I did the forbidden thing and rewelded a crack on a MTB frame I got. I know I should have not, but my engineering degree, aerospace experience, my unwillingness to yield, my eagerness to fight set me on a path for which there is only one conclusion, I'm damned for what I did.
I did cleaned the paint, arrested the crack, welded using 4043 and waited for a month to regain some hardness on the HAZ. While not perfect, I think I will make itm
by IwasntDrunkThatNight
5 Comments
Did you do a string alignment to check it afterwards? Takes 5 minutes and is totally worth it.
So what did you sacrifice?
EVERYTHING!
Doesn’t the part need to be heat treated too? Won’t it just crack next to the weld now?
Can you treat the bike like I rented a mule in a safe environment to see if it holds?
As someone who’s done lots of frame repairs on aluminum plus built a few frames: Don’t worry, that will most likely hold just fine. I usually use 5356 but 4043 should also work fine, it should be even less likely to form cracks, but neither of those alloys are prone to it in my experience.
By the way, that’s a supremely idiotic position they chose for that vent hole, which is what caused this crack in the first place. Let’s hope the same thing doesn’t happen on the other side…