More Cast iron

Have been told by a m8 of mine who has been a welder for more than 30 years, and now runs a welding supply business, that powder welding is by far and away the most reliable and sucessful way to make repairs to cast iron.

If your manifold is an expenisive item, or difficult to replace then perhaps it might be worth investigating the possibility of a repair using this process?

You might consider welding half of the length then peening. Do the second half and peen again. Run your bead, flip up and chip the slag off. Continue peening until the bead has reached the same temperature as the surrounding material. The objective of the peening is to stretch the metal in order to cancel out the shrinkage forces created by the cooling bead. Randy

"Paul Calman" wrote: (clip) The weld will only be 2.5 inches long. Do I peen it every half inch, or after laying the whole bead in? ^^^^^^^^^^^^ As the bead freezes and cools, it shrinks. The purpose of peening is to make the metal flow so the shrinkage tension is released. The more and oftener you stop to peen, the more you accomplish this goal. I don't think stopping four or five times during the weld would be excessive. Not stopping enough is what could cause trouble.

On the other hand, I made a few welds on CI before I knew about peening, and they didn't crack. I guess it all depends. :-)

It's cooling in the oven. The house smells great. Thanks guys.