Fisher delaminating

[territorialmillworks]

Living in the Arizona desert, anvils are few and far between. Ten years back, I finally bought a Fisher that was in poor condition.  It was swayed back and the parting line between the face and the cast base was very evident. But it was better than a ASO from Harbor Freight.  It is now DEAD.  While getting some plate steel at the scrap yard, I found a fork truck tine @ 15 cents per pound. Considering the condition of the anvil, I'm thinking of milling the anvil and perimeter welding the tine.  I know this is a lousy option but considering its current condition, I don't think it could be any worse.   So jump in and give me your feed back. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

I see lots of anvils around he Phoenix area on Craigslist, but they are expensive. There was one not that long ago out of the Metro area that was in the 200# range for a good price,and it stayed listed for a very long time.

Have you ever welded cast iron? It takes some prep,and is a lot tougher than steel to weld correctly. Personally I hate the E99 rods, and go with the pricer options that are out there. For a Fisher I might consider a mechanical attachment like a series of through bolts/studs underneath, or bolting through the top.

[territorialmillworks]

Yes to welding cast. Overhead on the stump on a grader. UUGGLLY.  Hadn't thought about bolting.  Might be tough to drill through the tine. I could cut the hole with the plasma torch and plug weld the studs.  There lies the challenge.  Thanks, I'll let you know how it worked out or didn't.

 

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

I have drilled tines before. They are heat treated to be tough, not brittle hard. A drill press will do it fine. Tap the holes with a good quality spiral point , and bottoming taps.  If I did one with studs I would make them blind holes in the tine, so they do not affect the top. Thread them all the way -bottoming out in tight, then drop them through the holes in the anvil. If the tine was ever-so-slightly concave the studs would pull it down on the edges first then the middle making for a solid contact. Then impact gun them down from underneath. Fine threads have greater vibration resistance. 

If you have access to a mill what about sweat soldering it together with silver solder? There are some alloys out now that are low temp, like 400 degree low. Butter the anvil, then warm the top plate until they bond.

The top bolt method I have considered is to drill a series of holes in a pattern across the entire top, and anvil. Counterbore the top for the bolts, and torque them down very tight. Maybe even heat them up before installing so when they cool they shrink tighten like some industries do. Then rosette weld the bolt heads to the top plate. If the plate is thick enough you could press fit some plugs to remove the welding phase. For that method steel Allen heads would be a good bet since they exceed grade 8 specs. My Dad told me of a submarine he worked on where they had to torque some big honkin' nuts down with a 6' torque wrench and a come-along. The studs were hollow, and they put a calrod heater in them to warm them up. Once the studs were heated to the specified temp, they did the final torquing on the nuts. Once they were cooled off, you weren't getting them off again. You would want the anvil, and plate very cold, and the bolts hot. 

BUT, before we get too far along, let's see some pictures of the offending top plate on your anvil.