OK, here is what I would do:

First, use the wire brush to remove paint around the area, get down to bare metal. Next, grind with the end of the grinding wheel along the crack FROM THE BOTTOM SIDE, to be welded later. Then, I would grind the weld where it is broken flat and flush with the bracket. I would cut a piece of angle iron and weld that to both the bracket and the deck. I would then proceed to weld along the crack where I did the grinding before. Did I mention align the bracket/deck to where it should be before welding? Well, I did now. 

I would use the grinder to finish off any sharp edges (which would all be on the angle iron, so you could do that before welding the angle iron on). Paint with Rustoleum rusty metal primer. If I were bored, I would paint to match, or match as best as I could.

Equipment:
41/2" angle grinder
My 120VAC wire feed flux core welder
Steel brush, powered or old fashioned.

Estimated repair time: 3 hours from start to tools put away.


ETA: Should mention that the grinding along the crack is only necessary on metal that is about 3/16" thick or thicker, and you don't need to grind a channel, just a V groove along the crack to be filled with weld. The opposite side of the metal where you are grinding should show no sign you did anything, sans some color from heat.

This would actually be a very easy repair job for you to tackle with minimal time practicing on scrap metal. Thin lawn chairs would be much harder to weld actually.

I got a ar500 gong a friend of mine managed to crack at the bolt...

Can those even be welded? Lol

Yes, but it won't be AR500 strong at the weld.

Hey Kitties: 

Welding 1/4" thick steel with those cheap 120VAC wire feed welders. Proof it can be done 

Attached File

Correct. 

See above in red

Similar size, but the stuff I was making the trailer out of (I REALLY need to finish that project...) was 1/8" IIRC. This stuff is 1/4". Much heavier. I typically use it to make drawbars for my 3 point implements.

Hard to tell from the pictures, but looks like the weld that broke may have been a partial "cold" weld to begin with.  I.e. it didn't get the proper penetration into the deck over much of the length.  I don't see much parent material still stuck to the weld.  Some of the prep work mentioned above will help avoid this.

I'm an amateur welder but have designed a lot of welded parts and a cold weld is something to always keep in the back of your mind.  Make sure that as you start your puddle that you are seeing good signs of heat on both parts.  Sometimes it might just "stick" to the surface of one of the parts but not actually penetrate.


The flip side of this is that welding can make the metal very brittle (read up on heat affected zone) so be smart about how much heat you are putting into it.  You probably don't need to worry about it on your mower, but if you had access to a media blaster you could do a poor mans shot peening to help get rid of some of the residual surface stress.

Lots of good advice has been posted.

I'm not a welder but was once upon a time. First of all, I don't think the deck material is going to be thick enough to grind out the back side as rat patrol suggested. Most mower decks seem to be as thin as they can get away with. Tear-outs like you have here are pretty common. I don't think it was a cold weld or a problem with the weld. I cannot tell from the pics but it looks like your deck material tore loose at the edge of the weld. Additional pics are not required because it doesn't matter why it failed, you just need it welded back together. And yes, I'd just follow that crack with your new weld bead, filling the gap from the old weld to the new material on the other side of the crack. Nothing wrong with welding over a weld in most cases. In fact, that is a very common practice when welding thicker materials- making multiple passes. Just weld over it and if you don't like the way it looks, lay another bead beside it, over it, across it, whatever it takes.

The first thing I'd do is remove the deck and put it where I could comfortably work on the area needing attention.

The next step is to prep the weld area. I agree that a wire brush is the usual tool for this but in your case I'd give both sides of the deck a light touch with a grinder FIRST, it will save brushing. Think of the angle grinder as being course sandpaper and the wire brush as finer sandpaper. Clean at least an inch from the crack on each side as much as possible.

Use whatever you can think of to align the parts in their proper position. You might be able to clamp it with pipe clamps and blocks, c-clamps, maybe even vise grips on the upper part and pulling it down. Don't be afraid to use a heavy hammer liberally. I have seen welders that need some leverage actually weld a pry bar onto the item being welded in a position such that holding the bar will keep the edges aligned, then after the tacks or welds are complete, grind the bar's weld off to remove it. If there is a gouge or groove left by the removal, weld it full and grind it back smooth. You'd never know it had been there.

Once positioned, tack weld it into place. Often, your tack weld will pull the parts slightly put of place as the tack cools, usually almost immediately after you weld it. Be ready with your hammer and force it back where you wanted it to be. You can actually hammer the tack weld while it is still red if you want to save yourself some trouble. If you hit it too hard, you might break the tack. So what? You have a welder, just tack over your tack!

Once you have welded one side and the metal is cooled, I'd look at the back side and see if my weld filled the crack. If not, weld that side, too (after cleaning out the crack with a brush or grinder). Make multiple passes if that's what it takes to fill the crack and grind any weld flush if you aren't satisfied with them. I don't think there is any real need for beauty for this project, I'd just let the welds pile up as long as they don't interfere with anything.

The angle iron mentioned above is simply a patch much like a patch sewn on clothes or glued on an inner tube. If an angle doesn't fit, you can use anything you think WILL fit. Because the heat from welding often causes the metal nearby to weaken, I'd try very hard to make sure the welds for my patch were mostly at least an inch away from the welded crack.


I mentioned using a lever to hold the deck into place. Here is the gist of how that can be done:
Take a 1/2 or 5/8 in bolt and a nut on the bolt. Lay it parallel to the crack, about an inch back from the crack, and use a heavy tack across the outer part of the bolt head and another on the nut on the other end. This is your fulcrum. Take a metal object 2-3 ft long to use as a lever and lay it across the bolt so that the short end crosses the crack and extends about an inch.  It should only touch the far side of the crack and the bolt at this point. Hold it in place and weld the "handle" (lever) to the bolt. Weld the short end to the deck. Push down on the lever to raise the far edge, lift up on the lever to push the other side down. When the pieces are in place, tack the crack on both sides of the lever. Remove the lever and bolt by grinding off their welds and whacking with a hammer. Tack fill any voids. Move lever down to next place needed. Rinse and repeat.

This might seem to be an unmanageable project due to the volume of my prose but believe me when I tell you, "You can do it". You can make that go back into place and you can weld it so it stays there.  Don't be afraid to just do it. If your first attempts fail, well that's why you are buying a welder, isn't it? Fix it again only better next time!

bummer we lost the other thread. that thread was kinda the motivation i needed to get working on an outdoor 22o outlet. which i just final got finished up on.

now i need to make some much longer leads. so i'm not welding up against the wood siding.

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1980024_PSA--measure-twice--cut-once-doesn-t-always-work----AKA-Raider14-s-post-apocalyptic-AR-build-thread.html

I'll take a pic tomorrow.

It's just a magnet. Any welding supply place has them.

Harbor freight sells them also

Small Ones


Med Ones


Large One


Extra Large



If possible I prefer to use big c clamps it seems every one of these magnets I have is full of metal and grinding shavings one downside to them

So is this a show-your-ugly-newbie-weld thread?  

I built this gadget, need lots more welding practice.

Learning that if I'm gonna get pretty welds, I'm going to have to brace myself up better.  Too shaky in my old age to hold a steady angle/distance/speed freehand.  Finding poor vision doesn't help any either.  Up to now using cheaters to read has been about the extent of the concessions I've been willing to make, but I guess I'm gonna have to go in for some real glasses.  Things just keep getting fuzzier and lights a little dimmer as I get older.  

Attached File

dang turned out pretty good, I wouldnt have the time or patience to make that.

building the structure would be one thing but all the little rollers and alignment and crap

2"x72" belt grinder, just for general-purpose metalworking/blacksmithing. Commercial versions are $1500 & up, I probably have about $600 in this one.  It's a neat little project really, although the treadmill motor I used is pretty weeniefied.  Need to replace it with a bigger motor, either with pulleys or a VFD for speed control.

Kitties, if you haven't repaired that mower deck yet I have another thought about how to pull it together for welding.

After prepping the area for welding, drill a hole in the crack and run a bolt through it with flat washers on both sides. As you crank down on the nut /bolt, the two sides of the crack should pull together. Run your welds up to the edges of the bolt on each side, remove the bolt, and go back and fill in the bolt hole with a series of spot welds. Or don't. If the bolt doesn't interfere with anything you could even weld it in, weld the washers down, etc. and might not even need additional patches. Using one or two bolt/washers would probably fix that crack just fine. If the bolt is too long, blast it off with your welder or cut off any extra length with an angle grinder.

Thread title is disappointing.  I was hoping for some metal-work automated zombies....or possibly zombie metal workers....

Ost for when I'm in front of a computer.

Pops is a welder/pipe fitter. Swore he'd never teach me a damn thing, yet I can weld better than most the younguns he employs. 

Since this is a welding thread:

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1987882_A-celebration---A-wedding---And-a-giveaway-.html

Kitties, just using a wire brush or however you can getting rid of paint and rust around the area so it's 'ready to weld' will save considerable money if you find a local guy to weld it for you.

From what I see, it's a 15 minute welding job. Prep and paint will be closer to 2 hours by themselves. Welder makes the same welding or prepping and painting.

I'm not saying this is the best way to do it, but this is how I'd do it.

Pull the deck out on the driveway, beat the ripped section back into place with a sledge hammer. Weld the crack shut with my 125volt mig loaded with flux core wire, or in your case, a regular welding rod with a thin diameter. Throw it back under the mower and use it till the other side cracks.

These things crack all the time. You can wire brush it before and put some gray primer on it after if you want to get fancy. It's just a lawnmower, not some structural part that your life depends on. Don't overthink it and build it up in your head that it's something you can't do. It's easy. If you want to get really fancy, drill a 5/16" hole at the end of the crack to help stop the spread, but I don't think it's going to make much difference.

Welding with a cheap welder trumps dreaming about welding with an expensive welder any day.  

It was northern tool, but I believe my model was discontinued.

I'll poke around their site when I get on my computer today.

Just poking around on Craigslist

https://dallas.craigslist.org/ftw/tls/6100572081.html

https://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/tls/6104969224.html

Either of those would do what you need.

Do you have an electric dryer in your house? How close is it to the outside? If it has the right plug and you've got enough cord, you wouldn't even need to install a 220V outlet. Those small Lincoln's run off a regular household plug and will weld plenty of 3/16" steel with fluxcore wire.

Are those the best welders out there? No. Are you going to take up semi-professional welding jobs or just use it a couple of times a year?

What made the most difference in my welding was one of those autodarkening helmets. No more flipping the hood up and down and feeling around in the dark. $50 for a Harbor Freight model or $70 at Tractor Supply, it's like magic.

Agree completely on both the 240VAC options, and more importantly the auto-dark helmet. Worth their weight in gold. The HF model is just fine too.

Looks like this is exactly the welder I use, sans the color change. Northern Tool 120VAC flux core welder

To round out your purchase, you need a welding helmet and gloves. You don't HAVE to have welding gloves, regular full leather gloves work as well, but welding gloves are preferred. 

Here is a pic of a cart from Norther Tool of the basics to get started welding. I think you may already have an angle grinder? If not, DO NOT GET A 4" ANGLE GRINDER!!! You want the 4 1/2". I know, I know, but trust me.
Attached File





Double bonus: Both the welder and auto-dark helmet are on sale! The welder considerably so.

Please keep in mind that I am NOT IN ANY WAY saying that welder is the "best" or even "great", but (as you have seen from my various vids) that one can make stuff happen with it.

I'm honestly not 100% sure it comes with welding wire, but if it doesn't you can either pick it up locally (its cheaper in the big spool) or get a small 2 pound spool here northern tool flux core wire (2 pound spool)

Damn, $129! That's cheap for something with a warranty. And that would probably do everything Kittie would need, including gates, small sheds, etc.

I build implements with 1/4" thick steel for use around our homestead with it.

We fixed a broken weld on some pallet forks that attach to a 3pt on one of our tractors. Laid it in multipass with a Lincoln 140 (120v) and preheated it with a propane bottle torch. Still holding.

Sometimes there isn't time to pull out the 220V rig.