Rick Eisenbeisz Posted April 5, 2023 Share Posted April 5, 2023 Sometime in the life of this 16” R & M lollipops life, or maybe it was made defective, the bottom strut, right arm, got bent and the blade hits the arm of the strut. Knowing it’s cast, I’m a bit reluctant to try and bend it back, it needs to be bent back about 1/2”. My experience with cast iron / steel is it breaks, it doesn’t bend. Does anyone have a thought on how to bend this strut back 1/2”??? Would heating the arm, torch, allow the cast material to bend? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Rick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Stephens Posted April 5, 2023 Share Posted April 5, 2023 It's possibly that the strut was made of "malleable iron" which is somewhat ductile and can be bent some, but I don't know how much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David A Cherry Posted April 5, 2023 Share Posted April 5, 2023 That’s a tough one.. I can’t tell you how many times I thought heat was the ticket only to have it break or crack.. that said you have no choice. I would get it cherry red and go slowly… if all goes well, let it cool slowly even if you have to reheat it from time to time, take it down slowly.. metal is a funny thing…it has grain like wood, as well as a crystalline structure, like an ice cube.. it can be very strong in one direction and week and another.. I was a toolmaker1 for 39 years and did all my own heat treating as well as I took metallurgy in college. Cast iron is quite complicated… i’m sure that the fan castings are very low grade and filled with imperfections and impurities. 1912 they didn’t know much about metallurgy.. look at the titanic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Shirey Posted April 5, 2023 Share Posted April 5, 2023 Off the top of my head I can’t recall what the ends look like, but could you discreetly make a tiny wedge shaped washer shim to put underneath the strut mount to change the angle, and therefore the spacing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Eisenbeisz Posted April 5, 2023 Author Share Posted April 5, 2023 Thanks to all who replied, appreciate your thoughts / ideas. Rick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russ Huber Posted April 5, 2023 Share Posted April 5, 2023 2 hours ago, Rick Eisenbeisz said: Thanks to all who replied, appreciate your thoughts / ideas. Rick. It all boils down to risk, Rick. I went over a few forums on "bending cast iron". There are videos for bending cast iron. You can nutshell what David said above, how will the cast iron extension react to bent force based on its composition? #1. I doubt it left the factory untested, so my bet, it got bent. #2. It is not running to well in its present state. #3. Can you find someone not too far from you who is notably competent to take on the dirty risky job? Plan B. In the event it fractures, can a like extension be modified and brazed/welded in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Wendel Posted April 5, 2023 Share Posted April 5, 2023 If it does break off during the straightening process, it could be welded back together with a slight realignment between the two pieces to put the strut back into the correct position. (Like Russ's Plan B). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russ Huber Posted April 5, 2023 Share Posted April 5, 2023 20 minutes ago, Doug Wendel said: If it does break off during the straightening process, it could be welded back together with a slight realignment between the two pieces to put the strut back into the correct position. (Like Russ's Plan B). Ya, that too. Never panic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.