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The primer tray on my P-W 900 broke last night, right where the tray and the track meet. Can you weld this, or any other repair or just have to get a new one?
P-W primer tray repair?
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Call around and find a sheetmetal shop that has a spot welder. It's very simple and fast.Should be cheap too!
Did the spot welds break or did the chute itself tear? I've had a few tears welded by a very competent welding firm but the welding embrittles the area and it will break again.
I finally repaired one of mine by using a cheap thin stainless steel 3" long x 1/2" wide Chinese butter spreader. I bent it into a curve that matched the normal relationship between the tray and the chute and had it spot welded to the tray and the chute.
Since the bend is much more gradual than the original connection and since the welds are further from the bend there is less stress due to movement.
I've been using it for 2 years loading 800-1000 shells a week and it shows no signs of stress. In talking to Tonya at P-W I learned that she thinks that a big cause of these failures is installing the chute under tension. Install the tray so that just a little of the top mounting hole extends above the top crosshead and then twist its mounting strap so that the end of the chute hangs squarely against the side of the primer feed and just below the slot it mounts into before you bolt it into place. There should be minimal movement of the tray as the screw is tightened. Resist the urge to mount the tray as high as it will go and then bend the chute-to-tray connection to compensate. That concentrates the stress of movement in the chute connection instead of in the tray mounting bracket.
I recently came across some stainless steel model airplane control surface hinges that are the right size to use to replace the welded connection between the tray and the chute. I need to talk to my welder about the possibilities.
MK
I finally repaired one of mine by using a cheap thin stainless steel 3" long x 1/2" wide Chinese butter spreader. I bent it into a curve that matched the normal relationship between the tray and the chute and had it spot welded to the tray and the chute.
Since the bend is much more gradual than the original connection and since the welds are further from the bend there is less stress due to movement.
I've been using it for 2 years loading 800-1000 shells a week and it shows no signs of stress. In talking to Tonya at P-W I learned that she thinks that a big cause of these failures is installing the chute under tension. Install the tray so that just a little of the top mounting hole extends above the top crosshead and then twist its mounting strap so that the end of the chute hangs squarely against the side of the primer feed and just below the slot it mounts into before you bolt it into place. There should be minimal movement of the tray as the screw is tightened. Resist the urge to mount the tray as high as it will go and then bend the chute-to-tray connection to compensate. That concentrates the stress of movement in the chute connection instead of in the tray mounting bracket.
I recently came across some stainless steel model airplane control surface hinges that are the right size to use to replace the welded connection between the tray and the chute. I need to talk to my welder about the possibilities.
MK
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My neighbor has a welding shop and repaired mine.
He said the factory job was poor, not enough penetration.
I had some smoothing and polishing to do but it has worked well.
Make sure its welded as close to the factory location as possible.
Regards....Gerald
He said the factory job was poor, not enough penetration.
I had some smoothing and polishing to do but it has worked well.
Make sure its welded as close to the factory location as possible.
Regards....Gerald
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12,310 Posts
Silver solder should work as well. You will need HIGH content silver solder for stainless steel.
Depending on the base metal(s) you might be able to use a soldering iron, or perhaps a SMALL torch. This will let you control the heat you apply to a much greater extent.
You will need to prepare with a good flux (meant for silver), but it should be no harder than soldering copper pipes.
Depending on the base metal(s) you might be able to use a soldering iron, or perhaps a SMALL torch. This will let you control the heat you apply to a much greater extent.
You will need to prepare with a good flux (meant for silver), but it should be no harder than soldering copper pipes.
Whether or not the assembly can be repaired by welding will depends on how it is broken.
If the spot welds failed and the chute has separated from the bottom of the tray, the fix is rather simple.
If age, use and metal fatigue has caused the chute to tear at the tray so that part of the chute is still attached to the bottom of the tray, a repair is much more complicated and probably not economical for most people.
That is the kind of break I pictured from the original post and the kind of repair I described.
MK
If the spot welds failed and the chute has separated from the bottom of the tray, the fix is rather simple.
If age, use and metal fatigue has caused the chute to tear at the tray so that part of the chute is still attached to the bottom of the tray, a repair is much more complicated and probably not economical for most people.
That is the kind of break I pictured from the original post and the kind of repair I described.
MK
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