I needed to repair a bearing cap for my power hammer, it was broken when I bought the hammer and someone put a saddle over it to hold it together. I am in the process of re-pouring the babbit bearings so this is the best time to do the repair.
This is a simple job, most of the time is in the prep work. You need to grind out a "V groove" so you can get access to the root on the repair. Once I had enough space to get a weld in I welded both pieces to a chunk of heavy plate that I had laying around. I preheated the whole thing to around 150 degrees, then started filling the joint using a cast iron rod. Run the root pass, making sure you tie into both sides, then run stringer beads until you have about 1/8 inch of build up above the parent material.
I left it to cool overnight (this heavy plate was holding lots of heat so it cooled slow) then cut the welds loose for clean up. This was a little tricky because the break went right through one of the holes, I used a die grinder to open the hole back up for mounting. I also replaced the oil reservoir that had been ground down to accommodate the saddle

Nice job. How do you finish off the top of the oil reservoir? Press-on cap? Hinge and plate with oil port? Welded plate and oil port? Or will you just leave it open?

Also, I didn't know you could even find babbit bearing material anymore. Cool!

Thanks, Jerry- The oil reservoir will just stay open, that's how it was before. The babbit is still around, I ordered it from Sid at Little Giant, his price seemed reasonable and I know its the right stuff, there are many different types.
This repair was not pretty, but it stayed straight and it is sound metal so I should have no problem in the future.

" This repair was not pretty, but it stayed straight and it is sound metal "

You want both ? (lol) I happen to think the repair is outstanding and looks fine. I grew up around farm machinery and other equipment being repaired in this fashion ( although likely brazed ) and the old welders would have been proud of this work. Good job.

Thanks Ten Hammers I had to do some grinding to chop down the "Rocky Mountains" that was the part that was not pretty, welding on cast iron is a little hit and miss. I think it is the impurities in it that make the weld run weird at times. I have seen some amazing braze welds that were done on cast, like the apron on my South Bend lathe. Someone broke it in two then brazed it back together and it runs smooth and true.

Clinton

You should probably think about putting felt in the oil well openings once your done. Keeps the dirt out and once saturated helps to feed slow so oil dosen't just run thru the bearing.

Clinton what kind of cast Iron rod did you used ? maker ? Nice Job :D

Impressive! I would have probably just have forged a mild steel replacement rather than work with the cast iron

Doc- I will do that, thanks

Ironwolf- the rod that I used is called "Kar, Karalloy" I do not think this company is around anymore. This rod was in a large rod oven that I bought years ago. There was about 250 lbs of misc. rod in the oven when I bought it. The seller asked me if I wanted to take the rod, or he was going to just throw it away. There is a bunch of chromoly rod in there as well, a bunch of "mystery rod" and a box of Stoody hard facing rod (good for anvil repair)

Thomas- I think it would have been more work to forge a new piece but that is an option if it breaks again. It is pretty thick with a recessed area to hold the babbit, it could be forged with the help of a striker