Repairing cast iron garden furniture.

[geordief]

I have a set of ornamental cast iron tables and chairs that is probably quite valuable.(it is very heavy and pretty ancient)

A few legs have snapped at the "ankle" over the years and an attempt at welding it back did not last.

Now I have shattered another one further up the legs (something heavy fell on it)...

I imagine welding is the only possibility of mending it .Can I hope for a better outcome this time?
(I can perhaps hope that the last welder did not do a very good job and that a proper job might repair it almost as new)

But I am prepared to learn that there is no real way to repair cast iron furniture if it has to bear any decent load..

Maybe ,it would need to have some kind of a splint in addition to the weld?

 

[^woody^]

I would question whether any such garden furniture is actually financially valuable.

Welding cast is very specialised and difficult and prone to failure - especially at such high stress locations.

Consider mechanical repairs instead, and careful design - not just a plate and a couple of bolts.

Above all, consider if all the time, effort and cost is actually going to be worth it

 

[Deluks]

Probably worth f all. Scrap it.

 

[stevie888]

If they have value to you then it doesn't matter what the value to anyone else is.

Cast iron welding is tricky especially with this kind of thing which isn't likely to be high grade material. I think brazing rather than welding might be more successful. The best person would be an old school blacksmith type oif you can find one

 

[Exedon]

Cast iron welding is tricky especially with this kind of thing which isn't likely to be high grade material. I think brazing rather than welding might be more successful. The best person would be an old school blacksmith type oif you can find one
[/QUOTE]
All of the above cast is not easiest to weld . Quality of cast iron in furniture often poor.
Brazing is a good option either old school with gas or tig brazing makes a really nice job.

 

[ericmark]

I have just repaired a platform bench at the railway where I volunteer, and I know the problem, we know it will not weld, so bit of steel at side of broken bit, drill the cast and drill and tap the steel, but the cast was so hard near impossible to drill with standard HSS drills, so ended up using jubilee clips.

The problem is these benches have be donated as memorials to someone who had connections with the railway, and has died. In the main the cast is strong, and it is the wood causing the problem, paint must have changed over the years, and over the winter those with peeling or flaking paint are brought in and repainted, the oil paint specially selected with Gods Wonderful railway (GWR) colours even after a week, still has bits not fully dry, and people get upset if they get paint on them.

So we are trying out water based paint, silk rather than gloss finish, but dry hours after painting, can go back out next day.

We have done one with plastic, it has been a sucess, but to stop plastic warping it has angle iron underneath it, so it is a lot of work, and expensive.

Likely cheaper to buy new, but some have GWR cast into them. And we want the station to look right, even if using modern materials.

So if you can drill the cast, then little plates are the way to go, poxy resin stuff can make it look like cast put on top of the repair, people think we have repaired with poxy resin, but it is just to make it look like cast.

But unless heritage, then likely best option is new.

 

[geordief]

I have just repaired a platform bench at the railway where I volunteer, and I know the problem, we know it will not weld, so bit of steel at side of broken bit, drill the cast and drill and tap the steel, but the cast was so hard near impossible to drill with standard HSS drills, so ended up using jubilee clips.

The problem is these benches have be donated as memorials to someone who had connections with the railway, and has died. In the main the cast is strong, and it is the wood causing the problem, paint must have changed over the years, and over the winter those with peeling or flaking paint are brought in and repainted, the oil paint specially selected with Gods Wonderful railway (GWR) colours even after a week, still has bits not fully dry, and people get upset if they get paint on them.

So we are trying out water based paint, silk rather than gloss finish, but dry hours after painting, can go back out next day.

We have done one with plastic, it has been a sucess, but to stop plastic warping it has angle iron underneath it, so it is a lot of work, and expensive.

Likely cheaper to buy new, but some have GWR cast into them. And we want the station to look right, even if using modern materials.

So if you can drill the cast, then little plates are the way to go, poxy resin stuff can make it look like cast put on top of the repair, people think we have repaired with poxy resin, but it is just to make it look like cast.

But unless heritage, then likely best option is new.

Are carbide bits dangerous or difficult to use for an amateur? Are they perhaps not suitable for a hand held drill and shatter very easily and dangerously?

I also notice some prices seem extremely high for them.

I has been wondering about splinting the broken legs and ankles of one or two or the broken chairs ...

 

[ericmark]

We don't have carbide bits outside the main workshop, as in the main no need for them. We could have taken the frames in and blown holes in the case, as to how not sure, many options, likely use air arc, but that is using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, the bench had been scrapped, the repair was just to be able to put one more bench onto the platform. Had it not been a remembrance bench with a plaque to a worker who had passed away, it would have been scrapped.