I cracked the die cast surround on a 35 Studebaker Dictator. I don’t feel too bad cos there was a fatigue line apparent from a previous whack on the lower panel. But it is a very thin and delicate repair. Ive done pot metal repairs in the past by melting down a door handle into rods for filler. Cradling the piece in a heat soak piece of brass or ally on the face and gently puddling in the filler rod. But I see these new “wonder”alloy low temp rods advertised and wondered if anyone has had any success using them. ??
I think that is best. This has come up many times, a search should bring some up. Like solder or a hot glue gun, no fusion, but may get you out of a jam in some situations.
Have you considered laser welding it? I'm no expert but know it can be done. Sent from my XT1585 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I’m hoping some one has used this Muggyweld product. In the meantime I’ll look for an old door handle to melt down into sticks....
I had the occasion to repair a headlight bezel for a (sorry, off-topic) '68 Corvette about 15 years ago. I used some rod I had gotten from someplace at some previous time for some unknown reason and a Bernz-o-matic torch with MAPP gas. To my surprise, it turned out amazingly well.
I've use Muggyweld to fix an OT Monti Carlo headlight bezel. The truth is the stuff works, but only if you follow the directions explicitly, as in using stainless steel wire wheels when cleaning the part as carbon steel wire wheels will contaminate the weld. Also, you can only weld for a moment or two before you have to stop and de-oxidize the weld area again, it's tedious and frustrating work but if you obey the directions it is possible to weld pot metal.
Yes. I have used the rods on many things and failed miserably when trying to use the same rods on Zinc based products. G.M. trim, head light motor castings, wiper motor and washer pump castings are all made from zinc. Zinc or potmetal melts around 788 degrees and these rods melt at slightly above 819 - aluminum melts around 1221 so there is a wide temperature band within which to work from. At just a second or two before the Zinc begins to discolor and then melt, the rod will adhere but not flow as shown by the many advertisers videos. I have tried temperature crayons, and a digital thermometer to try and zero in on the heat zone , but the melting points of the Zinc and rods is too close to work with any success . Depending on the finished value of the part to be repaired and the abilities of repairman, your best success will probably come from having the broken parts acid / copper plated, then solder or even Silver solder the broken edges together for a permanent bond. A good and reputable pkater should be able to repair this for you to your satisfaction. Just my 2 cents.....
Interested to know about this because the Muggyweld man continues to repeat in the in the videos above that the #1 rods melt at 350 degrees? He also repeats that they melt at about half the melting point of 'potmetal' ?
Muggyweld work great. Follow the directions for flux color-very important to keep from puddling your pot metal. Practice on scrap pieces first.
Steve at Advanced plating sure did a great job on repairing the pot metal & plating it to look better than new. HRP
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