to get all the pictures I wanted to take of these but here's what I did manage to get.  We'll start out with a fairly large brazing job. A LOT of brass went into this one and a lot of time as well. It had been repaired before (kinda). They had inserted a piece of pipe through it and flowed a little brass on the worn section on the bottom to hold it in place. But not enough IMHO. They had left the seal sections with a wafer thin section of the pipe about half way around (which was peeling back) and the bottom where they brazed it was less than 1/16" thick at the seal part.   I used a cutoff wheel and cut the pipe out of the seal area and built it up as well as adding to the length (which really should of been another 1/4" longer on each side even after I did the building up). I also flowed a lot more brass along the bottom getting a better flow into the crack between the pipe and the housing than they had.  The first pic is after brazing. The next two are after sand blasting for the third time. The first sand blasting was the original cleaning. Then I had to burn out all the grease between the pipe and the housing and it had to be blasted again.   The last two pics are of the tool I threw together to help line up these bearings for the initial machining. The problem here is that the only surface to try to line up to is deep inside the bearing near the chuck. Not to many indicators will reach that far down such a deep hole. I've wanted to build something like this for a long time but never had the time. I decided to try and keep it simple so I would have time to get it done. This is the result of about 1 1/2 hours of tinkering.   The brass plunger has a small hole which the 1/8" brazing rod goes into. I had to add the second brazing rod to the first to keep some of the vibration down. Those are o-rings being used as springs. If I had time I would make a precision hinge and make the pointer out of a piece of flat metal to stiffen it up but this works well enough to get withing .002" or closer if you're careful which is close enough for these.   More coming. Attached ImagesMillermatic 252XMT 304'sDynasty 280DXHypertherm PowerMax 1250Miller Trailblazer 302 EFIOptima PulserXR feeder and XR Edge gun and more athttp://members.dslextreme.com/users/waynecook/index.htm
Reply:Ok here's the next set.  This is the frame that holds the shaft for the previous bearing. It had been broken on both sides. I had to braze it up and to hold it in place I'd put the old shaft in there to keep things lined up. But I had some trouble getting the heat in the piece right where I could get a good bond at the bottom of the groove. Here is the result of that problem. The brass had flowed into the groove between the shaft and the hole and bonded the two. When I went to drive it out it took some of the cast iron with it. Thus I had to setup to fill the void. I used a piece of rusty pipe and some high temp insulating tape to try to keep the brass from bonding to the pipe.   The second shot shows how I stack brick around it to help keep the heat in. This piece is one of the harder ones I've ever had to try to heat up without a oven. It really soaks the heat up.   More coming The third shot shows me heating it with my large propane rose bud tip.   The fourth is the result of the preheating.   The fifth shows the result after I brazed it up. I started out with a very large welding tip (rated at 70 cfh of acetylene) but it got to hot and wasn't able to put enough heat into the piece to braze properly. I ended up with my 70 cfh heating tip which did the trick nicely.   As you can see despite my best efforts the brass still stuck to the pipe. I was forced to heat the inside of the pipe enough to where the brass was soft enough to allow me to drive out out. The pipe being loose in the hole helped. Attached ImagesMillermatic 252XMT 304'sDynasty 280DXHypertherm PowerMax 1250Miller Trailblazer 302 EFIOptima PulserXR feeder and XR Edge gun and more athttp://members.dslextreme.com/users/waynecook/index.htm
Reply:Here's the next batch.  Unfortunately I got busy and didn't get any more pics of the steps in repairing the bearing. However here's a shot of the completed bearing. Note that we machine places to chuck and indicate off of on each end of the bearing. That makes it much easier to repair in the future. We use nylatron for the bearing material on these. Also note the washers we made to take up the excess end slack on the bearing since it was to short.   The next shots are of a different scale of project done at the same time as the last set of pics. Here again I got busy and didn't get shots of the completed repair. Attached ImagesMillermatic 252XMT 304'sDynasty 280DXHypertherm PowerMax 1250Miller Trailblazer 302 EFIOptima PulserXR feeder and XR Edge gun and more athttp://members.dslextreme.com/users/waynecook/index.htm
Reply:Next round.  At the same time as the above I had this job come in. It's a bracket off the front of a tractor. Prepped and brazed up as before. Again I didn't manage to get shots after I sculpted the brass where it showed and then sand blasted so the repair would be hard to see after painting. Attached ImagesMillermatic 252XMT 304'sDynasty 280DXHypertherm PowerMax 1250Miller Trailblazer 302 EFIOptima PulserXR feeder and XR Edge gun and more athttp://members.dslextreme.com/users/waynecook/index.htm
Reply:Here's a different type of project. This one started out as a easy remove the old bearing race or sleeve from the crankshaft in the field. It turned into a nightmare.   I was called out to remove what looked like either the remains of a old bearing race or a sleeve that had been done previously on this pilot bearing. Even after close inspection that's what it looked like especially since one of the two bearings that came with the clutch kit was almost a perfect fit on what looked like a small shoulder where the sleeve was supposed to be. Thus I decide to weld a bead inside the sleeve to shrink it and remove it.   Big oops there. After several rounds of careful welding and even making up a slide hammer and welding it to what looked like a sleeve it wouldn't come out. Thus the engine had to be swapped out for the spare and this one brought to the shop. Studying the machining problem I decided the mill was the best solution. Much easier to get the precision line up to the hole that was needed. However I didn't have any angle blocks heavy enough to satisfy me for the mounting. Since I had some nice heavy flat stock left over from the last year of heavy metal fabricating I decided it was time to make some. It took me a while to machine them to my satisfaction but I'm fairly happy with the way they came out.   Anyway back to the story. Got it all mounted up and then came the fun part of trying to cut weld hardened cast iron out of the hole. Took a while and a lot of tool sharpening but I got it done. We made a nice sleeve out of some good hard material to make a good fit for the bearing and we are done. Attached ImagesMillermatic 252XMT 304'sDynasty 280DXHypertherm PowerMax 1250Miller Trailblazer 302 EFIOptima PulserXR feeder and XR Edge gun and more athttp://members.dslextreme.com/users/waynecook/index.htm
Reply:Damn, Wayne!! I don't know who gets the trickiest projects, you or Zap. I'm sure some other guys on here get some also but never post pics.                                     MikeOl' Stonebreaker  "Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes"Hobart G-213 portableMiller 175 migMiller thunderbolt ac/dc stick Victor O/A setupMakita chop saw
Reply:why did you braze the tractor part?  what was it made of?
Reply:Well there you go brazing all that stuff up.. Best way to repair most cast iron. Nice job. I feel your pain on the nodular iron welds on the crank. I had a man weld several beads in a motor cylinder to shrink the liner for removal, only there was no liner. A real pain to bore the welds out to sleeve it. I would have had to pull crank and repair in lathe, you saved dis and reassembly time though.PeterEquipment:2  old paws2  eyes (that don't look so good)1  bad back
Reply:Originally Posted by mla2ofusDamn, Wayne!! I don't know who gets the trickiest projects, you or Zap. I'm sure some other guys on here get some also but never post pics.                                     Mike
Reply:Failure is not an option with us...right Irish?WHATEVER it is we will figure out a way to success!...zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:Originally Posted by zapsterFailure is not an option with us...right Irish?WHATEVER it is we will figure out a way to success!...zap!
Reply:Originally Posted by irish fixitNever say die!  I have to admit that I have a tendency to go way to far to not let a piece beat me.
Reply:Brass or Silicon Bronze / Low Fume Bronze?  That might be why you're having difficulty getting the filler through your welding supply.Next time you get a stuck bearing race like that just split it with a torch.  The torch wont cut the iron, either.
Reply:It's low fuming bronze. Brazing has never been super popular and most now days just use flux coated 1/8" rod. But for the jobs I do the larger rod is better. I was pushing five 1/8" rods at the same time into the puddle while fixing the bracket for that bearing.   I started to get the torch out after the first round of weld didn't loosen it. That's when I discovered that my helper hadn't turned the bottles off on the my truck the last time we did a field job. No oxygen left. But I much prefer the welding method of removing races compared to the torch method. Less chance of damage despite the fact that I'm good with a torch. Plus the fact that cutting down a hole like that is hard on the torch and tip. I had also taken the dremel out of the truck two days before (I'd only had it in there due to a field remove the broken bolt job in the first place). The only grinders I had where angle grinders and the smallest stone I had was to big to do much to the area.   I just can't keep enough stuff in that truck for all eventualities. I'm already over weight as it is.Millermatic 252XMT 304'sDynasty 280DXHypertherm PowerMax 1250Miller Trailblazer 302 EFIOptima PulserXR feeder and XR Edge gun and more athttp://members.dslextreme.com/users/waynecook/index.htm
Reply:You are right about it being difficult to get bare rod in large diameters.  I think electrodes rarely have any place near cast iron.This is a 1 1/4 inch pipe bung brazed into a cast iron elbow I did recently.I also make a lot of flanges by brazing.  I seldom have access to machine tools so if I try welding a fitting to a flange I cannot face it.  Brazing prevents the face from warping in the first place.  This is a 1/2 inch pipe bung brazed into some 3/8 plate with 50N then drawn flat with a file.Last edited by 76GMC1500; 02-23-2013 at 06:21 PM.
Reply:Brazing has it's advantages alright. Good looking flange there considering how you had to make it.Millermatic 252XMT 304'sDynasty 280DXHypertherm PowerMax 1250Miller Trailblazer 302 EFIOptima PulserXR feeder and XR Edge gun and more athttp://members.dslextreme.com/users/waynecook/index.htm
Reply:Using used Cat parts to make new Detroit parts... blasphemy.
Reply:when you (irish) were talking about welding on the inside of the bearing race, is the heat from the weld supposed to make the race contract to make it easier to remove?   don't mean to clutter your thread with the rookie questions.
Reply:Yes it contracts and significantly at that. If done right the race will just fall out.Millermatic 252XMT 304'sDynasty 280DXHypertherm PowerMax 1250Miller Trailblazer 302 EFIOptima PulserXR feeder and XR Edge gun and more athttp://members.dslextreme.com/users/waynecook/index.htm
Reply:thats what i thought.  thanks for the answer.
Reply:Originally Posted by 76GMC1500Using used Cat parts to make new Detroit parts... blasphemy.
Reply:Originally Posted by 7A749Excellent ingenuity Wayne.Always a pleasure to see your work.Get anywhere on that XMT yet?