Subject: Anvil Repair

From: [email-masked] (darylb)
Date: 10 Aug 1995 20:47:55 GMT

I thought I'd post some corespondence between myself [email-masked]
(since he didn't object) about how to repair an anvil. I'm sure others may
be facing this problem too. We can all thank Ernie for this. It looks like
an excellent method.  Thanks Ernie!!

--->forwarded corespondence--->

[email-masked]

If you can get it to Seattle, Washington, I'd do it for you and depending
on how bad it is I'd charge about $100 for the repair. Hope this helps.

If you want I can e-mail you the details of the process. It just needs a
250 amp DC welder, a 9 inch right angle grinder, and a little dedication.

If the anvil is steel and not cast iron then you don't have to do any
heat-treatment. The MIG Hardfacing wire I use does not require that the
metal is even preheated. You just weld it on and grind it off. Modern
technology is wonderful.

Here's the process.
Grind off all the metal immediatley adjacent to the broken edges , till you
are sure that you have ground out all the possible cracks. Take a 250 amp
MIG welder running 3/64" (0.045")Rankin BBG Ranomatic Hardfacing wire and
75% argon- 25% co2 mix.
Lay the hardfacing down in several passes , cleaning off the surface before
each pass, till you have built up the ares needed far enough that they can
then be ground off. Grind until done, polish and then procceed to jump up
and down giggling with glee at how beautiful your anvil has become.
Ranomatic BBG wire is designed so that you can do unlimited passes on top
of eachother with no preheat or postheat. The scale produced make me
suspect that it is infact a form of dual-sheild welding, but the slag
practically leaps off the welds as they cool, so, there is little more than
wire brushing needed between passes. It cools to a fairly uniform 47 on the
rockwell C scale. This stuff was designed to do heavy build up on bulldozer
teeth and rock crushers, so it is rated for severe impact. The process that
requires preheat and postheat is if you are using traditional hardfacing
stick rod.   UGH!!! Sorry but I couldn't stop that cringe at the thought of
such outdated barbarism.
Good luck and I hope this helps
Ernie Leimkuhler

[email-masked]

How do you get a 75% argon- 25% co2 mix? His MIG albeit to small for 
the job has only 1 tank. Do they premix this gas combo or do you (more 
likely) have 2 tanks and run the argon at say 7.5 pounds and the CO2 at 
2.5 lbs. If so how do they combine, a T?

[email-masked]

75% argon / 25% co2 is a common welding gas available at any welding
supplier. It gives better penetration than straight co2, and not quite as
good as 98% argon / 2%oxygen. pure CO2 - cheapest, worst penetration. 75/25
- a little more $, good penetration, the best all around MIG gas 98/2 - The
most expensive and the best penetration. There are also helium tri-mixes
that have even better penetration, but they re usually used for stainless
steels. You can always use stick to weld the surface , but you have to
preheat the anvil to about 400 degrees F, and after the hardface is laid
down it needs to be buried in something that can hold the heat in so it
takes about 12 hours to cool down . The best heat method is a propane weed
burner, since it doesn't get hot enoughto hurt the temper in the rest of
the anvil. Tempilaq sticks are used to determine the temp. They are a kind
of temperature sensitive crayon that melts at a precise temp. They can be
bought through welding stores either one at a time or in a range of temps.
in a set. Good luck and remember to grind the entire surface before
hardfacing to get the oxides off so they don't contaminate the weld
deposit.
Happy welding
Ernie