cracks in the ash fire grate for wood stove

[kydick]

can you weld the ash fire grate for a wood stove. it has 3-4 cracks in it. if yes what rod would work best.

 

[Baby Grand]

I have had good luck skip welding with a nickel rod.
Not sure from your description how long the weld needs to be.
You probably want to preheat and control cool-down with insulation or burying in sand.
Weld an inch, then let it cool down before welding another inch.
Joint prep & low temp are keys to preventing post weld cracking.
Try posting this question on the welding forum - there are some very experienced pros that will have better advice.

 

[rmully]

When you weld this up drill a hole at each end of the crack to help keep it from expanding. Grind out the crack where you are about to weld. Stove might be cast steel rather than cast iron and that would make it easy.

 

[kydick]

1 crack is about 2 inches long. V-ed the crack and used a AC-225-S welder and 1/8 nickel rod. set on 120 for part of the weld and on 105 for the rest. 120 did a better job. the grate slots are about half inch wide(where the ashes fall down) and the bars between them are about half inch wide. tried those cracks and would melt the grate and not stick. didnt do no pre heating.

 

[Nightforce]

You can weld or braze, which ever you prefer...

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Those kind of castings are probably made from low grade scrap not usable or the alloy not defined. I have had the best luck brazing with a torch. Back in the old days we brazed with a carbon arc (CUMBERSOME), now I use O/A or O/P and a welding tip in the torch. Clean and grind first. As Mully stated drill a hole at each end if it doesn't reach the edge. Grind down in a 30 degree v all around where you can and leave a 1/4 inch or so metal at the root. Build up in several layers slowly. Should not have to preheat but cool slowly. Be liberal with the flux. Good luck. I have found nickle rod only works well on high grade machinable cast iron.

Ron

 

[kydick]

thanks to all. the small cracks not too bad. big crack welded fairly good. just going to go ahead and use it this winter. find the replacement parts and get it ready for next winter.

 

[crazyal]

My woodstove has a round grate you turn to let the ashes fall through it that has one crack in it and is warped pretty badly. It's been that way for years now. The ash pan has a gasket on it and the factory screwed up so it wasn't sealing so air was leaking in. I was going to replace it but the grate was about $100. I figure I'll make one out of steel one of these days, if yours isn't too complex you might want to do the same. That way if you ever do need to do repairs you're welding steel, not cast iron.