I recently purchased an extra heavy duty fire pot and it cam to me broken. The people at Centaur are sending me a replacement part soon! Would it be a good idea to put fire cement between the top and bottom part?

You could use some fire cement to seal it up, especially if you are using a hand cranker. Many often have valves on electric blowers to reduce the air flow so it would not matter if you were losing some air here, just open the valve a bit and you would have plenty of air.

Basically, it depends on how "neat" you like your forge to look and what type of blower you have hooked up.

Cheers

I would take a small piece of flat bar just bigger than the cracked bit to bridge it all together. like 3/4" by 1/4" and punch or drill a hole in the center. Use that as a clamp to hold it all together. Put a touch longer bolt in and install it. It ought to work just fine. I have seen more than a few blacksmith repairs done in this fashion that lasted a good long wile.

Got some nickle rod or brazing rod? If they don't want it back I would weld or braze it. Careful thou
some suppliers want the defect back.
Ken

If you end up keeping the piece, you can weld it with cast iron rod. Heat the piece up first with a torch, weld it and then almost cool it with the torch.
I have the same pot and have nothing between the two pieces. Did you get the 3" air gate ? This will make life easier for you.
I wouldn't sweat the broken piece, Bekki and the gang at Centaur are good, they'll make it right.

I'd just fab a steel mending plate and let it have some "room" to move and expect it to last longer than I will!