Outboard Motor Housing Build-Up & Crack Repair

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Not pretty but should get it done.  A lot of oxidation and in retrospect I should have ground out more of the old material.  Part belongs to a guy at work who says a new or used one can't be found for the older motor.  He'll be taking it to a machine shop for a clean-up cut to true things up again.The real surprise was the 180 SD had enough umph to make it happen on that big hunk of aluminum with no time in an oven or pre-heat.  Thought I would have to use the extra power of the 225G and HF-251 but tried the Syncrowave first and never looked back.Machine set to max (of course)Balance set to max penetration (didn't think to try a more cleaning setting until later )1/8" Thoriated with blunt pointArgon @ 20cfh1/8" 5356 fillerTwo areas in need of build-up between bolt holes (red arrows) and a previous significant repair (yellow circle).Worse side prep'd (??) for build-up.  Should have ground out more of the old material.One view of first build-up.Same area as viewed from the other side showing bolt hole build-up.Second area built-up.  It's actually tied in better along the edge than it looks in this shot.Stand by for post two . . .MM200 w/Spoolmatic 1Syncrowave 180SDBobcat 225G Plus - LP/NGMUTT Suitcase WirefeederWC-1S/Spoolmatic 1HF-251D-1PakMaster 100XL '68 Red Face Code #6633 projectStar Jet 21-110Save Second Base!
Reply:. . . showing the crack repair (?) between the two exaust ports.  A real pain due to the exhaust residue in the crack, my inability to get the torch very deep into the ports and mostly due to my lack of experience/TIG skills.Crack before grinding out the crack with a Dremel.Welded up as far in as I could get and finished back to original thickness.Looking in from the other side.And there was a broken bolt.  Welding a nut on didn't work as it only broke off deeper in the hole so . . .. . . I just drilled it out on the drill press and retapped.Thanks for looking.MM200 w/Spoolmatic 1Syncrowave 180SDBobcat 225G Plus - LP/NGMUTT Suitcase WirefeederWC-1S/Spoolmatic 1HF-251D-1PakMaster 100XL '68 Red Face Code #6633 projectStar Jet 21-110Save Second Base!
Reply:My my, tuff job. Nothing wrong with trying though, outboards are really expensive to replace.City of L.A. Structural; Manual & Semi-Automatic;"Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore."Job 28:1,2Lincoln, Miller, Victor & ISV BibleDanny
Reply:looks good so far, did you get any porosity in weld?PeterEquipment:2  old paws2  eyes (that don't look so good)1  bad back
Reply:Thanks Peter and yes, a couple times actually.  Ground it out and ran another pass or two.MM200 w/Spoolmatic 1Syncrowave 180SDBobcat 225G Plus - LP/NGMUTT Suitcase WirefeederWC-1S/Spoolmatic 1HF-251D-1PakMaster 100XL '68 Red Face Code #6633 projectStar Jet 21-110Save Second Base!
Reply:Originally Posted by tanglediverMy my, tuff job. Nothing wrong with trying though, outboards are really expensive to replace.
Reply:Stuck screws in AL just stink, good job duaneb. The little 180 SD is a player huh?Matt
Reply:Nice save Duane, I'll bet the owner is happy with your repair."The reason we are here is that we are not all there"SA 200Idealarc TM 300 300MM 200MM 25130a SpoolgunPrecision Tig 375Invertec V350 ProSC-32 CS 12 Wire FeederOxweld/Purox O/AArcAirHypertherm Powermax 85LN25
Reply:good job i hate welding on them old lowwer units all that corrosionand when them ss bolts break off  a real pitaagain good jobidealarc 250/250 ac-dc tigidealarc 250/250 ac-dc tig #2 used for sticklincoln sp100hh125dual arbor grinder polisher30 yrs of hand tools52 pitch blocks 6p-26prake gauge -pitch gaugeG&D prop repair 918-207-6938Hulbert,okla 74441
Reply:Your balance setting might be part of the reason that this repair worked with the less powerful machine.  Less cleaning action, means more power (overall) in the portion of the arc that puts heat into the weld pool.I've had some involved discussions with Blackbird offline about using less cleaning action to get more "performance" out of AC TIG machines.The consensus between the two of us is that inverter AC TIG machines have a lot more capability than people usually acknowledge.  The transformer machines probably do as well, although because the range of balance adjustment is isn't a large, the inverter machines benefit even more from reducing the cleaning action part of the cycle.  This is true as far as Miller transformer vs inverters.  I don't know for sure if the other manufacturer's transformer machines have similar range of adjustment for their balance control.Sure you may have to grind out one or more passes to make up for the lack of cleaning action.  But you'll be able to weld thicker material; it'll just take longer.  You also need to know what a sound aluminum TIG weld looks like.The key is in knowing when the weld beads are clean and properly fused into the surrounding material.  Failure to grind out a bad(porous) pass, or one that didn't tie into the base metal, means your fusing defects inside the weld.Just some random thoughts.... Originally Posted by duaneb55...Balance set to max penetration (didn't think to try a more cleaning setting until later )...
Reply:Originally Posted by noriteI'll bet the owner is happy with your repair.
Reply:OK, I promised an update when the housing got resurfaced but before that happened the owner asked me to cut the questionable hole out (is that even possible?? ) and build up the whole corner.So here's the before, during and after results of Round 2.  On this go the 50A breaker feeding my welder outlet tripped 3 or 4 times from flat footing the peddle to get enough heat from the 180 SD (pulls 54A at full capacity).  The tripped breaker resulted in leaving an oxidized tungsten and weld pool (shown by the red arrows).  There was enough material built up at that point so I left it alone and just cleaned up the tungsten.To answer castweld's question regarding porosity, there turned out to be two spots after milling shown in the red circles.  Fortunately niether one will be an issue for proper gasket sealing.  Owner still has to locate and drill the new corner hole using the steel seperator plate and trim the outer edge to match.MM200 w/Spoolmatic 1Syncrowave 180SDBobcat 225G Plus - LP/NGMUTT Suitcase WirefeederWC-1S/Spoolmatic 1HF-251D-1PakMaster 100XL '68 Red Face Code #6633 projectStar Jet 21-110Save Second Base!
Reply:nice save!  what kind and size motor?thank for posting. Daye
Reply:PM sent.And then, after so much work...... you have it in your hand, and you look over to your side...... and the runner has run off. Leaving you holding the prize, wondering when the runner will return.
Reply:Originally Posted by tigmuskywhat kind and size motor?
Reply:Really nice save Duane.Thanks for posting the pictures.Sign on East Texas payphone: Calls to God 40 cents......it's a local call...
Reply:A dab,I agree that you will see "some" performance gain between an inverter and a transformer based machine, based on a wider range of balance.The biggest performance gain, however, comes from the ability to increase the frequency, thereby focusing the arc.  A more focused arc allows the heat to penetrate the base metal further.Syncro 250 DX Dynasty 200 DXMM 251 w/30A SG XMT 304 w/714 Feeder & Optima PulserHH187Dialarc 250 AC/DCHypertherm PM 1250Smith, Harris, Victor O/ASmith and Thermco Gas MixersAccess to a full fab shop with CNC Plasma, Water Jet, etc.