Welding Tips and Tricks

Hi all. Need some advice doing a side job for a friend. He wrecked his Triumph Thunderbird and cracked the cast Alum. oil case where the kickstand attaches to the bike. I have repaired a cracked oil pan before, off some kind of chevy truck with no problems over two years ago.. still no leaks The difference here is it will still be on the bike. so I can't send it to be steam cleaned to get rid of as much soaked in oil as possible. I have a hand held steam cleaner. And a few cans of CNF cleaner which works well to cut through oil. The main thing is because of that should I use 4043, 5356, or 4145? Jody had said in his alum. boat prop repair and later in a cast alum build up vid that the 4145 helps alot with crappy castings. But that stuff is like $45 lb. All fine and dandy if it really makes the difference as this is a paying job not a freebie. Any help or thoughts would greatly appreciated.

Hi, Jimbob.

I can't answer your question about filler rod, but when you mentioned using a cleaner my first thought was "check the MSDS!" http://www.iwdc.coop/data/uploads/MSDS/ ... NF%20A.pdf

"Combustion Products: Carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen chloride and small amounts of phosgene."

You may already know this, but phosgene is deadly in very small doses and a byproduct of welding on something cleaned with a chlorinated solvent. Google "phosgene chlorinated welding" for info. I don't know where this lands on the spectrum but "small amounts of phosgene" is too much in my book. Pick your cleaners carefully.

Cheers,
Richard

Thanks for the heads up. I use that stuff at work to clean up our drain pans after leak checking them. They only allow two departments to use the stuff cause like you said it's pretty nasty. We use gloves and respirators the whole shebang. Generally no welding needs to be done after because the pans are all welded at that point. It does evaporate very quickly. The pans we make are welded down to the structure but an hour or so has elapsed by then haven't ever noticed any ill effects as described in the MSDS. but will definitely keep that in mind for future reference.

http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?45 ... or-Cleaner!!!!

Guess I should call up and see if I can get a bit part on the walking dead

jimbob wrote:Hi all. Need some advice doing a side job for a friend. He wrecked his Triumph Thunderbird and cracked the cast Alum. oil case where the kickstand attaches to the bike. I have repaired a cracked oil pan before, off some kind of chevy truck with no problems over two years ago.. still no leaks The difference here is it will still be on the bike. so I can't send it to be steam cleaned to get rid of as much soaked in oil as possible. I have a hand held steam cleaner. And a few cans of CNF cleaner which works well to cut through oil. The main thing is because of that should I use 4043, 5356, or 4145? Jody had said in his alum. boat prop repair and later in a cast alum build up vid that the 4145 helps alot with crappy castings. But that stuff is like $45 lb. All fine and dandy if it really makes the difference as this is a paying job not a freebie. Any help or thoughts would greatly appreciated.

I have had good luck with 4043 on some of my cast aluminum repairs. I have a friend who only uses 5356 on his cast aluminum repairs. I guess both will work. I would suggest 4043 or the 4145. I may have not helped answer your question, but here is a link that is extremely informative.
http://www.maxal.com/files/QuickSiteIma ... 11_doc.pdf
-Jonathan

Thanks for the info. Some good stuff in there. I ended up ordering a pound of the 4145. Just to be on the safe side, ended up around $55 but I didn't want to need it and not have any. Doing jobs on the side, trying to get some feelers out to see of I can make a go on my own. Don't want crappy work running around. This one will go down as experience because the rod is almost as much as I said I'd do the job for. But in the long run the experience I'm. Hoping will win out. Thanks again for the help

jimbob wrote:Thanks for the info. Some good stuff in there. I ended up ordering a pound of the 4145. Just to be on the safe side, ended up around $55 but I didn't want to need it and not have any. Doing jobs on the side, trying to get some feelers out to see of I can make a go on my own. Don't want crappy work running around. This one will go down as experience because the rod is almost as much as I said I'd do the job for. But in the long run the experience I'm. Hoping will win out. Thanks again for the help

Jimbob,
Lets see the pictures when you are done!!
Although this is harder I you were out on your own, remember that you may break even on this job with the purchase of the rods but you will have more of the 4145 for "free" that you will be able to garage to the customer again. I bought some kirkrod for a repair and the customer paid for a pound of the stuff and I only used 2 rods max. From here on out I will make money on this rod. Note that they were fully aware of what they were being charged for.
-Jonathan

Will do! The guy I'm doing this for did offer to pay for it... maybe I'll charge him half the cost of the rod if it turns from a hopefully easy job into a nightmare. And it just might now that I've said that