I just bought this beautiful vice and under the crud I see this crack. I tightened the screw and it is amazing how much the loiter leg bends. I'm shire it's wrought. So wondering the best way to repair it. I really want to do work with this monster. Thanks!

Could you drill, tap, and bolt a patch plate over it?  It may be that a skilled welder could weld it, and then you'd have to file it smooth again.

 

Just some thoughts.

 

Geoff

Grind out a bevel inside and out. Weld it up. After welding and finish grinding, heat up with a rosebud or propane forge and let cool in still air.

The "best way" has too many variables---how are you at tig welding in an argon box?  How is your forge welding skills and do you have a forge large enough?  If the "best" way costs more than a new car, would that be a problem? Etc and so on

 

However a good way would be to arc weld it.  It is most likely to be low carbon wrought iron and so a standard low carbon rod should work.  It will take more filling as the ferrous silicates will go away in the weld zone; but that is not a problem.  Don't forget to V the crack first!  As low carbon; preheat and post heat are not an issue either.  You may want to practice on some other wrought iron first to get the hang of it.

Thanks, I would love to weld this and feel confident that all would be good but I have bin reading bad things about welding wrought. I can oxy aceteline weld, stick,tig,and mig. It's in a bad place and I don't want to make a bad situation worse with out checking with people who have structurally welded wrought iron. If it was hot rolled steel I would feel confident in the repair.

Thanks, I would love to weld this and feel confident that all would be good but I have bin reading bad things about welding wrought. I can oxy aceteline weld, stick,tig,and mig. It's in a bad place and I don't want to make a bad situation worse with out checking with people who have structurally welded wrought iron. If it was hot rolled steel I would feel confident in the repair.

I did the exact same repair to my very large vise. I went to extremes, I wanted it to last forever. 

Folks here told me I overdid but I don't really agree; too much is always enough. 

 

1. I ground out the entire crack into virgin metal. 

2. I buttered both sides with 309 stainless steel stick electrode. (308-316 would have worked just as well, especially since this step isn't really needed.)

3. I filled the gap with multiple passes of 7018 stick electrode. I welded past the last stainless bead to make an "invisible" repair..

 

Technically 6010/6011 would have been sufficient but 7018 is a fast fill rod, being part of the high speed group, and between the stainless (for stretch)

and the 7018 (for strength) this repair will never need to be made again. (I am planning to die still owning this vise). 

Thanks, I'm going to clamp it in the mill at lunch tomorrow and drill down with a 3/4" ball end mill. Making a half circle relief on each side of the crack. )( I'll try a 6010 root and follow up with the 7018. I will preheat and post heat the hole area after. Should I post heat both sides of the opening to get the hole thing to stress relieve. I mean the side that didn't crack.

Thanks, I'm going to clamp it in the mill at lunch tomorrow and drill down with a 3/4" ball end mill. Making a half circle relief on each side of the crack. )( I'll try a 6010 root and follow up with the 7018. I will preheat and post heat the hole area after. Should I post heat both sides of the opening to get the hole thing to stress relieve. I mean the side that didn't crack.

Don't preheat. You could post heat for stress relief. I wouldn't mess with the side you don't weld. No point. 

Ed the first thing I would do is run a test weld & see what works stick - Mig - braze -don't look like a tig project to me 

then prep & repair and in a test weld yes you take a chisel & try and remove you're test weld

 

Steve's Welding

I have tried welding various wrought items and what I think works best is a dual sheild MIG set up.   The slag in wrought precludes using a TIG in my experiance

Thanks every one. I will post pics , but I ran into a slight snag, this thing was coated in so much grease fore a very long time. I keep cleaning and grease keeps pouring out. I gotta make sure when I prep it that it's not going to get contaminated before I weld it. Grease also keeps pouring out of the crack.

Disappointing that your vise is cracked. It looks like a real beauty otherwise.

 

The vise is likely wrought iron. If so, here are a few of my thoughts on arc welding wrought.

 

I am not a pro welder but have had some experience welding wrought iron. Based on reading some older welding books the best thing to do is avoid a deep penetrating weld. What happens with a deep penetrating rod is the iron silicate slag is released into the weld zone. At this point the slag it is no longer in grain form but can develop porosity in the weld.

 

I would avoid welding with a deep penetrating rod such as 6010/6011. 7018 should work just fine. Also a good preheat may help burn out some of the grease and will aid in welding.

 

Good luck

 

Dan

Ok,sorry it took so long. I finally got a chance to do some work on it. I milled out each side with a 3/4" ball end mill. Then cut a slot ware the crack was. I tried mig on the inside first and that failed to bond well so I had to mill it all out again. I used 7018 and that worked much better. I still have to heat the hole area to get it to relax before I test it out. I have some picks of the steps. Wrought Is it's own animal. Machines very easily though. I want to thank every one for helping me. It would not have come out as well as it did ,thank you !!!

More pics

I'll say this, that's one of the better prep jobs I've seen done on something. Way too many times I see someone simply wave the grinder  quickly over a crack like it's a magic wand and then wonder why their repair fails. Nice job.

Yes, nice job. 

Surprised you had trouble with the MIG. Would you mind describing your settings, wire type, thickness, shielding gas, machine size, etc.? 

 

Thanks for all the pics too. We love pics. 

Nice work!

Thanks ,the mig gas was the tri gas. The real problem was the wire. It was corona weld 321 ,designed off all mild steel but it's a maintenance rod. Good for galvanize with out cleaning. Paint and oily metal. It try's to float everything to the top. The weld looked like a sponge. You guys warned me about not using a deep burning rod so I switched to stick 7018. The welds are so big because I used 5/32" rod. A big hole to fill

First things first stop the crack. Dril a 3/16 hole at the end of the crack. Then follow previous weld suggestions. 6011 root pass the fill with 7018