I am trying to repair crack in cast iron stew pot with Arc welder! Any suggestions?

[Bailey]

Have the proper cast rods but never welded cast iron before. Do I need to heat pot or cracked area any suggestions would be great!

[cruizer]

Have the proper cast rods but never welded cast iron before. Do I need to heat pot or cracked area any suggestions would be great!

Ni rod, with preheat and very slow cool down, cat litter works well for the cooldown.

[Daniel]

What he says.

[jontheturboguy]

Ive always save some old glass bead sand blaster media after its worn out. Works great for burying hot material to cool down slowly....

[diamondback]

The post above are correct. Please also consider the location of the crack and the exposure of potentially hazardous metals coming in contact with food at elevated temperatures. It might not be worth it.

[Old Skool]

I'd vee out the crack slightly, shine it up & knock the flux off a stick of ni rod & tig it up.

[Keith_J]

The post above are correct. Please also consider the location of the crack and the exposure of potentially hazardous metals coming in contact with food at elevated temperatures. It might not be worth it.

Welding rods contain no lead, zinc, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, beryllium...

Hazardous? Like nickel? Stainless (18-8)contains 8% nickel. Sure, some people can have a nickel allergy but from coins, jewelry and other contact, not food prep exposure.

Sure, occupational exposure to certain welding fumes/gases/flux can be bad. But use common sense

[welder57]

any of you guys heard of peening the weld after?-read somewhere and can't remember-hate to say it, might have been lincoln's website

[reccymech]

I'm really mining the crevases of my mind, but, from what I remember of welding cast, and it goes along what has been said.

Grind out, then weld, grind, weld, grind, weld, etc. Due to the porosity of cast it may tend to weep out. Once welded allow to cool very slowly, ie wrap if possible.

[Keith_J]

Peening will probably cause the base material to crack.

[Helios]

Ni rod, with preheat and very slow cool down, cat litter works well for the cooldown.

Could this be done with oxy-acetylene?

I have a cast iron woodstove where it would need to be welded in place (vertical and flat) and tigging is pretty much out of the question.

Also, how much would the crack need to be veed out? Will the crack "suck up" the nickel through capillary action at all? Would a flux like borax help?

[Daniel]

any of you guys heard of peening the weld after?-read somewhere and can't remember-hate to say it, might have been lincoln's website

Yes, you should peen every bead of weld. Helps in preventing cracks in the weld zone.