Anyone have experience with this? What to use, etc? BTW, this is for the tranny ear.

magnesium + fire = very bad idea ...

Andy

I think Kent White may have something on his web site on this: www.tinmantech.com

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

the expert services of a certified welder, i'd think ...
probably one who has a cabinet that can be flooded with inert gas.
i've seen some excellent magnesium welds. i think is requires at least TIG with a really, really good shielding gas; i have no idea what kind. it can be done, but you might want to price a replacement endpiece just as a backup plan - might be a better deal ...

I'm reminded of someone's avatar on here that was a woman taking a picture of herself. When the flash went off she was burnt to a crisp with all her hair blown back... My guess it would be something like that...

Buy a used tranny and rebuild it. Between the two you should find enough good parts for one, sell what's left. Turn the rest in as scrap. On a cast item it is very difficult to weld anything and retain any structural strength. Consider, you can only do a surface weld. It can never be as strong as a solid piece. It would be just as advisable to glue it back together. Forget about it.

i believe all you do is have to switch out endhousing peices to get a good tranny ear

Geat idea.. and I have some spares for sale! (shameless plug)

Brilliant! (guiness commercial) even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every once in a while

I've seen a million references to that guinness commercial, but I've never seen the commercial.. anyone got a link to it?

asketh and you shall recieveth (2 min later )

http://www.guinness1759society.com/offer/B.../EN/welcome.asp

Brilliant! (thanks!)

I can TIG weld tranny ears back on.
Magnesium is somewhat difficult to weld.
You have to have the right Mg filler wire.
It welds similar to aluminum but at an even lower temperature.
The puddle has even more of a tendency to drop out when it gets too hot.
A drip may catch fire and possibly ignite the entire piece.
I have even welded Minilite Mag wheels, but they have a tendency to re-crack.

Chris,

Have you had a piece catch fire while welding it? If so, what do you do? I imagine you are welding it in a cabnet of somekind? Sand pit near by?

More curious than anything...

Thanks,

Tony

Ha, here is my magnesium and welder story.

I worked in a shop where we made insulation blowing machines. We made a nozzle for fire proofing, sprayed glue with cellulose to coat beams in high rise buldings. the nozzles were sold as "lightest weight" and were made of cast and machined Magnesum. One of the shop guys knew the stuff was special and saved all the lathe scraps in a 5 gallon paint bucket.


So then one day a different guy was using the cutting torch without noticing the bucket laying there and ignited the magnesum with started burning "White hot". Looked like flash bulbs all going off at once.

So the supervisor (and also a son at Meyer & Sons where i worked hussled the bucket outside and without thinking turned the hose on it.


so here is formula:
Take on burning bucket of Magnesuim @ ~ 3000 degrees
Add water > Which both vaporizes and breaks down on contact (this is why you use foam on hot fires)

Release hydrogin and O2 into ~3000 degree bucket = Fire ball was about 10 feet in diameter and went up a bout 25 feet removing all the hair from the bosses son.

PS: don't try this at home (do it at work!

Believe it or not some of us have done that on purpose before. (right bondo??)

I use to bring a small block of Magnesium camping to start the fire, next time I could bring my old tranny to start the campfire, that should my wieners cooking.

Heck yeah! I have a tail cover with stripped threads that I'm saving for a bonfire someday Not any hot fire will do it.. the magnesium at that temperature steals the oxygen from the water, forming magnesium oxide. This releases the hydrogen from the water.. the hydrogen then combines with oxygen in the air and burns. It will only happen until all the magnesum is consumed.. Too bad, because otherwise you could make a magnesum started rocket that could run forever on water

Yes the ear can be tig welded back on...
You dont need to weld it in a cabinet, you need pure argon shielding gas, no real need for helium as that makes a hotter arc.. mag melts at a relatively low temp.. A suitable filler rod, and LOTS of preheat!!

Magnesuim transfers heat so well that its hard to keep the heat in the kernel where you want it. Preheat in an oven, or with direct heat to aboutt 500 deg F then have at it..

nuther problem its a casting, you may have issues with contaminants.. CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN!!

or buy another housing



fell off the wagon LOL