Hey everyone 👋 We've unfortunately had delays getting seals to finish our Hitachi cylinder rebuild this week so we've got this cast iron job videoed instead! Hope you enjoy it 😄👍 *HELP SUPPORT MATTY's WORKSHOP CANCER BATTLE* Donate here: gofund.me/6ad05239 CZcams Channel: youtube.com/@MattysWorkshop Subscribe and hit the bell icon to turn on notifications so you don't miss our weekly uploads. 👇 🤳 📲Follow us online here: linktr.ee/CEEAUS 🛍Official CEE Merch shop: www.ceeshop.com.au 🎉Get Early Access & Ad Free videos in our Patreon community: www.patreon.com/cuttingedgeengineering
The fact that Kurtis is willing to have a failed project published just shows how professional and confident in his skills he is. Accepting ones own limits and not being afraid to state them really shows character. Also not charging the customer! No wonder kurtis has so much to do, good on you!
This^^^ I've worked with cast a few times and my record isn't great. A big part like this? Doomed to fail, but a great learning experience. Hopefully the customer offered to at least cover the materials cost but I'm sure the honesty and attempt will pay dividends later
Dude...not too long ago I had a case from a pneumatic jack hammer...NO MATTER WHAT I DID... as per recommendation...DID NOT MATTER!!!! Cracks persisted and though it was considered a loss anyways it was surely lost after. Huge bummer, I didn't learn much because my boss knew less than me. Huge bummer, I really wanted to get it done. Either I missed something or did something wrong consistently 😂. Though watching all the nickel ball up during gouge was interesting. I feel like that was indicative of something crucial. Oh well...I'm a librarian now😂😂😂😂
The slow character development of Kurtis turning into a Disney princess with the birds is priceless. Homeless getting better and better wrecking packages is hilarious. I commend you for posting a failed repair, but often times our failures teach us more than our successes, Cheers to all three of you. Much love.
As a foundry engineer who works with ductile iron all the time, CAT is notorious for isolated thick sections in the middle of thin sections geometries… this creates a lot of residual stresses in the solidification and cooling process. Drill holes to add stress concentrations and now you have a casting destined for failure! As always, the CEE content is great!
great to see this insight, the large final crack was exactly like you said, he colder casting could not handle the expansion of the thick heated section with the ring
And maybe too much bearing load? The crack is on the outside, so the force was pushing outward. And the bolt hole cracks feel more like fatigue than impact
You´d need to engineer some casting forms that can be heated in respective areas then. 🤷♂ I suspect tho that either those impurities or inclusions were on the upper end of the "go" spectrum in roentgen or it has been run with almost no oil and been hot.
QUESTION: If that housing was brought up to nearly cherry red and THEN welded or spraywelded and then put back into an oven and slowly brought down over time and then held at like 400° for a time and then just allowed to slowly cool or buried in sand and allowed to cool...would it crack?
@@willybones3890 it wouldn’t crack, but it would anneal and settle. And the holes would all settle into happy positions. It would need to be fully machines again :o(
A large, complex casting like this, which has had multiple machining operations, been stressed through use and developed cracks without any obvious reason was always likely to be a lost cause. I hope your customer watches this and realises the skill and effort you put in to try and achieve a good outcome.
@@mrb.5610 there's always a chance, though Cat typically have good quality castings from what I've seen, you almost never get this kind of thing without any other damage or obvious issues. Not a job I'd want to take on regardless, cast iron repairs are a bloody tough thing to get right, especially something as big and complex as this
@@mrb.5610 I was wondering that also. It just seems strange no visual damage yet cracking occurring? And then all the cracking happening when trying to repair, something fishy going on there…
@@GeorgeLittle-ft2yx Residual stress from whatever impact cause those initial cracks. Either the shaft got clobbered, or the one wheel was suddenly bound up with a large rock or ditch, and the shock through the transmission caused the initial cracks, but also left a lot of strain bound up in the bulk of the thin side. Just needed enough heat to stress past the yield point, causing the crack, or one of them spread from the heat input to the point it hit the stressed material, which could have been there from when originally cast. About the only way to have prevented it would have been to put the entire casting into an oven, and taken it up to 800C for 24 hours, then let it cool at a controlled rate of around 20C per hour to room temperature, which would have released most of the stress, and likely shown the casting was badly distorted as well. Big oven, and also inert argon atmosphere as well. Would suggest as well the new casting is bought along with a new output shaft, as that likely also has some buried cracks in it, which probably will show up, with eddy current testing or gamma inspection. Might be cheaper to buy the entire unit ready built, as that gives a warranty on the part.
At the beginning of this video I told my girlfriend this guy is nuts for even attempting what he's about to do. I'm sorry for laughing when I heard the crack but I realized that I was right. That is just way too much damage cast-iron to successfully fix. At least with my welding experience. I've been a welder for 18 years and was rooting for you. I was hoping I could learn something from this. What I learned is that cast iron is just as difficult for you as it is for me.
Saludos hermano espero te encuentres bien, quería preguntarte si en tu experiencia de 18 años que hubieras hecho tu y que hizo el mal que se pudo haber evitado esa falla tan catastrófica de la carcasa
@@catpartsforyouokay, so to make it not sound like a brag, share some wisdom: do you think any mistakes were made here? Is it a simple case of just not having the right equipment? Any tips for others, or Kurtis in how to have more success in the future? Any thoughts on whether impurities in the casting may have contributed to the problems? Would you have used a puddle/powder torch? Or a different method?
@@catpartsforyou I would think that the freight alone would cost more than a new part locally, if they were to send it from Australia to US and back for repairs.
@@davidbastow5629just guessing but I’d say the main problem was uneven heating. Kurtis heated it up but h wasn’t able to really make sure it was all the same temperature. And when he started welding that part got much harder then the rest and it started to crack, or make cracks that were already there get worse.
@@catpartsforyou it’s all well and good telling the world how easy a repair this would be for you but for those with less wisdom than yourself, please enlighten us to what you would have done differently. Otherwise any Tom Dick or Harry could say that they would have fixed it successfully.
I am a one man auto repair shop in Indiana. I've had your videos playing the shop last few days. While your workmanship is top tier and integrity is first class, I'm most impressed by your time management! You're never rushed, never stressed, and I have no idea how that's possible!! Please tell me your secret! Also, I think an "unboxing" series from homeless would take over the internet.
In the shipyard they had large cast part on a large bed of coal with fireproof blankets on top. They repair it right in the burning coal. After that still under the blankets. They slowly let the coal to burn all up and let it start to cool. This was not a one day job. Full marks on trying to fix a massive cast iron part.
I guess that's the way the other guy who is so busy does it, by heating and cooling the entire piece over time. Using an oven that holds the entire piece and reheating as necessary. Kurtis isn't setup for it and the result shows. A most interesting video.
Cast iron is a pain no matter. Not many out there would show a failed repair. Props to you Kurtis. You told the customer what may happen. It happened and showed the internet how things can go pear shaped.
I know welders who have welded engine blocks with NIRod with preheat and post heat that failed and also just quickly welded without cleaning or any prep and some just work out and others don't.
I think more than 50% of what we have learned in life came from our fails rather than our wins.......when I am sober tmrw not sure that will be as profound.?..lol 3:13 a.m. in my man cave in PA USA....lol
100% agree! I only found this channel a few days ago and was very impressed with Kurtis's work ethics from the very first video i watched. Even with my limited engineering background i learned VERY early on that CI is a right royal b's****d to deal with( unlike Kurtis i actually like working with CI on my lathe and mill LOL! ) I would hazard a guess that this particular casting came with unwanted stresses in it ,straight from the foundry, i reckon there was a problem with the cooling of the casting right after it was 'de-moulded'@@tbrowniscool
Hi Curtis I would recommend that you try Eutectic electrodes for cast iron. Cast iron electrides are usually 100% nickel or a Ni/Fe blend. They are a bit expensive but are good quality. The advantage of using an electric arc process over oxy is that there is much less heat involved. While you have the broken casting it may be a good learning expereience to trial some electrode repairs. I have persponally used (sucessfully) Eutectic electrodes to repair a cast iron frame on a tractor about 48 yrears ago. So Eutectic has been around for a while. Also progressive heating in small steps then wrapping in an insulating blenket may help to give a slow uniform temperature rise especially with a large 3 dimensional complicated casting.. Also wrapping in a blanket after doing the work will ensure a slow cool. Differential expansion and contraction is the killer with cast iron. Even with an electrode repair, preheating the job is still requird. Cheers.
ive been with the channel since the beginning. What strikes me is the willingness to admit defeat in certain instances and in doing so make it a victory for the channel. The explanations, the work, the videography, the editing, the comic relief, all of it come together to make the channel truly the special thing it is. Why there are not a couple of million subs defies logic. Certainly deserving more as it is one of the best channels on youtube. Cheers from Texas.........
Hey up mate I think this is probably your best video yet,really enjoyed it, has the 40 year man made a comment on this would be interesting, anyway love the honesty and all the best to you three
In due time Kurtis will have millions of subs. His channel is growing at a good pace. Many of his videos should be shown in technical schools. We all learn so much from watching his content. I still can’t fathom how Kurtis has so much knowledge at his age.
What I love about your channel is that you aren't only showing the "best case scenarios" of everything, you show all the low points as well. The fact that you didn't charge for a repair that didn't work out speaks tremendously for your character and that you never want to compromise on what your work means to your customers. Nothing but respect to Kurtis, Karen and everyone's favorite safety officer.
Unfortunately, the world is full of hungry 'operators' In litigious US of A, some might sue if they thought they'd MAKE a buck That the customer accepted the risk speaks of both their characters...👍
Here in the US of A we are full of money grubbers, too many people have no integrity anymore. It’s a breath of fresh air to deal with people who have integrity. Look a man in the eye and shake his hand and that should be golden, but unfortunately nowadays often times when you turn and walk away you get a knife in your back. You my friend are a perfect example of integrity, that’s why I enjoy watching your content, cheers to you and your wonderful lady and of course the side kick.
The most important thing was that you clearly talked it through with your customer regarding expectations before you started!! I know you didn't charge, but I hope your customer takes care of you of you some for the efforts knowing it might not work. Only fair.
Hello CEEA, greetings from Germany. I would like to leave a few tips from one colleague to another as a sign of my respect for your good work. Welding cast iron is the supreme discipline, but if you know the tricks it's easy. The problem is that cast iron can withstand a lot of pressure but no tensile stress! This is very important to understand and must be taken into account at every step. Tip 1: You can see how sensitive cast iron reacts to temperature differences when cooling down in the video at 18:30 minutes when you turned off the gas. Such large cast structures should not cool down faster than 10°C in an hour. If you go too fast, tensile stress will build up and the housing will break. Tip 2: My old master at the master school was an absolute expert. He once showed me a very simple trick to avoid tensile stress when stick welding. Instead of welding a long seam, he only welded a small spot 5-8mm in diameter. He then immediately took the welding hammer or a chisel and tapped the weld spot flat (just pushed the spot apart a little). He explained to me at the time that this took away the power from the tensile stresses that occur when it cools down. Always tap one point in the weld seam at a time with the welding hammer and take your time until the weld point has reached the same temperature as the other material. Tip 3: It is better to have thin weld seams than large areas. With this case it would have been better to first drill the ends of the cracks and then make thin cuts with an angle grinder. They would have had to add a lot less material and then worked their way up the housing layer by layer. Every new weld seam ensures that the position behind it is normalized. Thanks for the good videos
Kurtis thanks for showing us things that go wrong. The guy that taught me to weld said that it’s only by understanding why something went wrong that you can learn how to do it right. A mantra I still use today. You both work so hard on getting things right within your relative skill sets that makes every episode a joy to watch, you and Karen deserve every success. Homey’s contributions are also priceless.😂
Not sure any amount of skill could have saved this casing, kudos to CEE for even attempting it and showing us the results, failure is a learning process just as important as success👍
Just another reason why so many people follow every episode of CEE Australia. Thank you Kurtis for putting that episode on here. The way you explain every detail as you work is amazing.
We made thousands of gearboxes over the years and thankfully never suffered too much from cracking. One type was prone to cracks so we redesigned the area and changed to SG iron, problem solved. Rarely have I seen breaks like yours, but there were one or two that were caused by rapid stopping and as the gearbox was under load the area around the output shaft would exhibit cracks more often through the dowel pin location holes and also on a few of the bolt holes. Very interesting post which exhibited the problems that can arise with cast iron repairs. Thanks for posting Kurtis, Karen & Homey 👍
Showed this video to a mate of mine that works in the on site workshop. We had exactly the same issue with one of our 980's. He said that it apparently is a material quality issue on some Cat machines from a few years ago. I have no idea if that is the case, but he's been in the business for over 45 years and usually knows what he's talking about.
I’m so impressed how deep and broad Kurtis skills are. He’s a top notch boiler maker, machinist, sculptor etc etc. Great talent and hats off to those who taught him him his skills.
There was Water/Fluid in the crack, so most likely they cleaned it in a big heating pool with cleaning solution, soaked that fu**er over night before inspection
And props to their maintenance guys for spotting those cracks when they were still so small, there'd be a good bit of damage if the casting had broken fully while in use
Nothing wrong with failure as long as you learn something from the experience . In my opinion Curtis has an overwhelming amount of knowledge and experience in his craft ,work ethic and passion to do the job correctly and methodically. Thank you Kaeren for your great contribution and skill as a videographer to bring these valuable work experiences to your followers and Curtis for sharing his vast knowledge .
There is a back story to that casting ... Cast Iron tough to work on, but that case has a LOT of stress in it to continue developing new cracks like that. Honestly not sure it would have been repairable, regardless of who was attempting it. And .. Puddle Guns are so much fun! Thanks for sharing 🇨🇦
Yea, I doubt that one went through a proper normalizing (stress relieving heat treat) when it was cast. There was a huge amount of residual stress in that casting. Even if it hadn't cracked while he repaired it my bet is it would have continued to crack in the future.
I hate cast! The crystalline structure and the junk in the metal is such a pain to work with. All you have to do is grab a piece of cast and light up your tig torch and watch the garbage come up and float in the pool of molten metal.
Yes... I too suspect that casting was junk from day one. It cracked for no apparent reason. So is as full of stress and and maybe inclusions. I hope CAT did not have that cast in the states, its embarrassing. Should have been warranted out early on.
The stress was not there to start with (that's what cast means), but high heat in isolated places was never going to work. Not to mention high nickel in spots. Well now we know.
_"that case has a LOT of stress in it to continue developing new cracks like that"_ - my thought exactly. Firstly, "original" cracks developing for no apparent reasons, right at stress rising/ concentrating points (bolt holes around a large openings), from (presumably) regular work induced stresses and vibrations - like, "whisky tango foxtrot?" - and then the enormous cracks developing while the case cooled down... This case must have been a piece of junk from the day it left the foundry, just waiting to show its true colours. The bottom crack, the last one, wasn't in any way connected to those at bolt holes, yet it developed "just like that", and not when heating the case, but during the cooling. I remember watching Keith Rucker building up, by spray welding, damaged ways in a steam loco stoker (made of cast iron, obviously) and it was all smooth, easy-peasy even though the walls of that stoker seem to be much thicker. (You can watch it here, "Steam Locomotive Stoker Engine Restoration - Part 7: Spray Weld Buildup of Cross Head Slides", czcams.com/video/5kcTeyw2As0/video.html.)
As always, solid work. You can't save everything, but we sure do like to try. I worked on the railroad here in the U.S. as a Carman (train car repair). All the couplers are cast and part of our job was to look for cracks in these components. When we had to perform a repair we had a similar approach to what you did Kurtis with 1 or 2 notable changes. We had temp sticks that we could touch to the part, and when they melted, we knew the part was at temp. We also periodically rechecked to make sure no portion was cooling down too fast during the repair. I think the gas burners are a good idea. However, I think had you spaced them further from the repair area to heat more of the part, it probably would have helped. One more thing we did was to cover the part in very thick welding blankets when we were done, to insulate the part from cooling too fast. I'm sure you've already learned the lessons that come with failed repairs, but that's half the fun, in my opinion. I hope you find this constructive and I still feel like you did good work. Cheers from the Ohio/Michigan line
The way i see it is for this dimensions, you need to put the entire cast in a oven to bring all of it to the desired temperature. Come out the oven wrap it up in blankets to preserve temp as mush as possible and repair the cracks. Obviously to work on this amount of steel mass, you need to wear a suit protection, and in final put it back in the oven, equalizing temperature and then do a controlled cooling down. I think it requires special installations. Kurtis is a brave man, a honest one, good for him to be that way with is costumer. This was a great experience. He's young and will continue to gain experience and already has the correct approach to keep growing. Great video.
Good effort Curtis, Too bad the casting cracked, “there’s cast iron for ya. May I suggest that you take the Barbecue plan to the next level. You may want to heat the whole housing with charcoal a “bonfire” to heat the whole casting so the process may have a higher probability of success. The cooldown is also easier to manage as you can allow the the heat to die down slowly. It will be a hot workplace though!
WoW!! Not everything can go to plan and i for one appreciate that you uploaded this video due to the nature of how the end result showed itself. I for one got more insight to just how difficult cast iron can be to work on. Loved the video.
As an engineer this kind of content, that shows you a failure of a project is so valuable and is the closest thing you can learn that is closest to actual experience. Thank you. ❤
I really appreciate you showing that even with careful planning and good work, a repair may still fail and that it's super important to notify the customer of the risks. Love your channel.
Before even going through the video ... You supporting a human going through a tough battle with cancer is absolutely AWESOME ... Oh and by the way ... keep them videos coming ... 💪💪💪
@@benwinter2420 You think thats bad ? Australia is huge i live in a small village in Croatia with barely 1100 people and 2 people from my family died of cancer, i know 5 neighbours that have it or had some type of cancer,and there is plenty of people in village that die or get sick.Worst thing is everyone is clueless whats causing it since we dont have big industry nearby or badly polluted air. I am afraid i will have to run away or i might be next . . .but i dont have money to do it.
So much respect (the deepest definition of that word) for Kurtis showing that things don’t always work out the way you planned and how to handle them like a true professional. All you can do is try.
Even with a massive bust like that, it wasn't exactly a failure. You called it correctly going in, you did everything possible to obviate all the problems, but in the end it was cast iron that simply overwhelmed you. A great shame because you deserved success with all the prep and, at least, your customer can see precisely what happened and when. They can't accuse you of not trying! Great vlog, as usual and your wild bird audience seems to be getting bigger. You'd think all the noises, movements (and smells probably) would scare them off permanently, yet they keep coming back for the treats. Nice one.
@@dekus80 i hear what youre saying but remember the casting was already damaged and stressed before he started working on it. Not that we’ll ever know the cause of the original failure but that definitely plays a large part in it!
Really seems to just have been a bad casting from the start. From my limited knowledge casting is kinda dice roll thing. Maybe that one cooled to quickly from the factory. At least it didnt fail in use and take some expensive gearing with it.@@spudatbattleaxe
This is actually the best video to demonstrate the problems with welding cast iron that I've ever seen. It's highly educational and should be shown in its entireity to EVERY welding class.
A true master craftsman does exactly what you did at the beginning of this video. Always give the nod to the guy that's better than you. Then to promote a GoFund me for a competitor. Pure class.
I got to give always credit to Kurtis for attempting repairs on new parts , nothing always goes as planned but there's always that chance something can go wrong...what you learn afterwards makes you better at what you do and were all right there with you helping you along....and Karen, also thank you for taking us along with Kurtis and our favorite 4 legged safety officer!
Gday Kurtis and Karen, thank you for everything you guys have done for use, this video shows exactly how things can turn to crap in a hurry and definitely important to show on camera to proof it does happen from time to time, almost makes you think the casting was crook from factory with the first crack appearing for no reason, great video mate, have a awesome weekend, cheers
Hey Matty, thinking of you mate! Be prepared for a roller coaster ride of emotions during this event. Wash off the bad ones and keep positive! Mark from Melbourne Australia
Hey Matty we'll be there for you all the way! This was definitely a good character building exercise 😂 I think Kurtis handled it well, I was pissed off after getting that far to have it crack was so frustrating. We did notice that there were no cracks in the repaired zones so it probably would've been successful if the other areas didn't crack.
I was having my suspicions about the quality of the original casting and just maybe some of the treatment that machine had experienced for those cracks to develop? We will never know exactly what caused the cracks, but it might explain why the machine was up for sale? Mark from Melbourne Australia
The camera work, editing, and story telling are just keep getting better. I learn stuff that'll never use in my real life, but Kurtis just keeps teachin ! Years of experience being passed on. Thanks for another great video.
Welding cast iron is hot, sweaty and stressful job. You usually get it because a replacement is bloody expensive or unobtainable. Welded quite a lot with oxy/acet and ferrite rod. As with electrode, fixing a lug or a straight across crack is fine, but come to welding a hole in the middle of something, it never ends well. And all that sweat and gas come to nothing. But we always seem to try again. Thanks for all your cracking videos. Brian from Lancashire England
Hi Curtis, you can’t win them all. CI is very difficult to repair by any method. Thanks for showing a job that did not go to plan. Always enjoy your vids. Thanks from the UK.
It's the temperature differential. The entire part needs to be evenly cherry red. A great investment should be a bigass kiln. Place the entire thing in the kiln/oven, spray weld with a larger orifice, higher material volume, and place back in the kiln for reheat. Every cast piece I welded worked a bit better when the whole part was hot AF. You may be able to save the part if you mill out the face to the edges, place the new plate on top and with a bevel. weld it on in sections while the whole housing is hot AF, reheat and then mill/bore out the features that face needs after the cool down. The plate will need to be hot too so there's no major tension when it cools. I fixed a few cast iron outdoor tables, they had this basket weave pattern and it would dissipate heat fast and would explode in a star pattern when the outside perimeter would cool faster and shrink while the inside hub would expand with the weld and destroy the whole thing.
So mr Curtis, after episoes of watching you, I decide to leave my comment straight from Poland, Europe! You are true master of your job, and well - episodes like that, are absolutely great, great example of your honestly and professionalism. Its true pleasure to watch your Video guys, I can really learn a lot, see a lot of new methods, way of approach etc. Best Regards, Adam!
It's not failure, it's a learning opportunity, Kurtis, we love your therapy sessions, you talk with authority and confidence during the work and you've got a dog. As an engineer, I love watching what you do, it's the best therapy I've found. Keep at Dr. Kurtis ❤
Started watching your videos about 2 months ago, I'm now caught up on everything. The work you do is amazing and the manner in which you deliver it to your audience is superb! Cheers from South Africa! 🍻
To all you people saying this is a failure it is not. This is a learning opportunity for these two. When you say failure you immediately admit defeat and do not ever do that just learning the few mistakes you made. Like i said the few mistakes once again I would love to work with you because you learn and remember from every job you do.
Good on 'ya for showing that things don't always work perfectly in CZcams land. It takes a lot of character to show when things don't go to plan, but in my mind it's really valuable to see the pitfalls. Good on 'ya
Hi Kurtis. My father used to repair fractured castings without heat, a process that stitches the cracks together by a process pioneered by Metalock. He worked for them for 40 years and I'm sure they have an Australian division..
I would say that casting had problems from the foundery. Like maybe the cast iron was cooling off too fast when it was poured. Great attempt at repairing it. Thank for you time. And Karen's hard work too.
Great video with very accessible explanation for the difficulty of all of the repairs that you do. This is a complex part that was designed to be easy for the factory to produce, but not necessarily practical to repair. I am another of the retired engineers that enjoy the channel that the two of you have created. I think one of the most valuable things is that Kurtis has a deep and practical understanding of the metallurgy of the parts under repair. This married with the deep understanding of the machines and the stresses on the parts in their application on these large machines is very powerful. Kurtis has obviously spent a lot of time in the field working on these machines and understands the application of the parts and the challenges of operating and maintaining these machines. This repair was very ambitious and Kurtis communicated this to the customer. As many have said, knowledge and mastery of the art is not just built on successful repairs, the failed repairs teach many lessons too. Kurtis understands the parameters to control and did the best job possible to prepare for a successful repair. Who knows what all of the stresses were inside this cast iron part as the evidence of the failure of the machine was not known to the new owner or to Kurtis. Great video to show the learning process. In several years, Kurtis will be one of the grizzled grey bearded old boys who have 30 or 40 years experience built from actually doing repairs and collecting feedback from your customers. The effort to understand the failure mechanisms and to rebuild parts better than they left the factory is very impressive. Good work. Thank You both for the very enjoyable videos.
Im impressed with people that put failures out for everyone to see and learn from. Its better for us to see the problems before we go spend $1000s in matls, time and energy to just ruin someone's equipment. And more respect for not charging them. There are a lot of shops that would still charge them for it, at least here in the states. I'm a subscriber for good.
Can't win em all Kurtis. Big props for having the stones to put the jobs that don't go to plan on show for those who want to criticise. IMHO, it just shows that not only are you and excellent machinist and Karen a great videographer and editor, but you've also go the ethics to back your words.
Prime example of a good craftsman. He educates and shows what really happens in the real world and that repairs aren’t always successful. Thank you for sharing.
I’m a welder and have tried cast iron repairs but unfortunately more failures than successes until I have used eutec chamfertrode rods with preheating “of the whole piece” not just the areas to be repaired then covering the whole piece (inside and out, all sides, etc) in “gold cornflakes” a insulation material to hold the heat in while it slowly cools. Doing this greatly improved my success rate but still no guarantees of success. Props to you for showing what it’s like to deal with cast iron and the failures that go along with it
NOT ALL HEROS WEAR CAPES! I can hardly wait for Mavel to knock on you door for the next MCU Blockbuster movie: “The Machinist vs. The Giggler”. Karen in the main role AND behind the camera. Kurtis quickly welding up a cage that even the Hulk can’t break. Homie makes friends with Groot and has his mobile toilet with him all the time. Disney getting their lawyers ready to sue them for the appearance of George and all his friends snuggling with The Giggler - who would have made a great Disney Princess. At the end Kurtis and Karen walking into the sunset and the train finally f*cks off. What an epic movie :) As usual - I just love everything about your work and Karens videography! Friday 9:00am in Germany, Coffee ready, time blocked in my calendar and constantly refreshing YT for the newest CEE video to appear. Now weekend is about to start. You three are a true gem on the internet. Keep going mate!
There are many different methods to repair/weld cast iron. While there are particular methods that only work in specific applications, I have come to believe the other than those special applications it comes done to what method the repair person is adepth at using. This is of course a generalization. While working on large industrial diesel engines like the Enterprise engines up to 15K BHP, I used either brazing or metal stitching. The latter is a process of drilling holes on either side of the crack, more over the break in the cast iron and then using bar bell shaped stitches to rejoin the parts together. Extremely long process but on large equipment is highly cost effective. Love watching you work. Brings back a lot of memories and a high respect for what you do. Of course because of the size of equipment, I had to travel to and perform the repairs onsite. Sadly it is a a crap shoot, sometimes it works, and sometimes not. Bottom line, if it fails, it just not going to happen. As far was cutting coffee, sorry not going to happen. Thank you for sharing and God Bless.
that was commendable in so many ways, the fact you admitted your lack of experience with that particular part, the fact you took it on to try and help the costumer, the fact you showed all the difficulties while working it and the finale (the failure of the part to hold up) mad respect to and the Lady for another fantastic video.
Great video Kurtis - really honest attempt to help a customer on a very difficult repair. I agree with everyone about your integrity and honesty showing the amazing work you do plus the disappointment. These vids are my Friday PM, Sat AM sanity relax after a big week. Love your camera work and editing Karen.
Good , honest man! If I was In Australia and if I had a business that needed the services you provide, you would be the go to guy. You admit that failure is an option. Reality is a hard thing to accept sometimes you took full responsibility and your customer was willing to accept the outcome …….hats off to both of you !
I wonder if the impurities are related to probability of cracking. I understood how heat expansion but never thought that it would cause that many cracks. Was amazed at how many appeared, and where they appeared. Was expecting more in the corners. I guess a massive oven would have been helpful, along with a bulk load of sand to hold the temp high for the body while it was being fixed. Given how difficult this would be, wonder how the other guy does things of this size.
Love seeing cast iron repair! I know you don't like doing it, but man it's a skill that is going away and shouldn't. Nothing is going to replace cast iron, so it's sad to hear there is only 1 guy in the area who has great success at repairing it. We need him to share his knowledge before it's gone! EDIT: Not saying Kurtis did a bad job or something like that, it was brilliant. Learned a lot of little things watching this and love that he's doing it.
I have a textbook from Linde Air that has a section on cast iron repair. The book is from 1943. If you're interested I can try and scan the relevant sections and send it your way.
I learned a ton just watchng how Curtis found all the cracks and ground them out. And watching those cracks form during cooling down was heartbreaking, but tells me what Curtis already knew. I suppose a repair on this massive piece has to mimic how it was cast in the factory - getting the whole thing hot - really hot - and then letting the heat escape gradually over days, not hours. I do wonder how it got cracked on the machine in the first place.
@@CuttingEdgeEngineeringwas wondering if you had any contact with the other guy, if he had given you any advice etc. I don’t weld or machine but I can look at a piece of cast iron and it will break. Love your videos.
@@CuttingEdgeEngineering I'm wondering if you could bring this video with you and to see if he had any suggestions, if he's the only one and booked months out, likely would love to have another who was also taking the never-ending work to help. Maybe try for some time outside of work to chat would be better.
Been watching Matty's channel for a while and was very shocked to hear about his diagnosis when he let us all know. He's absolutely amazing how he's dealing with it and still out; n the workshop making videos. We are all wishing him the very best and hope he gets the all clear simetime in the near future.
Apparently, it can't! Just joking, he has other videos of doing casting repairs. This one was particularly nasty and complex, you really can't fault him imo.
I recently had a repair on a grapple knuckle for a skidder. I only took a couple of videos. I don’t know what kind of cast it was, but was able to repair it and is now back in service. I regret not recording the process. Im a bit superstitious, and didn’t want to jynx the repair by recording everything. I do have a couple shorts and videos however. Thanks for this video sir. I’m glad I found this channel. Prior to this, there were no good information on this matter
I really appreciate you showing that mate. A lot of channels would have binned that video. I’m glad you show us the trials and the successes. As much as I enjoy your videos and the work you do, I arguably learned more from todays video than the rest. Great video. Keep up the good work. Cheers
Love that you’ve got the confidence to show a less than successful job. Well done. It’s not if you make mistakes, it’s how you handle them going forward. 👍
Hi I love your videos as I’m a retired tradesmen and ran an engineering shop very similar to yours but with employees- like you I had lathes and mills , cranes and fabrication equipment- I had a lot of success with both the low temperature powder spray and the high temperature one for repair of cast iron cracks but I never tackled repair to such a large casting- I really felt for you when the cracks multiplied- I mostly repaired manifolds and similar sized casting and found that the high temperature nickel powder spray repair was the only reliable method and I rarely had success with cast iron welding electrodes
the problem with electrodes is that welding requires even higher temperatures than the deposition methods, the temperature gradient from the puddle of molten cast iron / electrode material to even a red hot heated part is larger, so cracking is almost inevitable
I feel like this video deserves some kind of an award. Not only do you not monetise the hell of your videos like some CZcamsrs, not only do you post videos of true ability (kudos to the slowmo editing too), and not over excitedly blown up out of all proportion, but then you go and post a video as honest as a genuine failed attempt! Gawd bless ya govnor! You've really earned a like on this one, and already a subscriber, I wish I could do more, but I don't have the mates to share it with. You've really earned my respect on this one though! Top video Kurtis! Top video!
Kurtis, just a quick tip.. If you want the dye penetrant to last longer and save costs, my weld inspection guy at work gave me a great tip for saving dye Spray some into an old aerosol lid and apply exactly where you want it with a small paint brush. Saves on overspray and you don't waste any on overspray and you can store it on a shelf for weeks and weeks without it doing bad Love the content as always
Great video. Much respect to you Kurtis for putting this video out and showing that it doesn’t always work out the way you would like it to. I’m always impressed by your skills and even though this one didn’t work out, your reputation and integrity remains intact. Keep up the good work 👍
Really tough job - respect for trying it in the first place. Brilliant that no charge to the customer showing integrity. I do hope the customer acts with similar integrity and flings a few slabs of beers your way. Homeless is a BEAST with that parcel - laughed out loud. Best outtakes this year! 👍
Beautiful job trying to fix this casting. Working with cast iron teaches patience, you can never rush it or it'll ruin your day lol. I love seeing Homie enjoy his packages, thanks for sharing some of your personal lives with us.
i am a software developper, but i think without computers, society will still be ok. but without machinists, we go back to 1700. big respect to you all out there. you make the world function.
What I like about this video is the honesty Kurtis has when accepting jobs like this. He knows his abilities and limits and does the best of what he can to satisfy clients. Though it wasn't a successful, a lot of learnings can be taken from this. Keep the videos coming CEE!
Hey guys.. Thanks so much Curtis and Mrs Curtis for making these awesome videos... D thanks for keeping it real.. Not just showing the best bits... It really helps me understand what's involved when things don't go to plan.. Really appreciated 🤝
people have said it before me but watching you attempt to do something you wanted to refer to someone else shows how truly professional you are. good on you and thanks for another amazing video Karen.
1st another great video from CEE. I have never seen you fail at a repair so that was interesting. It sucks that you couldn't repair the housing. Thank you for showing us that not every job can be repaired and that you are human and do fail at some repairs. Good on ya Kurtis and Karen. Cant wait to see what you do next week.
@@KBorham yeah i understand that my wording could of been better. i was getting excited seeing that he was doing so well until i heard the crack happen. Shows how brittle cast iron actually is.
I feel for you on this one. As an apprentice back 50+ years ago, I had some work for the ASTM here in America. I had to make test pieces made from pieces of failed castings of all kinds. Even normally very reliable manufacturers have castings that have uneven or unusual stresses in them. This part sure looks like that might have been the case. Once they start cracking, and no abuse or damage is found, it's not often you can make it right again. However, if you have the time and facilities you can heat cycle the casting in a very high temperature controlled annealing furnace and possibly make it more stable. When we had parts to make out of cast iron that were designs that would be prone to cracking, we had an ancient blast furnace door that we salvaged and the iron was so dead and stress free that it was stable as heck in any configuration. A little bit of work handling and cutting blocks from it, but you just couldn't buy any young cast iron that would do the trick. I even made some tools from some of the smaller scraps. But cast parts take real skills to keep them stable. I think that's why cast steel was much more popular back then. Great try . Love this show.
Thanks for showing this valiant attempt. It's a good reminder that in the real world, not all repairs etc go to plan. Also great shout out for Matty....
Kurtis - your work ethic, honesty, and integrity are once again showing through. Too bad this one didn't work out, but it was a learning experience as an observer to see that sometimes you get a pooch that can't be screwed, as they say in the military. You gave it the best chance of success, but cast iron is fickle, and didn't cooperate this time. Good on you for giving it a shot.
Hello Kurtis, sending regards from Czech rep, I just saw a video with cast iron. I saw a video with cast iron where the usual problem happened. But i can tell you there is one option that has been tested for years(its over 50 years) . Cast iron can be welded even when cold. This procedure was used by welders in the Iron Curtain era where there was no access to better equipment. When a thin copper wire is wound on the basic electrode along the entire length of the electrode. With this trick is possible weld cast iron when its cold. The entire welding process is almost the same, when the crack on the material must be ground and cleaned, and you can start welding the first layer and then clean the slag. Always let the cast iron cool down after each welding and cleaning. We was try this process on car. We tried this procedure on several exhaust pipes on the car and it always lasted. In most cases, the cast-iron exhaust ducts broke somewhere else Good luck if you will tested this proccess.
I think it's the same the world over, actually. Except here in the States, the postal workers steal checks out of envelopes, "wash" them, changing the recipient and the amounts, depending on what the check was written for.
@@tetedur377 lol take a tour a big USPS sorting building. You would believe the security in those places... while they might have some bad apples slip through they are hardly what you appear to imagine. They employ security like a prison or money printing operation.
I have done this same type of repair more than a few times while working at MPD welding in grand rapids Michigan. We had huge preheat tables and would leave them on there for a day at 5-600f. Then chase cracks. When it came to the actual repair we always used heavy brazing while still on the preheater. Post repair cool down was always done with the part wrapped up in ceramic wool and would take the better part of a day.
Kurtis, what an amazing video! To show a failed repair like this is a true sign of professionalism and transparency. Others might have just ignored releasing the video to avoid negative feedback. We all run into things in our own work too that are less than ideal. Way to go for sharing. 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
I think the only way to get a multi thickness, worked and drilled part like that to take a repair properly would be with a lab oven, with a sliding window that could be opened directly over the area to be repaired and closed again for it to be able to be brought back to room temperature over the course of 48 hours. Doing this on a part with that many internal stresses at a bulkhead of stress like a milled hole with drilled threads is pretty much impossible without absolute uniform temperature control and a temp curve several days long. Kudos for posting this kurtis! Many would not have
Saw that coming 🙃Next time make a insulated sheet metal box, get the entire assembly enclosed. attach gas space heaters and pre-heat very slowly to 850 F, Provide a removable section to expose the repair area only and accomplish the braze repair. Put the removable access plate back on maintain the 850 deg for an hour or so. then cool at about 50 deg F deg per hour to room temp. Great channel Superb welding skill.
Been there. Despite knowing the job may fail, it's still always a bummer. But you learn from every job, so there is value either way. Another great video.
Im trying to catch up. 7 weeks in Hospital i ended up with a below the knee amputation. I also caught pneumonia, mrsa and co vids while being in ICU for over 10 days . I lived through it all .I may only have one foot now butt i ready to kick ass . Missed you guys alot 💛 A very Interesting repair. 👍🏻 Nice to see George of the Jungle back ❤
Man, that was such a cool repair. I’ve never seen a puddle gun or watched one in use. Very cool stuff. And the birds are amazing! What beautiful tones from them. All out truly amazing video brother. You guys knocked it out of the park with this one. I just love your format style. 👍🏻👍🏻
Hey everyone 👋 We've unfortunately had delays getting seals to finish our Hitachi cylinder rebuild this week so we've got this cast iron job videoed instead! Hope you enjoy it 😄👍
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It is too a zoo!
Have a crackin' weekend guys. I'll see myself out.
Homie gave me a decent laugh with his box attack. It didn't stand a chance.
With cast iron that noise, once heard can never be forgotten. Bloody good effort though. Stuart from Sydenham Vic
@@isthatbikedieselmate That Crack was mad! I jumped in my chair when I heard it.
The fact that Kurtis is willing to have a failed project published just shows how professional and confident in his skills he is. Accepting ones own limits and not being afraid to state them really shows character. Also not charging the customer! No wonder kurtis has so much to do, good on you!
This^^^
I've worked with cast a few times and my record isn't great. A big part like this? Doomed to fail, but a great learning experience. Hopefully the customer offered to at least cover the materials cost but I'm sure the honesty and attempt will pay dividends later
Dude...not too long ago I had a case from a pneumatic jack hammer...NO MATTER WHAT I DID... as per recommendation...DID NOT MATTER!!!! Cracks persisted and though it was considered a loss anyways it was surely lost after. Huge bummer, I didn't learn much because my boss knew less than me. Huge bummer, I really wanted to get it done. Either I missed something or did something wrong consistently 😂.
Though watching all the nickel ball up during gouge was interesting. I feel like that was indicative of something crucial. Oh well...I'm a librarian now😂😂😂😂
Exactly 💯
Dude. Spoilers(
yeeep just shows you how good he is, what a legend !!!
The slow character development of Kurtis turning into a Disney princess with the birds is priceless. Homeless getting better and better wrecking packages is hilarious. I commend you for posting a failed repair, but often times our failures teach us more than our successes, Cheers to all three of you. Much love.
He’ll be singing next
@@frankblack1481 lol! I’m waiting for the birds to match his whistle. But you gotta admit, he is magical.
I'd pay good money to watch Kurtis the Musical@@frankblack1481
the dog opening he packages is hilarious. he opens cardboard better than i do with a knife.
Homie will save the failed cast iron. I have full confidence.
As a foundry engineer who works with ductile iron all the time, CAT is notorious for isolated thick sections in the middle of thin sections geometries… this creates a lot of residual stresses in the solidification and cooling process. Drill holes to add stress concentrations and now you have a casting destined for failure! As always, the CEE content is great!
great to see this insight, the large final crack was exactly like you said, he colder casting could not handle the expansion of the thick heated section with the ring
And maybe too much bearing load? The crack is on the outside, so the force was pushing outward. And the bolt hole cracks feel more like fatigue than impact
You´d need to engineer some casting forms that can be heated in respective areas then. 🤷♂
I suspect tho that either those impurities or inclusions were on the upper end of the "go" spectrum in roentgen or it has been run with almost no oil and been hot.
QUESTION: If that housing was brought up to nearly cherry red and THEN welded or spraywelded and then put back into an oven and slowly brought down over time and then held at like 400° for a time and then just allowed to slowly cool or buried in sand and allowed to cool...would it crack?
@@willybones3890 it wouldn’t crack, but it would anneal and settle. And the holes would all settle into happy positions. It would need to be fully machines again :o(
A large, complex casting like this, which has had multiple machining operations, been stressed through use and developed cracks without any obvious reason was always likely to be a lost cause. I hope your customer watches this and realises the skill and effort you put in to try and achieve a good outcome.
Couldn’t have said it any better myself 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Wonder if it was a flawed casting in the first place if there were jo obvious signs of what caused the initial cracks ?
@@mrb.5610 there's always a chance, though Cat typically have good quality castings from what I've seen, you almost never get this kind of thing without any other damage or obvious issues. Not a job I'd want to take on regardless, cast iron repairs are a bloody tough thing to get right, especially something as big and complex as this
@@mrb.5610 I was wondering that also. It just seems strange no visual damage yet cracking occurring? And then all the cracking happening when trying to repair, something fishy going on there…
@@GeorgeLittle-ft2yx Residual stress from whatever impact cause those initial cracks. Either the shaft got clobbered, or the one wheel was suddenly bound up with a large rock or ditch, and the shock through the transmission caused the initial cracks, but also left a lot of strain bound up in the bulk of the thin side. Just needed enough heat to stress past the yield point, causing the crack, or one of them spread from the heat input to the point it hit the stressed material, which could have been there from when originally cast. About the only way to have prevented it would have been to put the entire casting into an oven, and taken it up to 800C for 24 hours, then let it cool at a controlled rate of around 20C per hour to room temperature, which would have released most of the stress, and likely shown the casting was badly distorted as well.
Big oven, and also inert argon atmosphere as well. Would suggest as well the new casting is bought along with a new output shaft, as that likely also has some buried cracks in it, which probably will show up, with eddy current testing or gamma inspection. Might be cheaper to buy the entire unit ready built, as that gives a warranty on the part.
At the beginning of this video I told my girlfriend this guy is nuts for even attempting what he's about to do. I'm sorry for laughing when I heard the crack but I realized that I was right. That is just way too much damage cast-iron to successfully fix. At least with my welding experience. I've been a welder for 18 years and was rooting for you. I was hoping I could learn something from this. What I learned is that cast iron is just as difficult for you as it is for me.
Saludos hermano espero te encuentres bien, quería preguntarte si en tu experiencia de 18 años que hubieras hecho tu y que hizo el mal que se pudo haber evitado esa falla tan catastrófica de la carcasa
@@catpartsforyouokay, so to make it not sound like a brag, share some wisdom: do you think any mistakes were made here? Is it a simple case of just not having the right equipment? Any tips for others, or Kurtis in how to have more success in the future? Any thoughts on whether impurities in the casting may have contributed to the problems? Would you have used a puddle/powder torch? Or a different method?
@@catpartsforyou I would think that the freight alone would cost more than a new part locally, if they were to send it from Australia to US and back for repairs.
@@davidbastow5629just guessing but I’d say the main problem was uneven heating. Kurtis heated it up but h wasn’t able to really make sure it was all the same temperature. And when he started welding that part got much harder then the rest and it started to crack, or make cracks that were already there get worse.
@@catpartsforyou it’s all well and good telling the world how easy a repair this would be for you but for those with less wisdom than yourself, please enlighten us to what you would have done differently. Otherwise any Tom Dick or Harry could say that they would have fixed it successfully.
I am a one man auto repair shop in Indiana. I've had your videos playing the shop last few days. While your workmanship is top tier and integrity is first class, I'm most impressed by your time management! You're never rushed, never stressed, and I have no idea how that's possible!! Please tell me your secret! Also, I think an "unboxing" series from homeless would take over the internet.
Er ist selbstständig und hat keinen Chef der ihm auf die Nerfen geht.Er ist sein eigener Chef.
In the shipyard they had large cast part on a large bed of coal with fireproof blankets on top. They repair it right in the burning coal. After that still under the blankets. They slowly let the coal to burn all up and let it start to cool. This was not a one day job.
Full marks on trying to fix a massive cast iron part.
Or they fully cover the pieces in sand. But in any case these shops still cannot save every piece.
@@danielrauer5864
So true. Some cast have so much crap it the steel. It make you wonder if they ever use flux to remove the trash
good try dont thin you had much chance very poor metal to even crack like that.
I guess that's the way the other guy who is so busy does it, by heating and cooling the entire piece over time. Using an oven that holds the entire piece and reheating as necessary. Kurtis isn't setup for it and the result shows. A most interesting video.
My thoughts too!
Cast iron is a pain no matter. Not many out there would show a failed repair. Props to you Kurtis. You told the customer what may happen. It happened and showed the internet how things can go pear shaped.
100% a decent, honest dude. And WE all learnt how hard it is to repair!!!
I know welders who have welded engine blocks with NIRod with preheat and post heat that failed and also just quickly welded without cleaning or any prep and some just work out and others don't.
I think more than 50% of what we have learned in life came from our fails rather than our wins.......when I am sober tmrw not sure that will be as profound.?..lol 3:13 a.m. in my man cave in PA USA....lol
100% agree! I only found this channel a few days ago and was very impressed with Kurtis's work ethics from the very first video i watched. Even with my limited engineering background i learned VERY early on that CI is a right royal b's****d to deal with( unlike Kurtis i actually like working with CI on my lathe and mill LOL! ) I would hazard a guess that this particular casting came with unwanted stresses in it ,straight from the foundry, i reckon there was a problem with the cooling of the casting right after it was 'de-moulded'@@tbrowniscool
Hi Curtis I would recommend that you try Eutectic electrodes for cast iron. Cast iron electrides are usually 100% nickel or a Ni/Fe blend. They are a bit expensive but are good quality. The advantage of using an electric arc process over oxy is that there is much less heat involved. While you have the broken casting it may be a good learning expereience to trial some electrode repairs. I have persponally used (sucessfully) Eutectic electrodes to repair a cast iron frame on a tractor about 48 yrears ago. So Eutectic has been around for a while. Also progressive heating in small steps then wrapping in an insulating blenket may help to give a slow uniform temperature rise especially with a large 3 dimensional complicated casting.. Also wrapping in a blanket after doing the work will ensure a slow cool. Differential expansion and contraction is the killer with cast iron. Even with an electrode repair, preheating the job is still requird. Cheers.
ive been with the channel since the beginning. What strikes me is the willingness to admit defeat in certain instances and in doing so make it a victory for the channel. The explanations, the work, the videography, the editing, the comic relief, all of it come together to make the channel truly the special thing it is. Why there are not a couple of million subs defies logic. Certainly deserving more as it is one of the best channels on youtube. Cheers from Texas.........
hey mate we know you've been here for the long haul and really appreciate it!!
Hey up mate I think this is probably your best video yet,really enjoyed it, has the 40 year man made a comment on this would be interesting, anyway love the honesty and all the best to you three
In due time Kurtis will have millions of subs. His channel is growing at a good pace. Many of his videos should be shown in technical schools. We all learn so much from watching his content. I still can’t fathom how Kurtis has so much knowledge at his age.
What I love about your channel is that you aren't only showing the "best case scenarios" of everything, you show all the low points as well. The fact that you didn't charge for a repair that didn't work out speaks tremendously for your character and that you never want to compromise on what your work means to your customers. Nothing but respect to Kurtis, Karen and everyone's favorite safety officer.
Unfortunately, the world is full of hungry 'operators'
In litigious US of A, some might sue if they thought they'd MAKE a buck
That the customer accepted the risk speaks of both their characters...👍
Here in the US of A we are full of money grubbers, too many people have no integrity anymore. It’s a breath of fresh air to deal with people who have integrity. Look a man in the eye and shake his hand and that should be golden, but unfortunately nowadays often times when you turn and walk away you get a knife in your back.
You my friend are a perfect example of integrity, that’s why I enjoy watching your content, cheers to you and your wonderful lady and of course the side kick.
The most important thing was that you clearly talked it through with your customer regarding expectations before you started!!
I know you didn't charge, but I hope your customer takes care of you of you some for the efforts knowing it might not work. Only fair.
Hello CEEA, greetings from Germany. I would like to leave a few tips from one colleague to another as a sign of my respect for your good work.
Welding cast iron is the supreme discipline, but if you know the tricks it's easy. The problem is that cast iron can withstand a lot of pressure but no tensile stress! This is very important to understand and must be taken into account at every step.
Tip 1:
You can see how sensitive cast iron reacts to temperature differences when cooling down in the video at 18:30 minutes when you turned off the gas. Such large cast structures should not cool down faster than 10°C in an hour. If you go too fast, tensile stress will build up and the housing will break.
Tip 2:
My old master at the master school was an absolute expert. He once showed me a very simple trick to avoid tensile stress when stick welding. Instead of welding a long seam, he only welded a small spot 5-8mm in diameter. He then immediately took the welding hammer or a chisel and tapped the weld spot flat (just pushed the spot apart a little). He explained to me at the time that this took away the power from the tensile stresses that occur when it cools down.
Always tap one point in the weld seam at a time with the welding hammer and take your time until the weld point has reached the same temperature as the other material.
Tip 3: It is better to have thin weld seams than large areas. With this case it would have been better to first drill the ends of the cracks and then make thin cuts with an angle grinder. They would have had to add a lot less material and then worked their way up the housing layer by layer. Every new weld seam ensures that the position behind it is normalized.
Thanks for the good videos
Kurtis thanks for showing us things that go wrong. The guy that taught me to weld said that it’s only by understanding why something went wrong that you can learn how to do it right. A mantra I still use today.
You both work so hard on getting things right within your relative skill sets that makes every episode a joy to watch, you and Karen deserve every success.
Homey’s contributions are also priceless.😂
He wouldn't if there was no Homey time in it
Not sure any amount of skill could have saved this casing, kudos to CEE for even attempting it and showing us the results, failure is a learning process just as important as success👍
Just another reason why so many people follow every episode of CEE Australia. Thank you Kurtis for putting that episode on here. The way you explain every detail as you work is amazing.
We made thousands of gearboxes over the years and thankfully never suffered too much from cracking. One type was prone to cracks so we redesigned the area and changed to SG iron, problem solved. Rarely have I seen breaks like yours, but there were one or two that were caused by rapid stopping and as the gearbox was under load the area around the output shaft would exhibit cracks more often through the dowel pin location holes and also on a few of the bolt holes. Very interesting post which exhibited the problems that can arise with cast iron repairs. Thanks for posting Kurtis, Karen & Homey 👍
Showed this video to a mate of mine that works in the on site workshop. We had exactly the same issue with one of our 980's. He said that it apparently is a material quality issue on some Cat machines from a few years ago. I have no idea if that is the case, but he's been in the business for over 45 years and usually knows what he's talking about.
It certainly looks suspiciously like there is a fundamental problem with the entire casting.
Hey mate thanks for the comment, it could very well be 👍
I’m so impressed how deep and broad Kurtis skills are. He’s a top notch boiler maker, machinist, sculptor etc etc. Great talent and hats off to those who taught him him his skills.
And his materials knowledge and domain knowledge. Brilliant.
Bravo to whomever cleaned it before sending it to you!
There was Water/Fluid in the crack, so most likely they cleaned it in a big heating pool with cleaning solution, soaked that fu**er over night before inspection
Yes, they should get some credit, because that part was bound to be absolutely filthy and yet it arrived in presentable condition.
And props to their maintenance guys for spotting those cracks when they were still so small, there'd be a good bit of damage if the casting had broken fully while in use
@@helplmchoking oil leak they were trying to fix was a smoking gun. But still, your right.
Steam blast cabinet similar to what they clean engine blocks in
Nothing wrong with failure as long as you learn something from the experience . In my opinion Curtis has an overwhelming amount of knowledge and experience in his craft ,work ethic and passion to do the job correctly and methodically. Thank you Kaeren for your great contribution and skill as a videographer to bring these valuable work experiences to your followers and Curtis for sharing his vast knowledge .
WOW ! You are human.. We all try and fail sometimes.. If you haven't failed , you are not trying the hard things in life.. Great vid Amigo.
There is a back story to that casting ... Cast Iron tough to work on, but that case has a LOT of stress in it to continue developing new cracks like that. Honestly not sure it would have been repairable, regardless of who was attempting it.
And .. Puddle Guns are so much fun!
Thanks for sharing 🇨🇦
Yea, I doubt that one went through a proper normalizing (stress relieving heat treat) when it was cast. There was a huge amount of residual stress in that casting. Even if it hadn't cracked while he repaired it my bet is it would have continued to crack in the future.
I hate cast! The crystalline structure and the junk in the metal is such a pain to work with. All you have to do is grab a piece of cast and light up your tig torch and watch the garbage come up and float in the pool of molten metal.
Yes... I too suspect that casting was junk from day one. It cracked for no apparent reason. So is as full of stress and and maybe inclusions. I hope CAT did not have that cast in the states, its embarrassing. Should have been warranted out early on.
The stress was not there to start with (that's what cast means), but high heat in isolated places was never going to work. Not to mention high nickel in spots. Well now we know.
_"that case has a LOT of stress in it to continue developing new cracks like that"_ - my thought exactly. Firstly, "original" cracks developing for no apparent reasons, right at stress rising/ concentrating points (bolt holes around a large openings), from (presumably) regular work induced stresses and vibrations - like, "whisky tango foxtrot?" - and then the enormous cracks developing while the case cooled down... This case must have been a piece of junk from the day it left the foundry, just waiting to show its true colours. The bottom crack, the last one, wasn't in any way connected to those at bolt holes, yet it developed "just like that", and not when heating the case, but during the cooling. I remember watching Keith Rucker building up, by spray welding, damaged ways in a steam loco stoker (made of cast iron, obviously) and it was all smooth, easy-peasy even though the walls of that stoker seem to be much thicker. (You can watch it here, "Steam Locomotive Stoker Engine Restoration - Part 7: Spray Weld Buildup of Cross Head Slides", czcams.com/video/5kcTeyw2As0/video.html.)
As always, solid work. You can't save everything, but we sure do like to try. I worked on the railroad here in the U.S. as a Carman (train car repair). All the couplers are cast and part of our job was to look for cracks in these components. When we had to perform a repair we had a similar approach to what you did Kurtis with 1 or 2 notable changes. We had temp sticks that we could touch to the part, and when they melted, we knew the part was at temp. We also periodically rechecked to make sure no portion was cooling down too fast during the repair. I think the gas burners are a good idea. However, I think had you spaced them further from the repair area to heat more of the part, it probably would have helped. One more thing we did was to cover the part in very thick welding blankets when we were done, to insulate the part from cooling too fast. I'm sure you've already learned the lessons that come with failed repairs, but that's half the fun, in my opinion. I hope you find this constructive and I still feel like you did good work. Cheers from the Ohio/Michigan line
I have seen and HEARD when those couplers crack. Sounds like a pistol!
The way i see it is for this dimensions, you need to put the entire cast in a oven to bring all of it to the desired temperature. Come out the oven wrap it up in blankets to preserve temp as mush as possible and repair the cracks. Obviously to work on this amount of steel mass, you need to wear a suit protection, and in final put it back in the oven, equalizing temperature and then do a controlled cooling down. I think it requires special installations. Kurtis is a brave man, a honest one, good for him to be that way with is costumer. This was a great experience. He's young and will continue to gain experience and already has the correct approach to keep growing. Great video.
Can the casing be saved with a new steel insert brazed into the iron?
I think those temp indicatores are called pyrometric cones he in USA
You actully can save it all just follow proper welding procedure time and patience we fix it all
Good effort Curtis,
Too bad the casting cracked, “there’s cast iron for ya.
May I suggest that you take the Barbecue plan to the next level.
You may want to heat the whole housing with charcoal a “bonfire” to heat the whole casting so the process may have a higher probability of success.
The cooldown is also easier to manage as you can allow the the heat to die down slowly.
It will be a hot workplace though!
WoW!! Not everything can go to plan and i for one appreciate that you uploaded this video due to the nature of how the end result showed itself. I for one got more insight to just how difficult cast iron can be to work on. Loved the video.
As an engineer this kind of content, that shows you a failure of a project is so valuable and is the closest thing you can learn that is closest to actual experience. Thank you. ❤
I really appreciate you showing that even with careful planning and good work, a repair may still fail and that it's super important to notify the customer of the risks. Love your channel.
Before even going through the video ...
You supporting a human going through a tough battle with cancer is absolutely AWESOME ...
Oh and by the way ... keep them videos coming ... 💪💪💪
Matty deserves it, and honestly feels like the least we could do for our good mate!
Lots of turbo cancers recent in Oz thanks to the eugenics pointy thing in arm
@@benwinter2420 You think thats bad ? Australia is huge i live in a small village in Croatia with barely 1100 people and 2 people from my family died of cancer, i know 5 neighbours that have it or had some type of cancer,and there is plenty of people in village that die or get sick.Worst thing is everyone is clueless whats causing it since we dont have big industry nearby or badly polluted air.
I am afraid i will have to run away or i might be next . . .but i dont have money to do it.
I love that you show failed attempts too😊
So much respect (the deepest definition of that word) for Kurtis showing that things don’t always work out the way you planned and how to handle them like a true professional. All you can do is try.
Even with a massive bust like that, it wasn't exactly a failure. You called it correctly going in, you did everything possible to obviate all the problems, but in the end it was cast iron that simply overwhelmed you. A great shame because you deserved success with all the prep and, at least, your customer can see precisely what happened and when. They can't accuse you of not trying!
Great vlog, as usual and your wild bird audience seems to be getting bigger. You'd think all the noises, movements (and smells probably) would scare them off permanently, yet they keep coming back for the treats. Nice one.
Sometimes a bad casting is just a bad casting no matter how much love you put into it. Great video I much enjoyed it
@@dekus80 i hear what youre saying but remember the casting was already damaged and stressed before he started working on it. Not that we’ll ever know the cause of the original failure but that definitely plays a large part in it!
Really seems to just have been a bad casting from the start. From my limited knowledge casting is kinda dice roll thing. Maybe that one cooled to quickly from the factory. At least it didnt fail in use and take some expensive gearing with it.@@spudatbattleaxe
This is actually the best video to demonstrate the problems with welding cast iron that I've ever seen. It's highly educational and should be shown in its entireity to EVERY welding class.
A true master craftsman does exactly what you did at the beginning of this video. Always give the nod to the guy that's better than you. Then to promote a GoFund me for a competitor. Pure class.
Matty is a good friend of theirs.
I got to give always credit to Kurtis for attempting repairs on new parts , nothing always goes as planned but there's always that chance something can go wrong...what you learn afterwards makes you better at what you do and were all right there with you helping you along....and Karen, also thank you for taking us along with Kurtis and our favorite 4 legged safety officer!
It shows how honest he is. I really like watching him and his wife’s videos. Greetings from the Netherlands ❤
Gday Kurtis and Karen, thank you for everything you guys have done for use, this video shows exactly how things can turn to crap in a hurry and definitely important to show on camera to proof it does happen from time to time, almost makes you think the casting was crook from factory with the first crack appearing for no reason, great video mate, have a awesome weekend, cheers
G'day Matty hoping you are doing ok mate
The casting being extra dirty cast iron and bad from the factory was my thoughts as well.
Hey Matty, thinking of you mate! Be prepared for a roller coaster ride of emotions during this event. Wash off the bad ones and keep positive!
Mark from Melbourne Australia
Hey Matty we'll be there for you all the way! This was definitely a good character building exercise 😂 I think Kurtis handled it well, I was pissed off after getting that far to have it crack was so frustrating. We did notice that there were no cracks in the repaired zones so it probably would've been successful if the other areas didn't crack.
I was having my suspicions about the quality of the original casting and just maybe some of the treatment that machine had experienced for those cracks to develop?
We will never know exactly what caused the cracks, but it might explain why the machine was up for sale?
Mark from Melbourne Australia
The camera work, editing, and story telling are just keep getting better. I learn stuff that'll never use in my real life, but Kurtis just keeps teachin ! Years of experience being passed on. Thanks for another great video.
Agree 100% !!!!
Welding cast iron is hot, sweaty and stressful job. You usually get it because a replacement is bloody expensive or unobtainable. Welded quite a lot with oxy/acet and ferrite rod. As with electrode, fixing a lug or a straight across crack is fine, but come to welding a hole in the middle of something, it never ends well. And all that sweat and gas come to nothing. But we always seem to try again.
Thanks for all your cracking videos.
Brian from Lancashire England
Hi Curtis, you can’t win them all. CI is very difficult to repair by any method. Thanks for showing a job that did not go to plan. Always enjoy your vids. Thanks from the UK.
It's the temperature differential. The entire part needs to be evenly cherry red. A great investment should be a bigass kiln. Place the entire thing in the kiln/oven, spray weld with a larger orifice, higher material volume, and place back in the kiln for reheat.
Every cast piece I welded worked a bit better when the whole part was hot AF.
You may be able to save the part if you mill out the face to the edges, place the new plate on top and with a bevel. weld it on in sections while the whole housing is hot AF, reheat and then mill/bore out the features that face needs after the cool down. The plate will need to be hot too so there's no major tension when it cools.
I fixed a few cast iron outdoor tables, they had this basket weave pattern and it would dissipate heat fast and would explode in a star pattern when the outside perimeter would cool faster and shrink while the inside hub would expand with the weld and destroy the whole thing.
Advising clients and honoring your work is a true sign of a pro. You are a honorable man Kurtis. Professional and fair.
I really appreciate your work and props to you for showing that not all repairs go as planned!
Keep up the good work mate!
So mr Curtis, after episoes of watching you, I decide to leave my comment straight from Poland, Europe!
You are true master of your job, and well - episodes like that, are absolutely great, great example of your honestly and professionalism.
Its true pleasure to watch your Video guys, I can really learn a lot, see a lot of new methods, way of approach etc.
Best Regards, Adam!
It's not failure, it's a learning opportunity, Kurtis, we love your therapy sessions, you talk with authority and confidence during the work and you've got a dog. As an engineer, I love watching what you do, it's the best therapy I've found. Keep at Dr. Kurtis ❤
Started watching your videos about 2 months ago, I'm now caught up on everything. The work you do is amazing and the manner in which you deliver it to your audience is superb! Cheers from South Africa! 🍻
hey mate welcome to the channel, glad you're enjoying the videos!
@@CuttingEdgeEngineeringthat loud PONG from the housing even made me pucker
To all you people saying this is a failure it is not. This is a learning opportunity for these two. When you say failure you immediately admit defeat and do not ever do that just learning the few mistakes you made. Like i said the few mistakes once again I would love to work with you because you learn and remember from every job you do.
Honesty and customer relations is your reputation. Your rep is great. Cheers
Good on 'ya for showing that things don't always work perfectly in CZcams land.
It takes a lot of character to show when things don't go to plan, but in my mind it's really valuable to see the pitfalls. Good on 'ya
Hi Kurtis. My father used to repair fractured castings without heat, a process that stitches the cracks together by a process pioneered by Metalock. He worked for them for 40 years and I'm sure they have an Australian division..
It's called JB weld 😂
I would say that casting had problems from the foundery. Like maybe the cast iron was cooling off too fast when it was poured. Great attempt at repairing it. Thank for you time. And Karen's hard work too.
What I love about this channel is that Kurtis is willing to show projects that don't go to plan, thanks for the videos.
Great video with very accessible explanation for the difficulty of all of the repairs that you do. This is a complex part that was designed to be easy for the factory to produce, but not necessarily practical to repair. I am another of the retired engineers that enjoy the channel that the two of you have created. I think one of the most valuable things is that Kurtis has a deep and practical understanding of the metallurgy of the parts under repair. This married with the deep understanding of the machines and the stresses on the parts in their application on these large machines is very powerful. Kurtis has obviously spent a lot of time in the field working on these machines and understands the application of the parts and the challenges of operating and maintaining these machines. This repair was very ambitious and Kurtis communicated this to the customer. As many have said, knowledge and mastery of the art is not just built on successful repairs, the failed repairs teach many lessons too. Kurtis understands the parameters to control and did the best job possible to prepare for a successful repair. Who knows what all of the stresses were inside this cast iron part as the evidence of the failure of the machine was not known to the new owner or to Kurtis. Great video to show the learning process. In several years, Kurtis will be one of the grizzled grey bearded old boys who have 30 or 40 years experience built from actually doing repairs and collecting feedback from your customers. The effort to understand the failure mechanisms and to rebuild parts better than they left the factory is very impressive. Good work. Thank You both for the very enjoyable videos.
I can only wonder and fear what Homey would do to a pile of unprotected Christmas presents!
the only violence Homie ever commits is against packaging and squeaky toys, and he's getting really good at it
@@calebb5106
The way the fans love him, he's going to be kept busy.
Rubber chickens and pigs ears.. .Yum Yum...nom nom nom.
Lol
It would be worth the sacrifice.
AaaaHhhhm..,....open 'em up 😅😅😅😅😅there
Congratulations for publishing the failures also, honesty and professionalism are two rare values today, you represent both at the highest level.
Im impressed with people that put failures out for everyone to see and learn from. Its better for us to see the problems before we go spend $1000s in matls, time and energy to just ruin someone's equipment. And more respect for not charging them. There are a lot of shops that would still charge them for it, at least here in the states. I'm a subscriber for good.
Can't win em all Kurtis. Big props for having the stones to put the jobs that don't go to plan on show for those who want to criticise. IMHO, it just shows that not only are you and excellent machinist and Karen a great videographer and editor, but you've also go the ethics to back your words.
Prime example of a good craftsman. He educates and shows what really happens in the real world and that repairs aren’t always successful. Thank you for sharing.
I’m a welder and have tried cast iron repairs but unfortunately more failures than successes until I have used eutec chamfertrode rods with preheating “of the whole piece” not just the areas to be repaired then covering the whole piece (inside and out, all sides, etc) in “gold cornflakes” a insulation material to hold the heat in while it slowly cools.
Doing this greatly improved my success rate but still no guarantees of success.
Props to you for showing what it’s like to deal with cast iron and the failures that go along with it
I’m always impressed with the level of caution you accorded to these cast iron structures. Now I understand better why that’s the case.
NOT ALL HEROS WEAR CAPES!
I can hardly wait for Mavel to knock on you door for the next MCU Blockbuster movie: “The Machinist vs. The Giggler”. Karen in the main role AND behind the camera. Kurtis quickly welding up a cage that even the Hulk can’t break. Homie makes friends with Groot and has his mobile toilet with him all the time. Disney getting their lawyers ready to sue them for the appearance of George and all his friends snuggling with The Giggler - who would have made a great Disney Princess. At the end Kurtis and Karen walking into the sunset and the train finally f*cks off.
What an epic movie :)
As usual - I just love everything about your work and Karens videography! Friday 9:00am in Germany, Coffee ready, time blocked in my calendar and constantly refreshing YT for the newest CEE video to appear. Now weekend is about to start. You three are a true gem on the internet. Keep going mate!
hahaha that's a brilliant comment, we can see how it might go like that 😂👍
There are many different methods to repair/weld cast iron. While there are particular methods that only work in specific applications, I have come to believe the other than those special applications it comes done to what method the repair person is adepth at using. This is of course a generalization.
While working on large industrial diesel engines like the Enterprise engines up to 15K BHP, I used either brazing or metal stitching. The latter is a process of drilling holes on either side of the crack, more over the break in the cast iron and then using bar bell shaped stitches to rejoin the parts together. Extremely long process but on large equipment is highly cost effective. Love watching you work. Brings back a lot of memories and a high respect for what you do. Of course because of the size of equipment, I had to travel to and perform the repairs onsite.
Sadly it is a a crap shoot, sometimes it works, and sometimes not. Bottom line, if it fails, it just not going to happen.
As far was cutting coffee, sorry not going to happen.
Thank you for sharing and God Bless.
that was commendable in so many ways, the fact you admitted your lack of experience with that particular part, the fact you took it on to try and help the costumer, the fact you showed all the difficulties while working it and the finale (the failure of the part to hold up) mad respect to and the Lady for another fantastic video.
Great video Kurtis - really honest attempt to help a customer on a very difficult repair. I agree with everyone about your integrity and honesty showing the amazing work you do plus the disappointment. These vids are my Friday PM, Sat AM sanity relax after a big week. Love your camera work and editing Karen.
Good , honest man! If I was In Australia and if I had a business that needed the services you provide, you would be the go to guy. You admit that failure is an option. Reality is a hard thing to accept sometimes you took full responsibility and your customer was willing to accept the outcome …….hats off to both of you !
I wonder if the impurities are related to probability of cracking. I understood how heat expansion but never thought that it would cause that many cracks. Was amazed at how many appeared, and where they appeared. Was expecting more in the corners.
I guess a massive oven would have been helpful, along with a bulk load of sand to hold the temp high for the body while it was being fixed. Given how difficult this would be, wonder how the other guy does things of this size.
Even with the sand you have to be careful, ensuring that it is clean and dry. Cast Iron is a nightmare. 😢
Love seeing cast iron repair! I know you don't like doing it, but man it's a skill that is going away and shouldn't. Nothing is going to replace cast iron, so it's sad to hear there is only 1 guy in the area who has great success at repairing it. We need him to share his knowledge before it's gone!
EDIT: Not saying Kurtis did a bad job or something like that, it was brilliant. Learned a lot of little things watching this and love that he's doing it.
Agreed! Kurtis is hoping to get a meeting with the cast iron specialist and get tips/advice if he's willing to share any
I have a textbook from Linde Air that has a section on cast iron repair. The book is from 1943. If you're interested I can try and scan the relevant sections and send it your way.
I learned a ton just watchng how Curtis found all the cracks and ground them out. And watching those cracks form during cooling down was heartbreaking, but tells me what Curtis already knew. I suppose a repair on this massive piece has to mimic how it was cast in the factory - getting the whole thing hot - really hot - and then letting the heat escape gradually over days, not hours. I do wonder how it got cracked on the machine in the first place.
@@CuttingEdgeEngineeringwas wondering if you had any contact with the other guy, if he had given you any advice etc. I don’t weld or machine but I can look at a piece of cast iron and it will break. Love your videos.
@@CuttingEdgeEngineering I'm wondering if you could bring this video with you and to see if he had any suggestions, if he's the only one and booked months out, likely would love to have another who was also taking the never-ending work to help. Maybe try for some time outside of work to chat would be better.
It's nice to see that with all your experience that things don't always pan out & you're prepared to show it.
Been watching Matty's channel for a while and was very shocked to hear about his diagnosis when he let us all know. He's absolutely amazing how he's dealing with it and still out; n the workshop making videos. We are all wishing him the very best and hope he gets the all clear simetime in the near future.
Absolutely fascinating - didn’t know a fix like this was a thing that could be done! 👍
It's not easy...usually the entire part has to be heated to stupid temps...then welded up...then covered up and let cool VERY slowly!
Apparently, it can't!
Just joking, he has other videos of doing casting repairs. This one was particularly nasty and complex, you really can't fault him imo.
I recently had a repair on a grapple knuckle for a skidder. I only took a couple of videos. I don’t know what kind of cast it was, but was able to repair it and is now back in service. I regret not recording the process. Im a bit superstitious, and didn’t want to jynx the repair by recording everything. I do have a couple shorts and videos however. Thanks for this video sir. I’m glad I found this channel. Prior to this, there were no good information on this matter
I really appreciate you showing that mate. A lot of channels would have binned that video. I’m glad you show us the trials and the successes. As much as I enjoy your videos and the work you do, I arguably learned more from todays video than the rest. Great video. Keep up the good work. Cheers
Love that you’ve got the confidence to show a less than successful job. Well done. It’s not if you make mistakes, it’s how you handle them going forward. 👍
Hi I love your videos as I’m a retired tradesmen and ran an engineering shop very similar to yours but with employees- like you I had lathes and mills , cranes and fabrication equipment- I had a lot of success with both the low temperature powder spray and the high temperature one for repair of cast iron cracks but I never tackled repair to such a large casting- I really felt for you when the cracks multiplied- I mostly repaired manifolds and similar sized casting and found that the high temperature nickel powder spray repair was the only reliable method and I rarely had success with cast iron welding electrodes
the problem with electrodes is that welding requires even higher temperatures than the deposition methods, the temperature gradient from the puddle of molten cast iron / electrode material to even a red hot heated part is larger, so cracking is almost inevitable
I feel like this video deserves some kind of an award.
Not only do you not monetise the hell of your videos like some CZcamsrs, not only do you post videos of true ability (kudos to the slowmo editing too), and not over excitedly blown up out of all proportion, but then you go and post a video as honest as a genuine failed attempt! Gawd bless ya govnor! You've really earned a like on this one, and already a subscriber, I wish I could do more, but I don't have the mates to share it with. You've really earned my respect on this one though!
Top video Kurtis! Top video!
Let's not forget Karen. Doing a great job is nothing without someone equally good at filming and editing.
Kurtis, just a quick tip..
If you want the dye penetrant to last longer and save costs, my weld inspection guy at work gave me a great tip for saving dye
Spray some into an old aerosol lid and apply exactly where you want it with a small paint brush.
Saves on overspray and you don't waste any on overspray and you can store it on a shelf for weeks and weeks without it doing bad
Love the content as always
Great video. Much respect to you Kurtis for putting this video out and showing that it doesn’t always work out the way you would like it to. I’m always impressed by your skills and even though this one didn’t work out, your reputation and integrity remains intact. Keep up the good work 👍
Really tough job - respect for trying it in the first place.
Brilliant that no charge to the customer showing integrity. I do hope the customer acts with similar integrity and flings a few slabs of beers your way.
Homeless is a BEAST with that parcel - laughed out loud.
Best outtakes this year! 👍
Beautiful job trying to fix this casting. Working with cast iron teaches patience, you can never rush it or it'll ruin your day lol. I love seeing Homie enjoy his packages, thanks for sharing some of your personal lives with us.
i am a software developper, but i think without computers, society will still be ok. but without machinists, we go back to 1700. big respect to you all out there. you make the world function.
What I like about this video is the honesty Kurtis has when accepting jobs like this. He knows his abilities and limits and does the best of what he can to satisfy clients. Though it wasn't a successful, a lot of learnings can be taken from this.
Keep the videos coming CEE!
Hey guys.. Thanks so much Curtis and Mrs Curtis for making these awesome videos... D thanks for keeping it real.. Not just showing the best bits... It really helps me understand what's involved when things don't go to plan.. Really appreciated 🤝
people have said it before me but watching you attempt to do something you wanted to refer to someone else shows how truly professional you are. good on you and thanks for another amazing video Karen.
1st another great video from CEE. I have never seen you fail at a repair so that was interesting. It sucks that you couldn't repair the housing. Thank you for showing us that not every job can be repaired and that you are human and do fail at some repairs. Good on ya Kurtis and Karen. Cant wait to see what you do next week.
The casting failed, not the human. Had to clarify…..
@@KBorham yeah i understand that my wording could of been better. i was getting excited seeing that he was doing so well until i heard the crack happen. Shows how brittle cast iron actually is.
I feel for you on this one. As an apprentice back 50+ years ago, I had some work for the ASTM here in America. I had to make test pieces made from pieces of failed castings of all kinds. Even normally very reliable manufacturers have castings that have uneven or unusual stresses in them. This part sure looks like that might have been the case. Once they start cracking, and no abuse or damage is found, it's not often you can make it right again. However, if you have the time and facilities you can heat cycle the casting in a very high temperature controlled annealing furnace and possibly make it more stable. When we had parts to make out of cast iron that were designs that would be prone to cracking, we had an ancient blast furnace door that we salvaged and the iron was so dead and stress free that it was stable as heck in any configuration. A little bit of work handling and cutting blocks from it, but you just couldn't buy any young cast iron that would do the trick. I even made some tools from some of the smaller scraps. But cast parts take real skills to keep them stable. I think that's why cast steel was much more popular back then. Great try . Love this show.
Thanks for showing this valiant attempt. It's a good reminder that in the real world, not all repairs etc go to plan. Also great shout out for Matty....
Kurtis - your work ethic, honesty, and integrity are once again showing through. Too bad this one didn't work out, but it was a learning experience as an observer to see that sometimes you get a pooch that can't be screwed, as they say in the military. You gave it the best chance of success, but cast iron is fickle, and didn't cooperate this time. Good on you for giving it a shot.
Hello Kurtis, sending regards from Czech rep, I just saw a video with cast iron. I saw a video with cast iron where the usual problem happened. But i can tell you there is one option that has been tested for years(its over 50 years) . Cast iron can be welded even when cold. This procedure was used by welders in the Iron Curtain era where there was no access to better equipment.
When a thin copper wire is wound on the basic electrode along the entire length of the electrode. With this trick is possible weld cast iron when its cold.
The entire welding process is almost the same, when the crack on the material must be ground and cleaned, and you can start welding the first layer and then clean the slag. Always let the cast iron cool down after each welding and cleaning.
We was try this process on car. We tried this procedure on several exhaust pipes on the car and it always lasted. In most cases, the cast-iron exhaust ducts broke somewhere else
Good luck if you will tested this proccess.
I see Homey is putting his Australia Post parcel sorting skills to good use.
Hey come on as an ex Aust Post employee I absolutely resemble that comment.
I think it's the same the world over, actually. Except here in the States, the postal workers steal checks out of envelopes, "wash" them, changing the recipient and the amounts, depending on what the check was written for.
Could get a job with UPS but he would have to destroy them a little better.
@@michaelmcclown5593it wouldnt be an Ozzy post delivery if those boxes didnt came looking like a football 😊
@@tetedur377 lol take a tour a big USPS sorting building. You would believe the security in those places... while they might have some bad apples slip through they are hardly what you appear to imagine. They employ security like a prison or money printing operation.
You guys should do a field trip to the cast iron guy and interview him. It would be interesting to hear his thoughts on cast iron.
I have done this same type of repair more than a few times while working at MPD welding in grand rapids Michigan. We had huge preheat tables and would leave them on there for a day at 5-600f. Then chase cracks. When it came to the actual repair we always used heavy brazing while still on the preheater. Post repair cool down was always done with the part wrapped up in ceramic wool and would take the better part of a day.
Impressive repair attempt. Great you did not charge the customer. Have a great day.
Kurtis, what an amazing video! To show a failed repair like this is a true sign of professionalism and transparency. Others might have just ignored releasing the video to avoid negative feedback. We all run into things in our own work too that are less than ideal. Way to go for sharing. 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
I think the only way to get a multi thickness, worked and drilled part like that to take a repair properly would be with a lab oven, with a sliding window that could be opened directly over the area to be repaired and closed again for it to be able to be brought back to room temperature over the course of 48 hours. Doing this on a part with that many internal stresses at a bulkhead of stress like a milled hole with drilled threads is pretty much impossible without absolute uniform temperature control and a temp curve several days long. Kudos for posting this kurtis! Many would not have
Saw that coming 🙃Next time make a insulated sheet metal box, get the entire assembly enclosed. attach gas space heaters and pre-heat very slowly to 850 F, Provide a removable section to expose the repair area only and accomplish the braze repair. Put the removable access plate back on maintain the 850 deg for an hour or so. then cool at about 50 deg F deg per hour to room temp.
Great channel Superb welding skill.
Exactly what I was thinking 👏👍
Been there. Despite knowing the job may fail, it's still always a bummer. But you learn from every job, so there is value either way. Another great video.
Im trying to catch up.
7 weeks in Hospital i ended up with a below the knee amputation. I also caught pneumonia, mrsa and co vids while being in ICU for over 10 days .
I lived through it all .I may only have one foot now butt i ready to kick ass .
Missed you guys alot 💛 A very Interesting repair. 👍🏻
Nice to see George of the Jungle back ❤
Kudos for trying your level best, as well as being willing to share this with us despite the repair not going to plan.
Man, that was such a cool repair. I’ve never seen a puddle gun or watched one in use. Very cool stuff. And the birds are amazing!
What beautiful tones from them.
All out truly amazing video brother. You guys knocked it out of the park with this one.
I just love your format style. 👍🏻👍🏻