They Repair Cast Iron Cracks And More

They Repair Cast Iron Cracks And More ENGINES Cracks in cast iron can be drilled and filled with Lock-N-Stitch threaded inserts that seal cracks tight or seal patches in place “Whether you’ve got a cracked bolt hole a cracked block heat cracks impact cracks or design failure we offer a permanent fix ” says Gary Reed Lock-N-Stitch “We make the repaired surface stronger than before the fix ” Lock-N-Stitch makes a variety of inserts locks and other tools for metal repair They also offer repair and training services “We are a manufacturing company making the insert pins locks thread repair inserts kits and tooling for repair work ” he explains “However we are also a cast iron welding and stitching company and 50 percent of the parts we manufacture are used by us We have crews travelling all over the world to repair everything from heavy industry jobs down to the smallest jobs ” Reed says company products and services are used by major OEM manufacturers like Detroit Diesel Cat and Deere as well as by the company’s competitors The company is currently using their products on the dome of the U S Capital “We have a 10-man crew repairing 27 000 in of cracks in the dome ” says Reed “It will take them a year to do the stitching ” When Reed talks about stitching he means drilling a hole or a set of holes using special jigs Once stitching holes are threaded they are filled with special inserts depending on the situation As the pins are tightened their heads break off above the surface Protrusions are ground down and then a second set of holes is drilled slightly overlapping the first set of pins Once these have been ground down the repair is finished and a solid surface remains In some cases a standard tapered threaded pin is used to create radial pressure This works if the cast has enough integrity to contain the pressure The solid cast pushes back against the filler pins A crack running along an edge of a casting or into a core plughole doesn’t have that integrity Standard tapered pins will expand the crack due to what Reed describes as “cumulative spreading pressure” Lock-N-Stitch offers a special pin design called the Castmaster The bottom of the fastener thread is 45° but the top is a negative 20° and acts like a hook The shoulder of the pin has a reverse angle on it and when tightened into a matching machined counter bore pulls up on the thread This draws the metal together Castmaster pins add strength instead of spreading pressure says Reed The Full-Torque hole repair system uses a similar thread pattern for bolt hole repair Reed notes that freeze or impact cracks often result in cracked bolt holes as well Stripped or damaged threads in spark plugs and other bolt holes can also be repaired with Full-Torque inserts We can take a bolt hole split right down the middle put an insert in and pull the metal back together says Reed The more you torque it the stronger it gets If it’s repairable we can come up with a way to do it Reed says Full-Torque inserts create a pressure-tight seal that can withstand 3 000 psi hydraulic pressure We don t just do stitching says Reed Damage to cast iron or other cast metals breaks into two categories It’s either an accident or a design failure where it has cracked under normal operating conditions In the first case Reed uses stitching to repair the problem and bring it back to 100 percent In the case of design failure Reed adds reinforcements or brackets to attach Reed points out that cast iron is preferred for its traits of staying straight under heat and not warping However that same trait makes it extremely hard to weld any place but edges Welding works best with things that can stretch and bend Attempting to weld cast iron produces massive amounts of confined expansion and contraction that leads to more cracks especially if the welding is in the middle of the cast explains Reed Stitching avoids the heat issue That can t be done on site or in frame he says That s where stitching with pins and our inserts come in They let you repair on-site quickly and get back in use We do lots of ag equipment Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Lock-N-Stitch Inc 1015 S Soderquist Rd Turlock Calif 95380 ph 209 632-2345 or 209-614-4114; toll free 800 736-8261; www locknstitch com; www fulltorque com

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.