tig cast iron with cast iron rod

by john hamer
(australia)

Hi jody great site.

Im repairing front tractor hubs,wheel studs torn out bit of a mess.

I've had experience in industry with braising cast iron,but this is the first time tig welding cast iron with cast iron filler rod.

Prepared hubs properly,put in kitchen oven for 2 hours at 500F,placed in furnace brick shroud and heated with oxy/acet.
After each hole was welded,i would reheat again,after completing welding i reheated again then placed hub in lime and cooled down over night.

Have just tried to machine them with carbide tools and the welds have gone hard,this was my greatest fear.
Just wondering would reheating say to dull red and cooling again normalize the welds,i do not want to have to remove all the welded areas and do with other material,i have had a fair bit of experience at tig in industry.

Regards john from Australia.

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John,

Its possible, but in theory, you will have to get the piece up to about 1600f for quite a while and then slow cool.

I hope it works, but I fear it wont.
Thats the risk when using cast iron filler. A higher preheat might have helped too.

Good luck...

Jody

anyone else out there got some tips for John??