On Sat, 10 Aug 2013 20:55:53 -0500, "Terry Coombs"
wrote:

wrote in message
.. .
I bought a small press in a junk shop for $20. I mounted it on a 2x6
and let it collect dust for a year before I started to use it to
flatten sections of copper pipe. It did very well until today: There
was an ominous sound and the frame cracked:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2768312...7635013299389/

No way will I admit using a cheater bar and even if I did I barely
leaned on it. Anyway...Can this be repaired or is this thing done for?
My understanding of welding cast iron is that it is not a free lunch.

Thanks,

Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC

Grind the cracks out to a vee stop short of the thread , leave a
shoulder there, braze with brass . Might not be a bad idea to have it
buried in vermiculite and then cover it up to cool slowly when you're done .
You'll want to alternate sides , you might even keep it round enough not to
bind . Or seize ...

+1 on the v-grind, and either braze or TIG, or braze -then- TIG.
Heat to red hot first, then weld. It will allow the brass to get all
the way through the width of the cracks if you've properly fluxed it.

Otherwise, just look for a beefier press which is made to squeeze
metal, not fruit. g

--
They must find it difficult,
those who have taken authority as truth,
rather than truth as authority.
-- Gerald Massey, Egyptologist