Yet another anvil repair question

C

CDH

Joined
Jun 8, 2007
Messages
283
My 'buddy' that was going to build up the face on my 'free' anvil is just not coming through.

I don't have the skills or equipment to weld it...but I am determined to make this thing usable!

How is the tool plate of a cast iron anvil held on? I'd think it was via something fairly low temp, like a hard solder or maybe a brazing process. Both of those I can do, so why couldn't I flatten the old gouged face and solder/braze on a new plate of hardened 1/4" thick 5160...some of which I just happen to have (annealed currently but I can fix that easily enough)?

Do-able or bad idea???
 
1. soft solder won't hold it on and if you try and braze it you will ruin the hardness of the face plate and you won't be able to reharden the face with out it coming off the anvil.

The best way it to weld the face up with the proper hard facing rod and have it resurfaced on a mill or large surface grinder. there is an article in the anvils ring from a few years ago that outlines the whole procedure.
 
I have the article...I am just having trouble getting my 'buddy' to actually get off his butt and do the welding. I am not capable or equipped to stick weld.

I know the hard soldering heat would temper plain carbon steels back to the upper 40's RC but that has got to be better then the current very thin plate on top of cast iron...:confused:

So much for doing this on the cheap. I'll be halfway to a new anvil if I take it to a shop for a professional's time and equipment.
 
CDH said:
I have the article...I am just having trouble getting my 'buddy' to actually get off his butt and do the welding. I am not capable or equipped to stick weld.

I know the hard soldering heat would temper plain carbon steels back to the upper 40's RC but that has got to be better then the current very thin plate on top of cast iron...:confused:

So much for doing this on the cheap. I'll be halfway to a new anvil if I take it to a shop for a professional's time and equipment.
Click to expand...

Have you priced out the stoody rod for the project? :eek: When I was going to do this repair the price of the rod was outrageous. I have the necessary skills and equipment but saved my money and found a better anvil for less than the rod was going to cost.

What seems to be the problem with your anvil? If it will rebound a one inch bearing acceptably then it shoulbe usable until you can find a better one.
 
The previous owner used it for everything but an anvil. The mushrooming and pitting is severe and the tool plate was ground (by me) pretty thin just to get the really awful divots and gouges out.

IMG_1216.jpg
 
Well, I just ruined a anvil that was still semi-serviceable by trying to hard face it.. I am a certified welder and I still had a lot of problems with the process... I first brought the anvil face up with 11018 LH rod and ground it smooth...At this point things were going well.. Then I started with the hard facing rod.. That is when everything went to sh!t, The weld wouldn't lay down in regular polarity so I tried reverse polarity, then the weld would lay down but the splatter was terrible.. I switched back and forth several times and played with the heat trying to get a nice weld but it never seemed right..finally I had the face covered and I tried to grind the anvil smooth again... This is were it gets real bad... The hard face rod was highly abrasion resistant and it cannot be ground down by conventional means....After a while I called the supplier of the rods and found out that the anvil should have been pre-heated to 450-500 degrees to help the beads lay down correctly. Even if the anvil had been pre-heated and the beads had come out smooth, I still would not have been able to grind the face smooth again....moral of the story??? Don't do it !!!!!!
 
You should have stopped at the 11018 rod Louis, i've used anvils that were re-faced with just that, forget any hard facing rod, and they were just great =)
 
Ouch, that anvil makes me cringe...

If it were me, I'd use an angle grinder to clean up the edges and work down the top a bit, then switch to a flap disc on the grinder to smooth things out.

I got my little 89-pounder into serviceable condition that way. It's not the "approved" method, but it works, and on that one I don't think you have much to lose.

Josh
 
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