Trouble in Paradise, Pieces of My Broken Heart....

Ulma Doctor

Infinitely Curious
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Feb 2, 2013
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Gertrude, my Altas MFC Horizontal Mill suffered a broken leg,:angry:
the selector casting is made of cast iron.
apparently in her past her old owner attempted to make a repair to the forward/reverse selector and it failed.
i didn't think to snap pictures of the broken parts before i preped them for repair again.
i didn't really think of detailing the repair until i had a few minutes of downtime.
we'll start with the photographic evidence of the pieces of my broken heart:jester:

MFC BROKEN F-R 1.jpg

MFC BROKEN F-R 2.jpg

MFC BROKEN F-R 3.jpg

MFC BROKEN F-R 1.jpg MFC BROKEN F-R 2.jpg MFC BROKEN F-R 3.jpg
 
I set up the broken parts for the brazing operation....
there was a section of the selector arm that was inexplicably missing.
I hand fitted a steel wedge and braze welded it to the cast iron banjo section as seen below,
then braze welded the cast iron broken end back to the cast iron banjo section
i used the oxy/acetylene rig and some good ol' 1/8" LFB (low fuming bronze) flux coated brazing rod. 65,000 psi tensile strength
this stuff is really nice to braze weld with and is easily machineable.
i fitted the repaired part and then smoothed out the grind marks with a flapper wheel on the 4 1/2" grinder

MFC BROKEN F-R 7.JPG MFC BROKEN F-R 5.jpg
 
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Good work on that repair. Brazing is a new world to me. I had no idea it could be as strong a it is. Again, good job man. It's awesome when one can fix verse buy
 
Good work there. Did you use flux coated rod or have separate flux you mixed up?
 
Good work there. Did you use flux coated rod or have separate flux you mixed up?

Thank You, lindse
I used Harris 1/8" LFB flux coated brazing rod it's good rod and very convenient.

a lot of old timers use Borax for their flux !!!
 
here's a live action picture snapped during a test cut after the reassembly.

MFC BROKEN F-R 6.jpg

the lubricant is bacon grease and mineral oil 50/50,
.020" depth of cut, .0125" table feed rate , 62 cutter rpm, 2.5" staggered side cutting tool.
it chops very smoothly and cleanly, leaving a nicely finished surface.

thanks again for your interest

MFC BROKEN F-R 6.jpg
 
here's a live action picture snapped during a test cut after the reassembly. the lubricant is bacon grease and mineral oil 50/50,

Mmmmmm, I'll bet it smells good! Great job on the repair. Very satisfying to fix something like that.

GG
 
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