u/OverAd8291

There are some jobs that many welders are reluctant to do. One of them is repair of Aluminum rims So this posting and pictures are of a repair that was never done. It is for instructional purposes only of how one MIGHT go about performing a repair to a damaged spoke. Because this is a post about a repair that was never done, no need to post warnings about how its not safe to do these types of repairs. Remember, this repair was NEVER DONE!

CRACKED SPOKE

Most rim damage is in the form of cracks along the the edges of the rim where the bead seals. These are usually cracked by hitting the curb or other obstruction with enough force to cause a crack. Because aluminum does not have the ductility of steel, it is more likely to crack than bend and absorb the force of the blow.

This rim had a crack on one of its five spokes. Spoked rims tend to be relatively thick, sometimes over an inch thick. This requires that the crack be entirely cut out. The way this is accomplished is to grind a deep bevel that goes from the top to the bottom.

The bevel starts approximately about 1/2" to 5/8" on either side of the crack. Sometimes its best to use a cutting wheel and slice the bevel down rather than grind it out, its faster and more precise.

Once cut out A bead is run along the bottom of the bevel. It does not mattter if you are able to fuse to the bottom of the cut because the rim will have its backside ground out until it hits the top side weld making a full penetration weld once its fill in from both sides.

PUT PLENTY OF METAL AT THE START AND STOPS WHEN FILLING THE GROOVE

It is a good idea to start and stop your beads on the outside of the groove so it protrudes if you do this you will end up with enough build up on the outside edges so that you won't have to go over the areas and fill them in. You may only want to run a light cover pass over the areas, smoothing the beads down and making them even.

BUILD UP TILL JUST PAST FLUSH

When filling the groove run overlapping beads. It is better to run stringers (straight beads) one overlapping the other until the groove is completely filled in. Keep running beads until the entire groove is filled past flush. This way you allow enough material so when grinding it down you have solid metal ready to go.

Once filled in this repair shows a cover pass done by depositing a large weave from side to side smoothing the final pass and making it easier to grind flush.

FLIP IT OVER AND GRIND DOWN INTO CRACK

Once the top side is welded out, flip it over and grind out the backside of the crack. This is important because you need to make sure that there are no poorly fused areas along the root of the weld, air pockets or inclusions of foreign matter that can reduce the integrity of the weld. You want it to be pure, solid metal from top to bottom. It is a good idea to build up the backside above the original level as this will leave a larger mass of metal and help strengthen the repair. While this will throw the balance all to hell, it will have to be countered with plenty of lead weights and a balancing machine.

COVER WITH A HEAT RESISTANT BLANKET WHEN DONE

It is a good idea to let these types of repairs cool slowly. This can be done by covering the rim with a heat resistant blanket.

USE AN EMERY DISC TO BLEND IN THE WELD MATERIAL

Once all the welding is done an emery cloth or flapper disc is used to pare the metal down to flush. Two grits can be used. These flapper discs come in various grits. a 40 or 36 grit will remove a lot of metal and then a 60 or 120 grit can be used to finish off the repair.

The use of the grinder is a learned skill when performing these tasks as it is easy to be too heavy handed and find yourself busting out the welder again in order to put back excess metal you removed by accident.

Finally you can get some medium grade stainless steel wool to run over the repair and it will blend in the metal further making the repair invisible.

I had a Tranny case brought to me for repair. It was off of some 4WD pickup. The owner pulled the engine to do some work and noticed that the bell housing had a crack going all the way around.

The bell housing was heavier aluminum casting which required that after cleaning it real good, grinding a groove deep into the crack for penetration. Once welding on one side the opposite side was welded fusing the two welds together for a full penetration weld.

After cleaning it and tacking the parts together all across the crack I started to weld it out in small sections of no more than two inches. In addition I alternated sides so that if I ran a bead on the right side, I would run a bead on the left side. This helped distribute the heat rather than let it build up in one spot as it followed the progression of the bead.

The case was real dirty and greasy and it took me an hour to get it down to bare metal. I wire brushed it with a stainless wire wheel mounted on my angle grinder.

On the face of the case where it bolts to the engine I used a flat file to file off the excess metal where I had built up the bead when sealing the crack at that point. The repair came out well.

Some time ago a fellow brought me a pair of aluminum diesel fuel tanks and asked me to cut off the ends so he could take them to be cleaned thoroughly and then seal them back up.

1. First I cut off the ends off with and angle grinder and cutting wheel fullowing the weldd as my guide.

2. Wire wheel the entire area to be welded down to shiny metal.

3. Fit the end cap back into position and taped some bent 3/32" welding rods to maintain a gap so I get a full penetration weld.

4. Weld it solid and pressure test it by blowing compressed air into it and spraying soapy water onto the weld. Any bubbles will reveal a leak to be sealed. None occurred.

Repair came out well.

I did a repair some time ago on a BMW strut tower. The car owner had hit a curb too hard and it cracked the strut tower. As a preventive measure he wanted me to repair the crack and reinforce the repair.

HOW I DID IT:

1. WIRE BRUSH TO SHINY METAL THE ARE TO BE WELDED

2. GRIND OUT THE CRACK TO FORM A GROOVE AND THEN WELD IT OUT

3. GRIND THE WELD FLUSH SO A PLATE CAN BE WELDED OVER THE REPAIRED AREA

4. USING A HOLE SAW, CUT OUT A 2" CIRCLE OUT OF SOME 1/4" ALUMINUM PLATE

5. PUT SHIELDS UP TO PREVENT THE ARC FROM DAMAGING OR MELTING ANY FLAMMABLE OBJECTS WTHIN THE WELDING AREA

6. TACK THE CIRCULAR PLATE DOWN AND WELD IT OUT

The repair was pretty straight forward and was done within the hour. Came out well.

I did a repair some time ago on a BMW strut tower. The car owner had hit a curb too hard and it cracked the strut tower. As a preventive measure he wanted me to repair the crack and reinforce the repair.

HOW I DID IT:

1. WIRE BRUSH TO SHINY METAL THE ARE TO BE WELDED

2. GRIND OUT THE CRACK TO FORM A GROOVE AND THEN WELD IT OUT

3. GRIND THE WELD FLUSH SO A PLATE CAN BE WELDED OVER THE REPAIRED AREA

4. USING A HOLE SAW, CUT OUT A 2" CIRCLE OUT OF SOME 1/4" ALUMINUM PLATE

5. PUT SHIELDS UP TO PREVENT THE ARC FROM DAMAGING OR MELTING ANY FLAMMABLE OBJECTS WTHIN THE WELDING AREA

6. TACK THE CIRCULAR PLATE DOWN AND WELD IT OUT

The repair was pretty straight forward and was done within the hour. Came out well.

I worked on repairing a broken backhoe boom. I had already repaired this same boom two years earlier: I welded a side crack and reinforced it with the only metal I had on hand. The result was a sort of “clamp” that held the boom together, but it was a potential weak spot. Repeated stress caused a new break right next to the welds.

This time, I came prepared with enough metal plate to cover the entire area and reinforce the welded repair, so it wouldn’t break again at that point.

HERE’S HOW I DID IT:

1. ALIGN THE BROKEN PARTS OF THE BOOM TO CLOSE THE GAP AND PERFORM A FIXING WELD

The boom fracture split it in half on three of the four sides. The bottom plate held it together, but it also acted as a hinge point, so the weight of the bucket exerted downward pressure on it and opened the gap even wider. It took a few chains and straps, along with some adjustments to the hydraulic system, to close the gap and secure the break with spot welds. The temporary welds were just that—temporary—but they allowed us to remove the hoses and hydraulic lines that were in the way, so I could apply some solid weld beads across the crack and place a large plate over the welded area. I had to use my torch to slightly trim the broken edges, as they were preventing the pieces from fitting together. I cut away the parts that were in the way and left a gap between the breaks, which I would later fill to achieve a full-penetration weld.

2. MAKE A CARDBOARD TEMPLATE OF THE PLATE AND CHECK THE FIT

I always make some kind of template when I need to cut a plate to fit over a welded crack. Sometimes I have to fabricate parts on the fly, and having templates is important because any adjustments are made first with the template, and once it fits well, I transfer the pattern to the metal to cut it. The template allowed me to locate the positions for some bolt holes. To do this, I held the template in the correct position and used light taps with a hammer to mark the locations of the holes that needed to be cut in the plate onto the cardboard.

3. CUT THE OLD REINFORCING PLATE AND SAND IT DOWN UNTIL SMOOTH

Using a scarfing tip on my torch, I cut the old reinforcement plate and ground the area until it was flush, in preparation for the new, larger plate.

4. TRANSFER THE TEMPLATE TO THE METAL, CUT IT OUT, AND SECURE IT WITH TACK WELDS

I traced the template onto a 3/8" sheet of metal and used a ruler to help me make straight cuts; I did the curves freehand. I removed the slag from the sheet with a hammer and an angle grinder to make it flat. Once cut and cleaned, I clamped the plate in place and secured it with tack welds.

I used some “hot tacks” and a hammer to drive the plate down until it was flush with the repaired section of the boom. The plate was ready to be welded the next day, since the job site closed before the repair was completed.

SO FAR, SO GOOD. TO BE CONTINUED......

I thought I'd dig up some old pictures of the winch installation on my welding rig. Continuing with the idea of passing my experience along to others interested in such things, mainly the younger (or even older) welders and fabricators this is a good example of how you might go about adapting or installing from scratch a piece of equipment (or motor, tranny, etc.) in a custom situation.

Guys (or ladies) who build custom cars do this routinely as its almost a given that things are not going to be stock and so adaptation is the rule, not the exception. The more open and creative your approach the better.

My rig originally came with just a PTO (power take off) shaft sticking out of an opening just in front of the front stock bumper. I felt that the PTO should be connected to a winch to round out my rig's capacity should a situation arise where I needed to pull a stuck vehicle (or myself) out of a predicament.

Plus in my opinion my rig looked incomplete with an empty PTO just sitting there doing nothing.

I found a winch off of an M35 deuce and a half military truck on E bay and got it for $275. A cousin in-law who drives a big rig transported it to me during a run to Arizona from California where the winch was located.

I didn't take pictures of the entire process but I'll use the ones I have to explain the procedure I used.

FIRST: LOCATE THE MOUNTING POINTS

The first item is to plan out the installation, your plan of attack if you will. I had to locate where the winch's mounting holes were and where on the frame I would attach to and how I was going to attach.

The winch had two sets of mounting holes on the left and right side. These are where it was originally bolted to on the M35. I would bolt some plates onto these holes and then attach them to the main truck frame rails.

My truck has two main rails (like all vehicles) that are made of 1/4" material formed into a "C" channel. These rails then became my attachment point by extending the rails outwards so that they reached the mounting plates on the winch.

The whole design was based on this approach, pretty standard.

SECOND: FABRICATE THE MOUNTING PLATES AND POSITION THE WINCH IN ITS PRECISE LOCATION AND HOLD IT THERE.

When fabbing something up like this its important that the piece be positioned exactly how it will be once installed. Once that's done, then the process of building the supports, mounts, etc. begins because you know its exact location and can then take the measurements needed to cut the parts and begin positioning them and tacking them into place.

In my case I used a cherry picker and chain and a pair of jack stands to hold the winch exactly in line withe the PTO shaft. I had to make up an adapter that matched the splines on both the winch and the PTO. It consisted of a splined collar that matched the winch's shaft welded to another splined coupling that matched the PTO's splines. I made it up before positioning the winch in its place.

I cut a pair of 1/4" plates and drilled holes in them to match those of the winch's mounting holes and bolted them on. It was ready for the next step.

THIRD: BUILD THE WINCH FRAME EXENTSIONS AND BUMPER

The last part was to fabricate the parts from the main frame rails to the winch. I used some 3" x 5" x 1/4" wall tube steel left over from a trailer modification I did earlier. I built the winch mount separate from the bumper so it can all be unbolted as needed for maintenance or repair. All the joints were beveled with a gap where I spliced the tubes together for full penetration welds and I left the beads without grinding them flush for the added strength of the excess metal. Finally

I added some weld on D-rings and grab hooks. The D-rings were welded on to pads which were welded onto the bumpers in order to spread the load over a larger area than the D-ring itself. The grab hooks were mounted on pads as well. This was to avoid a situation where pulling something that exceeded the strength of the bumper wall could get ripped out weld and all. The pad would provide a way to spread the load out and give an extra margin of safety in this regards.

Finally I added the convoy lights and bumper markers. I plan on adding some fog lights that were part of the original bumper.

Every now and then someone will bring me a skeg plate. They all fall into two basic categories. Either they are broken near the housing or they're broken away from the housing. This difference is like night and day.

If the break is away from the housing then it can be welded relatively quickly and be easier to cool with wet rags or air, etc.

If its near the housing, then it has to be treated like cold welding cast iron. It has to be done in little increments and allowed to cool and that it should not get hotter than the bare hand can stand. One can take one to two hours. The other can take twice that because it moves so slowly. This one was done in 1/2" to 1" welds spread out evenly. I didn't take pictures of the entire process more detailed like I sometimes do so the description follows

HERE'S HOW I DID IT:

1. CLEAN DOWN TO SHINY METAL

As always, aluminum must be clean and shiny to weld. I discovered the the repair person before me had not been able to weld it cleanly and it had a lot of porosity and there was little penetration which would have resulted in a thin layer of weld metal to hold the skeg in place after it was ground down flush. When subjected to a blow it cracked and broke off. In addition it had been smoothed out with bondo so the repair was invisible until it broke.

2. BEVEL THE EDGLES FOR PENETRATION

The broken stub must be prepared to be welded to. Traces of a bad repair had to be ground out and a double bevel put on it so it could be welded from both sides and get full penetration.

3. FILL THE HOUSING WITH WATER AND SOAK A PAIR OF THICK TOWELS WITH WATER

In preparation for the heat generated by welding near the housing, water would act as a heat sink and absorb the heat and keep the outside cooler. When combined with a soaking towel run over the area of the weld zone but away from the weld itself the housing never got hotter than my hand could stand for more than 20 or so seconds so the danger of damaging a seal was highly unlikely.

4. MAKE A TEMPLATE OF THE MISSING SKEG

Using the lines of the broken skeg stub to create the shape of the skeg. By putting a straight edge along the old line, the straight edge was able to draw the straight line the length of the skeg. By changing the angle slightly I avoided having a skeg that came to a point but rather a wide dull shape that could withstand being dragged on the ground.

5. TRACE AND CUT OUT OF A PLATE THE SHAPE OF THE SKEG

I use a 4-1/2" grinder to cut them out with a cutting wheel, it does not take long, maybe 5 to 10 minutes of cutting, shaping and going over with a final emery cloth pass to finish everything and then a wire wheel to give the entire repair a look of being one piece all along.

6. USE A GRINDER TO SHAPE THE CONTOURS OF THE NEW SKEG SO IT TAPERS TOWARDS THE EDGES

I used both a grinding disc as well as an emory flapper disc to even and smooth the metal down to its final finish.

7. CLAMP THE SKEG TO THE PREPARED BROKEN STUB

I like to clamp the parts with thin gauge metal strips as opposed to clamping with heavier plate. The thin strips allow me to move the skeg in place should it be required and still hold the skeg in alignment.

8. TACK AND WELD SLOWLY

I welded it in small 1/2" to 1" long beads and would run the soaking towels in areas that were getting hot and in this way kept the case cool. It doubled the cost of the repair but it was either that or have him strip it down and bring it to me to put on a bench. to weld out. then I would still have to find a way to cool it down to prevent warping of the skeg.

The repair came out OK. The boat owner said he's happy as he was pulling it away

I do a fair amount of boat repairs on both pontoons and aluminum hulled boats. Most of the time these are cracks at the keel and sometimes they are on the hull itself.

This repair involved reinforcing the deck mounts where they were welded to the pontoon. The boat owner had cut out cracked sections and asked me to weld in the sections he had cut out.

I chose to lay a pad on the pontoon itself and then welded in the cut out sections and anchored them to the pad. The reason for this was to avoid putting the stress on the pontoon directly as if these crack ( over time many do) the crack goes into the pontoon creating a leak point where water can get into the pontoon. This way the crack can only go as far as the pad which can be repaired /re-welded without compromising the structural integrity of the pontoon.

I was happy with the repair, the client was happy. It was a win-win.

A few years ago, I was called to a shop that specializes in modifying modern and classic cars. In this case, they asked me to cut the exhaust manifold outlet and rotate it 90 degrees so that instead of pointing to the sides, it would point backward. The engine was from a modern 10-cylinder Cadillac, and they were installing it in a car from the 1940s. The space was too narrow for the width of the modern engine, which had exhaust manifolds on the sides, leaving no room for the exhaust pipe.

I ALMOST ALWAYS USE BRONZE WIRE TO WELD CAST IRON

I learned over 40 years ago how to repair cast iron with bronze. When I worked in the steel mills in Chicago, that’s how even enormous pieces of machinery were repaired. We would heat it to about 800 or 900 degrees until it began to turn red slowly, and then, using an acetylene torch, we would heat it further until it turned red, at which point the bronze would melt and bond to the iron.

CAST IRON CANNOT WITHSTAND TEMPERATURE DIFFERENTIALS, EXCEPT IN CERTAIN SITUATIONS

Ever since those days, I’ve been using the same method to repair cast iron. Cast iron is a very rigid material and is not malleable like steel. Steel can be heated in one area and then bent, welded, etc. When it cools, it usually looks as if nothing happened.

The reason cast iron cracks is that when the metal heats up, it expands and pushes against the rest of the part, which is cold and isn’t expanding at the same rate as the hot part. As it cools, it contracts and pulls against the cold part, and since it cannot stretch, it cracks. This almost always happens when the weld cools.

That’s why you have to heat the entire piece to the same temperature, weld it while continuing to heat it, and let it cool slowly and evenly. You can achieve this by using a low-heat torch and covering the part (in the case of a large part), or by burying it in sand or covering it with a thick blanket to trap the heat inside and allow it to cool gradually. It may take a whole day to cool down.

EXCEPTIONS

I’ve discovered that when the part that needs to be welded is on the edge, the cast iron can be heated on just one side because it’s free to expand and contract without resistance from either side. Therefore, it’s possible to repair parts of an engine block that are protruding, such as the alternator mounts or the gear mounting holes. This is possible because, being on the outer parts of the block, they can expand and contract without resistance. I’ve never had a problem as long as I follow that rule.

I avoid jobs where the crack is in the center of a block, for example, because high probability it will crack.

I am NOT equipped to heat an entire block separately—which would require disassembling it, etc. I’ve almost never had any luck welding with those nickel rods, even though I know they can be used and have used them. Welding cast iron isn’t always successful for jobs where you have to weld in the center of a cast iron part.

A gentleman brought his ebike in with a broken chain stay from an accident. The procedure for this type of damage is to

1. Weld the break solid.

2. Smooth out and blend the bead flush.

3. Cut a pair of plates and sandwich the area with them

This is pretty standard. Yes I know the aluminum temper is degraded. The splint compensates for that. This is the second ebike I repair and I have told the owners that unlike bicycles, ebikes are subject to greater stresses and I do not know how this repair will hold up under use.

Thus I made him sign a disclaimer stating that he understands that the repair may not hold up and that I am not responsible should any damage or injury result. In addition that he commits to check the bike before each use for any damage to the repair or new cracks forming in another area of the frame. Furthermore that he commits to not ride the bike beyond its rated capacity and avoid any riding that will create extra stresses like bumpy roads, or going off road or jumping curbs, etc. Finally he agrees to inform any new owner of the repair should he decide to sell it.

The repair itself came out well.

A fellow brings me his pontoon boat with one of the logs with a big opening in the rear. Someone had cut it out, why, I never asked. He had the piece that had been cut out and just wanted me to seal it back up.

THE APPROACH

instead of trying to butt the edges together, tack and weld them I chose to make a backing strip that matched the shape of the opening and tack it into place. This way I could just place the piece back in its place and not have to fight linging it up as the backing strip acted as a stop AND a sealing strip to. By welding it hot I could weld the missing piece back and fuse to the backing strip assuring a good seal.

It worked like a charm and once the piece was welded in place I ground the bead flush and giving it almost an invisible repair.

Came out ok.

I was brought a pontoon boat that had hit the pier and bent one of the pontoon's nose at a 90 degree angle. The owner tried to see if he could bend it back but it was not meant to be and he only succeeded in tearing the metal creating a hole. Needless to say it needed some serious work.

Let me start by saying that this is THE FIRST TIME I have attempted a repair of this type. My usual work on pontoons and boats in general is along the lines of cracks in the hull or pontoon, damaged deck mounts, adding drain plugs to them, etc. This was a first for me. This is how I went about it.

THE PLAN OF ATTACK

Originally I was going to cut the damaged area out and straighten in manually using any and every tool I could think of the slowly bend the aluminum back out and weld it back onto the cut out area.

After spending about four hours doing this as it was very tedious and slow I decided to change gears and go in another direction.

Before starting in on this project I bought some 5000 grade aluminum which is not hardened like the 6061 grade to use for making a new part. I opted to go that route.

The new plan called for cutting out the damaged area and straightening it. Making a template out of plywood of the shape of the pontoon's nose and use it as a guide for making a new nose panel, shape it and weld it in the cutout.

1. MARK THE AREA TO CUT OUT AND CUT IT OUT

Using a marker I made some guide lines for my cut. I cut just before the damage occurred so I could retain the shape of the pontoon that was still good.

I used a 7" cut off wheel to slice through the pontoon and fins. The large cutting wheel works great in the 4-1/2" grinder and converts it into a very versatile tool.

2. CUT BACK THE FINS AND STRAIGHTEN THE METAL TO ITS ORIGINAL SHAPE AGAIN.

After removing the damaged area I cut the fins back so I had clear access to the damaged metal for hammering or bending without having the fins interfere. These would be welded back once the repair was completed to the bent nose.

Using hammers and clamps I pounded and bent the nose area back. I was unable to totally get it back into its original shape because I needed a way to pull the metal beyond its spring back point.

To do this I had to make up a pulling tool. I made one out of a pair of 2" square tubes with a bar welded between them that I could use to pull the metal out with a pair of clamps. The pictures will make it clear.

The pulling tool worked perfect.

3. MAKE A TEMPLATE OF THE SHAPE OF THE NOSE OF THE PONTOON AND TRANSFER IT TO PLYWOOD THAT CAN BE USED TO SHAPE THE NEW PART WITH A HAMMER AND BY EYEBALLING.

4. BUILD THE PLYWOOD FORM FOR SHAPING THE NEW PART

Once the pattern was made on paper that matched the contour of pontoon I had just bent back into shape I transferred it to plywood so it could be mounted in a vice.

I had some plywood left over from a pipe bending project I posted a few weeks ago and cut the pattern out of it. I cut it and mounted it into the vice ready for the next step.

5. MAKING THE PATTERN FOR THE NEW PART AND CUTTING IT OUT.

Next I taped some 11" x 17" sheets of paper together to form one long sheet and wrapped it around the pontoon to simulate the new sheet metal that I was going to make the part out of.

I marked the paper close to where the cut was on the pontoon and then cut it with scissors to size and then transferred it to the sheet of aluminum I had bought and cut out the material rectangle I would need. I cut it longer than needed to give me extra material in case I made a mistake and needed more material. I could always cut it down later.

6. FORMING THE SHEET METAL-MAKING THE INITIAL BEND

The first step in forming this sheet was to start the fold in the center. I do not have a sheet metal brake to bend with so I improvised a brake by clamping the sheet metal on my table with a 1" square bar and manually starting the bend.

I knew the sheet was not going to bend sharply but due to its thickness would give me a gradual bend which is what I wanted as the top of the pontoon where it comes to a point is not a sharp point but a round one.

I folded the sheet metal far enough to give me the bend on the top and checked it using the plywood form I had prepared in step 2. I folded it until I had a "V" shape.

7. FORMING THE SHEET METAL-BENDING THE RADIUS ON THE SIDES

Next I took the "V" shaped sheet and placed it onto the plywood form and marked where the radius bend started that would give the part close to an oval shape on both sides of the "V".

Then I took the bent sheet and put it into a bending jig I made years ago when on another project. This jig is made from a large "C" channel formed from 1/4" plate. On this channel I welded several bending pins and cut holes into it at various locations including welding a pipe to it that would serve to bend gradual bends. It is an all purpose bending jig that serves to bend metal by hand. When I need to use it I welded tabs onto it so I could clamp it to my table to hold it fast while I bend.

One of the features I added to it was to weld a pipe vertically and welded next to it a 1" square bar about 12" or 13" high with about a 14" gap between the bar and the pipe.

This is what I use to bend sheet metal when I want to form a radius. The radius or curved bends are made by making gradual, slight bends spaced out evenly. The slight bend when added up one after another effectively put a curve on sheet metal.

This is how I started to put the bends into the part I was making to duplicate the curves of the nose of the pontoon. As I bent I would check it against the plywood pattern. As the curve matched it I would mark the next set of curves. I would bend and mark the next set of bends until I the piece matched the pattern.

The pattern also served to pound the sheet metal to the shape. Since aluminum is relatively soft compared to steel it I was able to hit any high spots or low spots and form the metal further.

8. FIT UP THE PART TO THE PONTOON

Once the sheet metal was formed to the pattern it was ready for fitting to the actual pontoon itself. This involved holding it in place and marking where to make the final cuts so that the part would fit smoothly onto the nose of the pontoon. Rather, this was the new nose for the pontoon.

The nose has a slight angle downwards and I had to make sure that the new part duplicated that angle. I did this by eyeballing the part in relation to the opposite side so that when looking at it from the side, they both were angled identically.

Once I fit it up in this fashion I was able to mark with a sharpie the areas to cut out leaving just enough material so that it overlapped the cut areas about 1/4" or so. I did not want to try and butt the pieces together as that would entail another level of work that I was not prepared to invest in this project. I was not shooting for a body work type of finish but a functional one. So overlapping it was.

Once I made those cuts, I clamped it into place in preparation for tacking it in and giving it the final shaping to form the nose.

9. TACK THE PART IN PLACE AND BEGIN SHAPING THE REST OF THE NOSE .

I figured that the best way to proceed was to tack the new nose starting from the back and then squeeze the front into a point and weld the front seam shut. In the process it would assume the shape of a cone coming to a point where the keel plate reinforces the hull or in this case the pontoon..

I tacked it and started squeezing the point so that it began closing. Never having done this before at this point I was exploring what would work. I found that squeezing the point with clamps worked up to a point and then I ran into the problem of the metal springing back. Then I decided to squeeze it with several clamps and devices I rigged up to prevent the clamps from slipping as the sides of the new part became more and more angled as I squeezed and the clamps would lose their grip. On top of that I found that the more I squeezed them shut, the pressure was too great on the tacks and they broke. This forced me to weld the back end completely shut first so that I could proceed working the front section.

10. CHANGED PLAN AND INSTEAD OF SQUEEZING THE NEW PART CLOSED I WORKED FROM THE TOP CLOSING IT WITH A HAMMER.

I discovered that the best way to close the nose was not to try and squeeze it but to hammer the the top part shut, weld it then hammer another section shut, weld it, then continue downwards in a hammer, weld pattern.

Where I made the original bend was firm enough to allow me to hammer it shut. When I welded that small area the next section below it became firm enough to hammer it shut and weld. This is typical of how you can close a gap in sheet metal but I didn't realize I could do it to this shape until I tried it. Usually I will apply that technique when faced with joining two pieces of sheet metal. You tack a section, then it will let you hammer it down, tack another section and hammer it down, etc.

The only difference in this case was that the sections had to be welded because the stiffness of the sheet metal would break a normal tack so each section had to be welded.

This technique allowed me to completely shut the nose and bring it to a point. During the process the two sides did not come together completely even as one side overlapped the other so I had to trim the overhang part so that the two halves were even and could be welded easily.

11. ONCE CLOSED WELD THE ENTIRE NOSE SOLID, NEEDED TO DRILL A PRESSURE RELIEF HOLE

Once I had closed the front seam I was able to weld the entire nose section sealing it completely. Towards the end of the weld I started getting back pressure from the expanding air inside the pontoon that was preventing me from closing the seam.

To get around this I drilled a 1/8" hole in the top of the nose section to allow the expanding air to escape. Once I did so, the last of the seam welded up easily.

12. PRESSURE TEST THE WELDS FOR LEAKS

Once I had welded all the seams solid I put a small air mattress blower into the hole I had drilled and it pressurized the pontoon enough so that I could spray soapy water to see if there were any leaks. I discovered that this tool worked great for pontoon repairs years ago and found that they put out enough pressure to "inflate" a pontoon to the point where you can see them get bigger as they filled with air but because it is an air blower and not an air compressor, it does not over inflate them and I can safely check for leaks without the fear of blowing a seam.

Anyway I did find two leaks at the same point opposite each other where the new nose cone I made was attached to the lower part of the cutout where it meets the rest of the pontoon. They were tiny leaks blowing foam rather than bubbles. I quickly sealed them and the testing was done.

13. WELD THE BOW EYE BACK IN ITS PLACE

Once all the welding was done the next step was to cut off the bow eye off of the original bent up nose and weld it in place on the pontoon.

14. PUT THE FINS BACK TOGETHER AND RE-WELD TO THE PONTOON

As part of the cutting out and welding process I had to cut out about four or five inches of fin so I could have free access to welding the seams back together. At this point it was time to put them back together so I tacked and welded them back.

15. WELD ON THE BROKEN PONTOON DECK MOUNTS

The accidental smashing of the pontoon's nose cone also damaged two of the mounting brackets that tied the deck to the pontoons. Those brackets had the top ripped off from the force of the impact. I bolted the broken flat plate that connected to the deck to the brackets, raised the deck with a high-lift jack and a 4 x 4 high enough to be able to get my tig torch in there and tacked them in place once I had bolted them into the holes on the deck floor joists.

Then I lowered the deck so that the plates were touching where they broke off from and tacked them. Then I removed the bolts holding the plates to the floor deck joists, raised the deck again and welded them out. Then I lowered the deck and bolted the brackets back in their place.

The repair was done. Whew.................!!!

I rescued an engine that had two broken out motor mount holes. One had the broken piece that was welded back into place. The other could not be salvaged that way because not only was the piece missing but the location of the damaged hole prevented the use of a drill to re-drill a hole and tap new threads (the normal procedure), without removing the engine and lifting it up. Luckily the lower motor mount was able to use a stud instead of a bolt. What I did was cut off the head of a bolt the right size and weld it into the hole leaving the threaded end sticking out of it.

Notice in the upper motor mount that both sides had to be beveled in order so that there was good fusion of metal joining the two parts and not simply a weld bead run on top of the crack which would have broken again quickly.

In the second hole, the shaft of the bolt was ground to give it a flat spot and two grooves ground into it as well. This would prevent the stud from working loose and rotating or coming out, very similar to sinking a stud into concrete and having it locked into place with the wet concrete drying around it. In this case, the molten aluminum surrounded the stud and locked it into place despite the lack of threads.

The repair came out OK.

I was called on to do a repair of a broken out starter motor bolt hole. The nature of the damaged required one of two possible approaches. First, fill in the hole then drill and tap new threads or second, splice a threaded coupling with matching threads to the hole and weld it in place.

BRAZING MY CHOICE FOR CAST IRON REPAIRS

I learned back in the 70's when working in Chicago steel mills to repair cast iron using bronze brazing rods. This is my preferred method to this day. Since the broken hole still had 1/2 still intact it occurred to me to cut a long coupling nut in half and splice it to the broken hole making a complete hole again.

HERE'S HOW I DID IT

I cut the coupling nut of the same thread pitch in half and using the original bolt, used it to line up the coupling nut to the broken hole and tacked it with a regular mild steel welding rod so it would stay in place. Then I got my oxy-acetylene welding torch, heated up the area dull red and brazed it up solid. I also need to mention that beveled the joints for penetration so I didn't just lay bronze on top of the joint.

This repair was done about ten year ago and is still going strong. It came out well. MY SPECIALTY IS REPAIR WELDING.

I was called on to do a repair of a broken out starter motor bolt hole. The nature of the damaged required one of two possible approaches. First, fill in the hole then drill and tap new threads or second, splice a threaded coupling with matching threads to the hole and weld it in place.

BRAZING MY CHOICE FOR CAST IRON REPAIRS

I learned back in the 70's when working in Chicago steel mills to repair cast iron using bronze brazing rods. This is my preferred method to this day. Since the broken hole still had 1/2 still intact it occurred to me to cut a long coupling nut in half and splice it to the broken hole making a complete hole again.

HERE'S HOW I DID IT

I cut the coupling nut of the same thread pitch in half and using the original bolt, used it to line up the coupling nut to the broken hole and tacked it with a regular mild steel welding rod so it would stay in place. Then I got my oxy-acetylene welding torch, heated up the area dull red and brazed it up solid. I also need to mention that beveled the joints for penetration so I didn't just lay bronze on top of the joint.

This repair was done about ten year ago and is still going strong. It came out well. MY SPECIALTY IS REPAIR WELDING.

A grandfather and grandson brought an ebike to me for repair. Where the top tube and down tube intersect there is a factory gusset. Right where the gusset is welded on the down tube side, a crack formed on both gussets. Apparently this is a known problem with this particular model. The repair consisted of welding the cracks and then welding in a larger gusset that reached further on both tubes.

I welded a pair of 1/4" aluminum plates over the factory gussets. This will strengthen this area. I mentioned to both of them that they will have to operate the ebike gently and watch to see if any cracks return as these are under much ore stress than a normal street bike. This is the first ebike I have repaired so we'll have to see how it holds. The frames on these bikes are heavy gauge compared to to regular bicycle frames. This one looks like it was 5/32" thick.

Also I used 5356 aluminum rod which has a higher tensile strength than the 4043 usually used for bicycle frames.

Repair came out OK

A gentleman asked me to build a portable horse corral. These are basically sections of light weight fence made out of some 3/4" steel tubing that are tied together with some wire to whatever size is needed. He told me that he uses them for when he travels to a show and sets them up for his horse to walk around in outside the trailer.

I built one first, then used that one as a pattern for making a jig so the next ones just needed to have the cut sections set in place, tacked and welded solid.

They came out ok.

BUILDING A HEAVY DUTY BUMPER AND FLAT BED ON AN OLDER DODGE TRUCK

First off, I DID NOT BUILD THIS RIG! I came across some old pictures of a truck an old friend (pipe welder) had built that I admired not only his craftsmanship but his creativity.

What attracted me most was the utilitarian bumper with built in boxes, brush guard, farm jack mount and winch all in one.

I took a lot of pics of it and had talked with him the idea of making detailed drawings of the bumper in order to sell plans online along with other interesting "build it yourself" items of interest to welders, mechanics and tradesmen in general.

I'm sharing these to pass on ideas to those that might be in the process of or have been thinking of building a nice heavy duty bumper for your rig.

Hope it gives you all some ideas.

I had a bike brought to me one day that had a crack on the chain stay near the crank set. The procedure is to drill a hole at the end of the crack to prevent spreading. Although since bike frames are made from relatively thin tubes, the arc actually penetrates through to the opposite end so the crack is in essence burned out during the welding process.

Then I make a light cardboard template of the reinforcement plate I'm going to use and when I get the fit just right I cut it out of an aluminum plate. If needed I shape it to fit tacking and hammering the plate into place.

On this project I plated both the inside and outside of the cracked tube. The repair came out well and the bike got back on the road. For the ones who always claim that aluminum frames cannot be trusted once welded, I warn each and every user that the bike can no longer be trusted for off road (in the case of a mountain bike) but strictly street or mild trail use and I explain why.

I recently called one of my old clients back in Phoenix where I did many frames over the years and he is happily still riding it five years later. Never has a broken weld or failure been reported to me.