Motor foot repair

Greetings Chris, You're in luck because the base unbolts from the motor, which makes a repair much easier. If you can find your DC welder then Stoody Castweld 55 will work to repair your motor base. The weld deposit is hard so you would need to grind, rather than machine, any excess weld off. I have used Castweld 55 to weld cast iron to steel as well as cast iron to cast iron. It really does a good job. There are other 55% nickel rods available that can be welded with AC but I have never used them. You could also use NI 99 rod and it is softer, so the deposit can be filed rather than ground. The nice thing about the Castweld 55 is that it won't shrink and cause cracking. In any case, since the foot is removable, you should pop it in the oven at 350 or so degrees F so that it is good and hot when you weld it. This will really help to keep everything from cracking. Cheers, Eric

He could always fabricate a "period correct" looking steel base in place of the casting too - - -

It would be way easier to weld in a piece of properly shaped cast iron or steel, grind off any excess, and then paint. I did this exact same repair on a Walker Turner drill press motor. After the grey paint it looks great. Eric

Am Samstag, 16. Mai 2020 17:49:37 UTC+2 schrieb snipped-for-privacy@whidbey.com:

Thanks very much for the detailed advice, Eric. I was hoping to use the AC welder, but it sounds like the (big and heavy) DC machine might be better.

I was planning to grind out a square from the motor foot and make a piece of steel which fits into the gap and features the complete mounting slot. This way the welds will be longer, and hopefully stronger. I was also going to vee out the edges and hopefully complete the whole weld from the underside. Not sure if it would need one or two passes with a thin rod.

Chris

Am Samstag, 16. Mai 2020 22:28:28 UTC+2 schrieb Clare:

That's my second-choice plan, if the welding goes wrong...

That's my second-choice plan, if the welding goes wrong... ================================================ Before you grind anything, perhaps a local Kunstler can use the base as the pattern to cast a copy in aluminium. You might have to insert spacers where the screws attach the motor to the base because shrinkage will make the curve incorrect.

For example: