Thread: Needing Some For A Small Surface Grinder Job in Melbourne

Using the scraper for something other than fettling castings kind of inspired me so I swung by Carbatec today and bought one of their little granite cheese platters, err I mean surface plates.
I mixed up some blue using Ferric Ferrocyanide from the ebay seller danielwaus mentioned in his rotary table thread and Castrol boating grease which is already blue and it seemed to work pretty well.
I blued up the plate and flipped Helmut's table onto it and the initial result was actually better than I expected.

First Bluing.JPG

You can still see the arc from the fly-cutter down the middle of the table where the mill ran out of travel.
My lack of practice is obvious in the manky looking initial passes but muscle memory kicked in after a while and the areas that I was working on the most are a lot more even.
Don't panic Helmut, my plan is to have a crack tomorrow night to get it even and make the whole thing look better.

Thanks for the offer Phil, I'm not sure if I'd be game to use the mottler without a few practice runs but I might drop by some time to touch up my scraper blade if that's ok.
I've got a couple more boxes of desicant at work too if you can use some.
Cheers,
Greg.

Originally Posted by kwijibo99

, I'm not sure if I'd be game to use the mottler without a few practice runs but I might drop by some time to touch up my scraper blade if that's ok.

I have any amount of cast slab's to practice on. Failing that I'll pull out a game and lay a pattern on.

Only country in the world you get this. Post scrapper dudes. Drop in any time and use my grinder, normal rules, if my White van is is the carpark I'm generally inside.

Patched the extended hole in Helmut’s drill press base on the weekend.
The Base as it was with the enlarged mounting hole.

Waldown Base 01.JPG Waldown Base 02.jpg
Waldown Base 03.jpg Waldown Base 04.JPG

Cut and shaped a CI plug to fit.

Waldown Base 05.JPG Waldown Base 06.jpg

TIGed the plug into place top and bottom.

Waldown Base 07.JPG Waldown Base 08.JPG

I usually use a 316L filler for cast but the resulting weld is extremely hard. As this needs to be machined post welding, I tried using 70S-2 mild steel filler and it came up pretty nice.
Ground the top weld back flush ready to drill the new hole.

Waldown Base 09.JPG

Hi Greg,

That's a really neat job of patching up that elongated hole. Do you reckon she'll hold up when you re-drill the hole?

Reckon you might be suddenly inundated with requests to patch up "Swiss cheese" drill press tables etc.

And incidentally, great pics, BT would be proud of those.

Ken

Originally Posted by kwijibo99

Patched the extended hole in Helmut’s drill press base on the weekend.
The Base as it was with the enlarged mounting hole.

Cut and shaped a CI plug to fit.

I usually use a 316L filler for cast but the resulting weld is extremely hard. As this needs to be machined post welding, I tried using 70S-2 mild steel filler and it came up pretty nice.
Ground the top weld back flush ready to drill the new hole.

Did you have to jump through all the pre-heat hoops welding this?

Looking good Greg. Keep us updated.

Hi kwijibo99 have plenty more scraps of Cast Iron if needed.
Kryn

Nice job boys. Good to see when the forum comes together to give support and get a job done!!!

Thanks for the kind comments fellas.

Ken, the repair should hold up fine, I've made a few repairs in CI using the same welding method including a drill press vice and so far they have all held up. As for doing other tables I'm happy to help out as long as there's no huge hurry to get the job done. The table on one of my own drills is moderately chain drilled and I should repair it one day but it just hasn't been an issue to date.

Variant, as the weld was only small and the base around 5/8" thick I just welded the plug in with no preheat as the chances of cracking were minimal.

Kryn, thanks for the offer of more CI, my daughter wants me to mill what's left of your original block square so she can have a crack at scraping after watching me work on Helmut's table.
I dunno, kids these days.

Cheers,
Greg.

Originally Posted by kwijibo99

Kryn, thanks for the offer of more CI, my daughter wants me to mill what's left of your original block square so she can have a crack at scraping after watching me work on Helmut's table. I dunno, kids these days. Cheers, Greg.

Hi Greg, Isn't the idea to give them a rough block, and THEY make it square?????? Let me know if more required, so I don't send it for scrap.
Kryn