Welding own cams.

[kmksho]

My dad knows how to weld and by reading the process of doing it on v8sho.com he thinks he can weld my cams. All he has is a wired fed welder. Will that work and if soo is there a special kind of wire that u gotta use.

 

[Off Road SHO]

No offense intended, but farmers can weld also but I wouldn't let them practice on my cams. Go get a junk cam from the machine shops junk pile and then take it to a welding supply house and ask them what wire to use. Also if the machine shop could tell you the Rockwell hardness number of the cam, that would be usefull info for the welding supply house.

You don't have a great selection of wires for MIG welders because they're production machines, made for someone to lay down 300 inches of burn per hour. A rod (stick) welder has about 150 different types of rod for welding everything from cast iron to high nickel content steels.

Good luck.

Tom

 

[Ishodu]

I don't think a MIG welder is what you want to do this job with. Too much splatter, low ***********. A TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) welder I believe is the welder for the job.
This is not a job for the guy who just owns a welder.

 

[Mr Anonymous]

They can (and are most commonly) done with a MIG welder, but it requires special procedures to minimize and contain spatter, and for the heat settings to be just right to acheive proper *********** without overheating and warping the camshaft. I would never recommend doing it with a flux-core wire feed welder, a stick welder, or [GASP] oxy-acetylene.

I've assisted Kirk on over 50 cam welds, and I wouldn't even try welding my own cams! eek! Until I can practice on several already spun cams outside of the motor and successfully make about 200 beads, I won't even think about it.

Honestly, if you're willing to risk letting your dad ruin your motor, I'd be more inclined to recommend you risk the cam failure and just leave it alone. A cam failure would probably be cheaper to repair than if all four cams are damaged along with the heads by improper welding...

 

[sideSHO]

Ishodu:
I don't think a MIG welder is what you want to do this job with. Too much splatter, low ***********. A TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) welder I believe is the welder for the job.
This is not a job for the guy who just owns a welder.

What he said.A TIG will be a much better weld for this.Get a foot pedal to control the amperage and you're all set.Does'nt look like there is much to the cam welding(as long as you're comfortable with welding)I would practice on something for sure.

 

[nothingtoseehere]

cam weld is not as easy as throwing a couple of beads on .....

 

[PROPHET]

As dangerous and scary as doing your own dental work, leave it to a pro. thumb

 

[Glue Maker]

I did my own Well, my uncle did wink
We had dead cam shafts to practice on.

You'd be surprised, just 1 bead on the practice cam took about 10 minutes of hammering abuse before it cracked eek! We just put 4 moderately large beads on each shaft.

<small>[ March 31, 2004, 12:55 AM: Message edited by: Glue Maker ]</small>