Thread: Welding railway iron.

Use 7016 or 7018 low hydrogen rods.
Railway iron is work hardening maganese alloy.

Don't pre heat in fact keep the heat input down.
Grahame

Grahame, you are a metal god. Thank you. Damien.

Originally Posted by goodwoody

Grahame, you are a metal god. Thank you. Damien.

Only on my good days LOL


Damien If you have a DC capable welding machine. Rig it so it is running electrode positive for Low hydrogen.

Cheers
GRAHAME

probably would be 48 or 49, 16's or 18's in australia 70 is US

Don't pre heat in fact keep the heat input down.
Grahame

How does that work Grahame? Not trying to be a smartarse and have never attempted to weld a piece of track.

Basing the question on how hefty a piece a piece of railway track is.

From memory, I think manganese is prone to cracking once the piece being welded exceeds 250 degrees C.

We used to weld dragline buckets, the main body was Bisalloy and the bottom section was cast manganese. The Bisalloy had to be kept over 150 degrees C and the manganese had to be kept below 250. We had to keep spraying the manganese section with water occasionally to keep it down.

We also had to wear air fed respirators, as manganese welding gives off very toxic fumes.

The fixer is correct. I doubt that Damien will get 2 metres of rail barely warm.

What I should have said is not to preheat it as many people would be prone to with any piece of steel out of the ordinary.

Also avoid welding the ms bar on to the track surface as it has work hardened due to the thousands of rail way wheel pounding over it.

I would say that's where its most likely for any attached mild steel to break away as it is as hard as a bulls forehead and there fore a hard and brittle grain structure.
Grahame

Thanks for the info. Its not something I intend welding in the immediate future, but you never know when the small bit sitting in the corner finds a new purpose in life.