Nigiel Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 I have a champion 145-18 forge (the round little guy) and the fan inside of the blower has a "blade" broken off. I have the broken piece but don't see a way to repair it. Does anyone know where i can get a replacement or something else that will do the job? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 Broken sheet metal? Tig weld it or braze it; I've seen them riveted with a mending plate---but that throws the balance a tad off. As to replacing it---you just have to buy another one in better shape and remove the fan blade and put it on your old one. The ones with a cast fan spider are much more of a pain to fix! Something else to do the job? Another hand crank blower, an electric fan, a chinese box bellows, a camping air mattress inflator, a double lunged european bellows? Yes. Note if you are on my side of Texas I can introduce you to a welding instructor who can git 'er done in minutes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mutant Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 One obvious suggestion is e-bay but I haven't seen fan parts very often. I'm on the lookout for parts for my champion 400. Maybe look into brazing or soldering? I think soldering is for electronics though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 Actually high temp silver soldering AKA silver brazing would work fine. The low temp solders probably wouldn't be strong enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigiel Posted January 6, 2019 Author Share Posted January 6, 2019 I had already tried what i had at my disposal which was a low temp soldering iron and it did not hold very well, came off after spinning right away. After some time thinking about what I should do i decided just to clean up the internals of the blower and keep it as it was, missing a blade. And with little effort i could get the blower to force quite a bit of air through the forge. None of the blades were hitting the walls due to an imbalance. Unfortunately Thomas I am located in san antonio (should probably add that to specify because Texas is really big) and El Paso is quite the drive. I haven't really lived here for a long time either so I don't know anybody who has gear for welding/brazing and am not very experienced at welding or brazing either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swedefiddle Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 Happy New Year Nigiel, Talk to your local auto repair shop and ask them to braze on a sheet metal tab that you made. You have 5 other patterns. Use as close to the original thickness as possible. Remember, it is a wind paddle, not something for impact. Neil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 How lucky you are---right near an ABANA Affiliate; bet you can find a local smith who would do it for a dozen doughnuts at a meeting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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