Weld or braze?

[Larry$]

but not having a torch setup it ain't gonna happen.

Buy a decent propane torch and do a little practice on some scrap. It's pretty easy, just clean the surfaces well. I've got the flux made for silver solder and it works well. I'm no expert! The silver solder I use doesn't have a lot of silver in it but if flows very nicely & wicks into the joint. There are lots of different silver solder alloys or silver brazing alloys. I've used it to fasten carbide to tools and it has always held.

 

[alloy]

Well it's technically a "metal art" class. You can use any of the equipment you want to as long as your using it safely. I chose tig. Later I may try mig, or some stick.

There is one lady in there that brings in stacks of scoop shovels and cuts patterns in them, I'm assuming to sell. I didn't think you could make parts to sell there, but it's not any of my concern.

Everybody knows everyone, all of them have been taking the class for a long time and are surprised a new guy (me) actually got a spot. They cap it at 10 students. Awhile back I donated an old stove to the program for them to use doing powder coating and the guy instructor that's missing got me in I believe. So I got rid of the stove for free, going to a good cause, and got in the class. A win, win, win for me.

I'll practice maybe this weekend, the pyrex gas saver stuff will be in today. I'd practice today but I'm going to the muffer shop to get the tail pipes fitted up and welded on my nova.

 

[JFL4066]

I spent my youth oxy-acet gas welding and cutting. Old school but it teaches you heat control. Later in my teens I started doing a lot of arc welding. I didn't get into TIG until 15 years ago. The new machines have a tremendous amount of control which I believe can be a detriment for beginners. Instead of learning puddle control and electrode angle, you are worrying about frequency, pulse rise and fall and such. One thing I did learn lately... pickup a really good pair of those reading glasses in different strengths (I'm 62) It really helps in seeing the puddle and tip! I also spend a lot of time getting good support for my torch hand using blocks, clamps, etc. Helps tremendously in getting a steady bead.

Learn on 1/8" steel first. Flat and fillet welds. THEN go to sheet metal. You don't want to be burning thru sheet metal while starting out.

Sounds like a nice class. Have fun!

 

[alloy]

Tonight I tried aluminum. When its' going well it's easier than steel, but it goes bad FAST. She set the machine to pulse.

First aluminum weld is on the left. It got better in some of the welds, and worse on others. Need to get better ending the weld. I found it goes bad in a heartbeat. Trying to be consistent. Ran out of room on this plate and went with a thicker plate and higher amps. Had to keep going higher amps to get it to not ball up. I actually found welding aluminum was easier than steel when it's going well.

The miller has a water cooled torch, and mine doesn't. (everlast 200dx) I'm not sure I can add a water cooler to it or not. Everlast cooler is $400, water cooled torch is $230 if I can add it. The instructor said I could weld a short time without a cooler. For now I'm just exploring the possibilities. Welding aluminum only for a short time it will be hard to practice.

I know I still need to practice on steel, but I was encouraged tonight with my welds in aluminum. Got a long ways to go, but this made me feel good. It's a 2 hour class and when she came around and said time to cleanup I couldn't believe it had been 2 hours.

Only one more class to go this quarter. Next quarter doesn't start til July

 

[JFL4066]

Not bad at all Dan for starting out. Aluminum welding does demand tighter heat control. Just need to reverse direction a bit at the end and feather off the current to fill the craters. A water cooled torch is the way to go, especially if you are doing a lot of aluminum.

 

[alloy]

Since this thread is about welding I'll continue with a different part I need to have welded.

This is my latest transmission conversion and I need to first make sure it can be welded, and then find someone locally that can weld them as they come in. I know a guy and I'm going to try and take it to him this week and see what he says. He has welded a cast aluminum bell housing for me before and done a great job.

The first stage of welding is to weld in the sleeve. I realize that at the bottom of the sleeve it's impossible to get a tig torch in there, and I plan on using epoxy to seal that section up. Someone with a spool gun may be able to do t, but I'm not sure of that. I'm hoping that it can be welded most of the way around. And really hoping that the sleeve won't distort too much from the heat. A housing with an o-ring goes in there with a speedometer gear. I'd thought about making the sleeve under size then running a reamer in it, but I've found that reamers usually don't cut on size every time, or any time for that matter. It's a .875 diameter bore.

The second part of the job is to weld the 1/2" spacer onto the side of the sleeve for a retaining bolt. I made a small fixture to hold the spacer in place when it's being welded.

So, let me know what you think of this. Other than welding I don't know of any way to do this.

 

[JFL4066]

That sleeve/boss is relatively thin wall compared to its diameter. I would plan on boring sleeve undersize and ream with an expandable reamer if diameter is critical. Why not bore housing and make it a press fit. TIG weld from the inside? With all of the CNC milling services available now, why not have the sleeve and small side boss machined as one piece?

 

[extropic]

I would like to see and understand what the inside of the casting/assembly looks like.

When I get back to WA, I'll contact you to get together.

 

[alloy]

Yes it is thin and did distort when it was welded. I figured it would and I'll probably just have a solid piece welded in and then drill and possibly ream or use a my boring head on it. The hole diameter is .875 and it needs to be within about .875 to .877 with a good finish. A steel housing goes into it with an o-ring. My experience with reamers is that pretty much they never cut on size. Especially the larger ones like I need. I've seen expandable reamers that have multiple blades and when I worked machining aircraft parts we gave them a good try on our VMC's and non of them worked with a crap. I did find one we use that had a set screw in the end to expand it and it worked so so.

If you take a look at the pics there is no place to bore the housing. I barely have room to make a flat bottom for the sleeve to sit without breaking through the other side of the housing.

Here is a pic of the onside of the housing. I really can't see how to weld it from the inside.

Yes I could make a sleeve with a tab on the side. I do this for anther conversion I do. It takes a 1-1/2" x 2" piece of aluminum that cost me $24 to have just a 1/4" wide tab on one end. 1st op takes 16 minutes on my vmc, 8 minutes on my turning center, and then 6 more minutes back on the mill. With using the round bat stock I cut my materail cost substantially, cut my machine time. Also if you take a look at the pic below by leaving the small part off allows the large sleeve to be welded most of the way around. I've marked with a felt pen where he was able to weld. Then the small part is added later. At the bottom of the sleeve it's not possible to weld it, so I'll use epoxy to seal that section. I use the same epoxy on 4 other of my conversions.

extropic​

When are you going to be back in town?

 

[extropic]

Sorry Dan. I have no idea when I'm returning to WA. Should be within the next few months. I'll contact you.
It looks like you're doing what can be done with the trans housing mod. The picture of the interior shows what I was hoping for isn't feasible.
I'll keep thinking about it.