TIG weld repair quite a few alloy wheels, and this would be far easier if I
could machine them in a lathe after welding, rather than finishing by hand.

Wonder if anyone can offer any advice on the type of lathe that would be
suitable for this sort of work, and whether it would be possible to get hold
of some sort of roller set up, which would fit into the toolpost, and be
able to take smaller dents out of rims, which you could get the rollers onto
properly?

TIA

Rob

Rob,
Pick up an old Warner & Swasey Turret lathe. They can be had for a
variety of prices. You'd want at least a 2A machine. It has the size
and heft to do this. The last one I bought was $200 and the one before
that was $400

Another possibility might be a Bullard or vertical lathe. Not to
popular but they're around.

Bob

On Fri, 17 Dec 2004 17:10:30 +0000 (UTC), "Rob Hart"
wrote:

||TIG weld repair quite a few alloy wheels, and this would be far easier if I
||could machine them in a lathe after welding, rather than finishing by hand.
||
||Wonder if anyone can offer any advice on the type of lathe that would be
||suitable for this sort of work, and whether it would be possible to get hold
||of some sort of roller set up, which would fit into the toolpost, and be
||able to take smaller dents out of rims, which you could get the rollers onto
||properly?

Have you looked at a drum or rotor lathe?
Nice and heavy, and the wheel mounts so you have access to all sides.
Texas Parts Guy

On Fri, 17 Dec 2004 17:10:30 +0000 (UTC), "Rob Hart"
wrote:

TIG weld repair quite a few alloy wheels, and this would be far easier if I
could machine them in a lathe after welding, rather than finishing by hand.

Just a word of warning - I'm in a few automotive groups, and the
subject of repairing and welding alloy car wheels has come up before.
For your protection, I'll summarize the furor that erupted down to one
paragraph:

Make DARNED sure you know what you're doing, and that you have all
the needed welding certs so you can prove it in court if needed. Make
sure that you know the exact metal alloy used in each wheel so you use
the right filler metals and pre-heat steps needed, re-heat-treat
aluminum rims after welding and follow all the prudent steps to do a
safe repair. If it's a non-weldable alloy, be prepared to turn away
the business. And most important, make sure that you have plenty of
the right kinds of business liability insurance.

Worst case ("Satirized For Your Protection") : ;-)
Let's say you fix a cracked or bent wheel and they put it back on the
car. Wheel breaks again - comes off, or the rim cracks and throws a
chunk and the tire blows out at the bead. Driver loses control, and
that car swerves across the center line, hits a few very expensive
cars before crashing head-on into the school bus full of kids, sending
them both over a cliff. Guess who they're coming after... :-0

-- Bruce --
--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.

"Bruce L. Bergman" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 17 Dec 2004 17:10:30 +0000 (UTC), "Rob Hart"
wrote:

TIG weld repair quite a few alloy wheels, and this would be far easier if
I
could machine them in a lathe after welding, rather than finishing by
hand.

Just a word of warning - I'm in a few automotive groups, and the
subject of repairing and welding alloy car wheels has come up before.
For your protection, I'll summarize the furor that erupted down to one
paragraph:

Make DARNED sure you know what you're doing, and that you have all
the needed welding certs so you can prove it in court if needed. Make
sure that you know the exact metal alloy used in each wheel so you use
the right filler metals and pre-heat steps needed, re-heat-treat
aluminum rims after welding and follow all the prudent steps to do a
safe repair. If it's a non-weldable alloy, be prepared to turn away
the business. And most important, make sure that you have plenty of
the right kinds of business liability insurance.

Worst case ("Satirized For Your Protection") : ;-)
Let's say you fix a cracked or bent wheel and they put it back on the
car. Wheel breaks again - comes off, or the rim cracks and throws a
chunk and the tire blows out at the bead. Driver loses control, and
that car swerves across the center line, hits a few very expensive
cars before crashing head-on into the school bus full of kids, sending
them both over a cliff. Guess who they're coming after... :-0

-- Bruce --
--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.

Thanks for the advice Bruce, but before I started repairing wheels I went
into the subject very deeply.

Therefore I would be very interested to hear which alloys are in fact
unweldable, and the exact nature of the heat treatment, which is used on
alloy wheels (these are both areas I am unfamiliar with, and it would be
very helpful if you could expand on this for me)

Rob

On Sun, 19 Dec 2004 03:07:54 +0000 (UTC), "Rob Hart"
wrote:

Thanks for the advice Bruce, but before I started repairing wheels I went
into the subject very deeply.

Therefore I would be very interested to hear which alloys are in fact
unweldable, and the exact nature of the heat treatment, which is used on
alloy wheels (these are both areas I am unfamiliar with, and it would be
very helpful if you could expand on this for me)

I'm not that familiar with them either, I'm just the Electrician who
gets frustrated when I can't find the right bracket for a job, and I
get out the MIG welder and some mild steel and fabricate my own.

But from watching the discussions going on here by people who /do/
TIG-weld aluminum every day, there are several casting grades (A300
series?) that can't be welded or are very tricky to weld. I'm sure
they'll chime in if asked.

There was a whole thread on welding aluminum rims last month that
started with this message (search Google for it) Message-ID:


I thought there was another thread on the subject, but didn't spot
it while going through my old message spool.

According to local welding expert Ernie Leimkuhler from a post last
week "You can't weld 2024 or
7075 aluminum."

-- Bruce --

--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.

In article , Bruce L.
Bergman wrote:

On Sun, 19 Dec 2004 03:07:54 +0000 (UTC), "Rob Hart"
wrote:

Thanks for the advice Bruce, but before I started repairing wheels I went
into the subject very deeply.

Therefore I would be very interested to hear which alloys are in fact
unweldable, and the exact nature of the heat treatment, which is used on
alloy wheels (these are both areas I am unfamiliar with, and it would be
very helpful if you could expand on this for me)

I'm not that familiar with them either, I'm just the Electrician who
gets frustrated when I can't find the right bracket for a job, and I
get out the MIG welder and some mild steel and fabricate my own.

But from watching the discussions going on here by people who /do/
TIG-weld aluminum every day, there are several casting grades (A300
series?) that can't be welded or are very tricky to weld. I'm sure
they'll chime in if asked.

There was a whole thread on welding aluminum rims last month that
started with this message (search Google for it) Message-ID:


I thought there was another thread on the subject, but didn't spot
it while going through my old message spool.

According to local welding expert Ernie Leimkuhler from a post last
week "You can't weld 2024 or
7075 aluminum."

-- Bruce --

Carry this discussion over to the welding newsgroup and you will get a
lot more welding info.

sci.engr.joining.welding

If you want some reading material, try this.

http://www.weldinginnovation.com/pdfs/wi299.pdf

Probably the best article ever written on welding aluminum.

Also check out

http://www.alcotec.com/techpage.htm

Tons of great technical info on alloys.

"Bruce L. Bergman" wrote:

On Fri, 17 Dec 2004 17:10:30 +0000 (UTC), "Rob Hart"
wrote:

TIG weld repair quite a few alloy wheels, and this would be far easier if I
could machine them in a lathe after welding, rather than finishing by hand.

Just a word of warning - I'm in a few automotive groups, and the
subject of repairing and welding alloy car wheels has come up before.
For your protection, I'll summarize the furor that erupted down to one
paragraph:

Make DARNED sure you know what you're doing, and that you have all
the needed welding certs so you can prove it in court if needed. Make
sure that you know the exact metal alloy used in each wheel so you use
the right filler metals and pre-heat steps needed, re-heat-treat
aluminum rims after welding and follow all the prudent steps to do a
safe repair. If it's a non-weldable alloy, be prepared to turn away
the business. And most important, make sure that you have plenty of
the right kinds of business liability insurance.

Worst case ("Satirized For Your Protection") : ;-)
Let's say you fix a cracked or bent wheel and they put it back on the
car. Wheel breaks again - comes off, or the rim cracks and throws a
chunk and the tire blows out at the bead. Driver loses control, and
that car swerves across the center line, hits a few very expensive
cars before crashing head-on into the school bus full of kids, sending
them both over a cliff. Guess who they're coming after... :-0

-- Bruce --
--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.
`



The person involved with the largest liability insurance policy and most
cash.

John

On Mon, 20 Dec 2004 21:59:27 -0500, john
wrote:
"Bruce L. Bergman" wrote:

Guess who they're coming after... :-0

The person involved with the largest liability insurance policy and most
cash.

Yeah, there is that.

But if you have a lot of assets but insufficient liability insurance
and little cash, they'll still take your assets. Even if those assets
are providing your income.

-- Bruce --
--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.

On Sun, 19 Dec 2004 10:50:54 GMT, Ernie Leimkuhler
vaguely proposed a theory
.......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email
PMFJI

Amazing sites, thanks Ernie.

But I get so mad at these guys that make you get each bit
individually! GG
If you want some reading material, try this.

http://www.weldinginnovation.com/pdfs/wi299.pdf

Probably the best article ever written on welding aluminum.

Also check out

http://www.alcotec.com/techpage.htm

Tons of great technical info on alloys.