Has anyone tried "Castaloy"?

[NoSnooz]

I see this has turned into a discussion about cast iron repair in general. I personally have successfully repaired a
couple of items with nickel electrodes but I'm sure it ain't gonna last forever.

I would like to know if this Castaloy stuff is worth shelling out the scratch for such a small quantity. I do have
some Alumaloy and I know it sorta works (I've tried it on some scrap aluminum but I haven't done a repair
yet). I have a final drive housing with cracks and I'd like to repair it.

I suppose I could be the "test dummy" and let you all know the results.

Curt

[2cubs2cases]

how many propane torches would be needed to get a bottom radiator casting to 500 degrees for the Cast - a alloy to stick?

Just send your wife shopping for the day and make sure the first pie out of the oven afterward goes to a bake sale in the next County

Ha ha very funny.

[wrq1103]

I cleaned my McCormick Deering 10-20 toy tractor with stripper, lacquer remover, and TSP. I still had no luck with Castaloy. I preheated, slowly cooled, and had no indication of adhesion.

[Smokeycub]

I took a freeze cracked calender to the welder and he used nickel rod. The weld did not hold and he said the cast iron just was not good enough to weld. I still need the cylinder fixed and am wondering if this stuff would be worth a try.

Dan, Most hydraulic cylinders are made of pretty high quality stuff. While some castings can be unweldable it's only because of too much carbon in the iron, sometimes called gray cast iron. If, when attempting to weld, the gray cast will burn away, as if the the arc is too hot. I think you may need a different person to attempt the weld. Any other sort of cast iron is weldable, including malleable iron.