Welding on excavator track idler roller

[ruffdog]

I just built up the worn surface with the MIG by going around the idler.

But now you got me curious...... did I "spray weld"?

No, you didn't spray weld. Basically, it is using a flame and powdered metal to bond a machinable layer to a part.

 

[DarkBlack]

I just built up the worn surface with the MIG by going around the idler.

But now you got me curious...... did I "spray weld"?

Might have been easier and probably no more expensive to have bought some flat stock, and bent it around, and welded it, rather than using all mig wire

 

[etpm]

I just built up the worn surface with the MIG by going around the idler.

But now you got me curious...... did I "spray weld"?

There is spray welding and spray transfer welding. Spray transfer welding can happen when MIG welding. When MIG welding the weld can be short circuit or spray. With short circuit the wire touches the work, melts back, feeds forward to touch again, melts back, and so on. With spray transfer the wire melts in the arc before touching the work. A few years ago I was welding aluminum using my new fancy auto darkening hood and the visibility of the weld puddle and arc was excellent. I saw for the first time the wire coming out of the contact tip and disappearing while at the same time the weld bead appeared. Truly fascinating to watch, it was like the weld bead was appearing out of thin air, like magic.
Eric

 

[Sodo]

No, you didn't spray weld. Basically, it is using a flame and powdered metal to bond a machinable layer to a part.

OK then.... spray weld is another name for the trade process "Flamespray". About – Flamespray Northwest

I didn't realize that kind of specialized eqpt was available for home shops.

 

[Sodo]

Might have been easier and probably no more expensive to have bought some flat stock, and bent it around, and welded it, rather than using all mig wire

Often, using what you have on hand....
is hands down better than getting in the truck in search of possibly better materials.
It took 52 minutes to weld that
------- from "hmmmm..... to done.

No way could I get in the truck and drive to the metals store that quick.

I wrapped these track bottom rollers though.
Same track problem ( fairly new "wrong" tracks ) had to widen these rollers to fit the wide track.
You can see wear where the track was eating into the bearing/seal housing.

It took a bit of effort to get those 1/4" discs cut and bevel them. ($70 for 12 discs, arrived in5 days from sendcutsend.com)
It took me two days to get the 6 rollers wrapped.
......but that's two "retired guy days" not weld-pro days.

 

[Sodo]

Here's the roller after some hours use.
Maybe 10-15 hours in sand.
You can see the old diameter.
That's two wide beads of MIG ER70 wire.
It took 52 minutes to do one bead on the other side, and two beads on this side.
That's not too bad!
But this is a micro-excavator (2 ton) and the idler wheel is only about 9 inches diameter.

Sorry this is the best view I can get without taking the track off.
Next time I'll put a bar in the track and maybe it will lift off and be more visible.

 

[jonsstihl]

not familiar with flame spraying but the plasma spray I am familiar with it not robust enough to stand up to that application. mainly used to build up diameters that are tight fits with mating part. not a wear zone. I have looked into hard facing wire on a mig welder to repair studded Ice chains. very expensive but probably cheaper than chains. hard face wire weld would probably last long in your abrasive application. but for a part time use machine, will probably work out fine.

I would love a mini excavator but by the time I factor a truck and trailer to tow it around with and the maintenance, for my use it is cheaper to rent.

 

[Sodo]

I would love a mini excavator but by the time I factor a truck and trailer to tow it around with and the maintenance, for my use it is cheaper to rent.

I have an F150 and a car-trailer. Pretty easy to move a 2-ton around. With an F150 a 3-ton mini-excavator would still be fairly easy - I wish I bought a 3-ton back in the day.

I like having the mini-ex around all the time, and have rented a 5-ton, & 10-ton when I needed bigger machines. I like my eqpt. I'll probably still have it when it's time to dig my grave. Maybe I can be buried with it. Ideally that won't be for another 20 years

 

[Engineer42]

View attachment 2121602Here's the roller after some hours use.
Maybe 10-15 hours in sand.
You can see the old diameter.
That's two wide beads of MIG ER70 wire.
It took 52 minutes to do one bead on the other side, and two beads on this side.
That's not too bad!
But this is a micro-excavator (2 ton) and the idler wheel is only about 9 inches diameter.

Sorry this is the best view I can get without taking the track off.
Next time I'll put a bar in the track and maybe it will lift off and be more visible.

Looks good. We used to build up the idlers on the Link Belt dragline and American excavators with weld. 7018, then hard surfacing rod. Winter time projects. Burnt the legs off a good pair of coveralls one cold winter sitting on a 5 gallon bucket welding.

They travelled pretty bumpy for the first couple hours of use, then smoothed out.

 

[jonsstihl]

I rented a kubota kx57 this fall and I found it small for what I was doing. had a couple stumps to dig out and one was fairly big and was all it could handle to get it out of the hole. felt like I was running out of reach quite often. It was my first time operating though so I guess maybe you get used to repositioning.

I still have a few stumps to dig out I think I will rent bigger next time.