welding or glueing pot metal

[Grdpa's 50 Dodge]

Has any one here successfully repaired a broken pot metal trim piece??  Seems I have 2 bezels or horse shoe shaped trim,,,molding extension for rear tail light.  it holds the red reflector button.  bad news is they are both broken.

 

JB weld or epoxy glue stick to it on back side?

 

Seems the 49 Dodge parts car I was told I had ,,,is actually a 50 since the tail lights and all match up with my 50.  Again bad news,,,all the pieces I need are missing on that one too.

 

Its in a shed I cant get to or work in,,,,come spring I will drag it out and disassemble every thing possible

[jcmiller]

I've been wondering about this too.  My horn ring is broken and I can't find a replacement.  The mating surfaces are so small that I don't think a repair will work though.

[knuckleharley]

I've been wondering about this too.  My horn ring is broken and I can't find a replacement.  The mating surfaces are so small that I don't think a repair will work though.

Small isn't the problem. Lots of small items can be welded or brazed together with no problem.

 

The problem is pot metal has so many air pockets in it that it's hard to weld.

 

Probably the best way to try to weld or braze these small parts would be to heat them for a long time in a oven in order to normalize the temp all through the piece,and then try very low line pressures and an acetylene rich mixture using a jewelers torch.

 

I know nothing about TIG welding,and that might work better.

 

I think for items like the taillight housings that don't receive any torque I'd try to solder  them back together. I don't know if that would be a strong enough joint for something like a horn ring,though.

 

I really think some of the modern glues would be the best way to go,but I have no idea how any of them react to the chemicals and heat of the chrome process. After all,if they can produce glues that hold tiles on the space shuttles,they can surely produce glues strong enough to hold pot metal trim pieces together.

 

The unknown by me is "can you glue pot metal together and then chrome plate the part with no problems?"

 

Can anyone else chime in on this?

Edited February 10, 2014 by knuckleharley

[bob westphal]

A number of years ago there were guys who showed up at swap meets and home shows that hawked a process to weld pot metal. It consisted of special welding sticks made of a soft solder/zinc and the use of a propane torch. When they did it it looked really easy so I bought some of the sticks and tried it. It wasn't as easy as it looked. I could never get the hang of it and gave up. Someone more adept than me could possibly do it. I googled 'weld pot metal' and came up with this site. Check it out.

http://www.ask.com/youtube?q=how+to+weld+pot+metal&v=Sh5W0xbZ9es&qsrc=472

bob