Morso Body, steel or cast iron?

[ratty]

Checking over my old morso that now resides in my lean-to at the side of the house, I noticed a crack in the case adjacent to one end of the horizontal bar in the lever system at the back of the machine, going all the way around the back circumference on one side (left hand side as you are looking from the front of the machine). It's not travelling any further up the side of the case thankfully.

This needs immediate attention i.e. Welding.

So what I wanted to know, is the casing steel or cast iron ? for choice of welding rods and welding application.

Thanks
Ratty

[22rabbits]

I went to view a morso recently that had a similar problem. The owner had got it welded and it was a very bad job, looked like it was done by an amature with a arc welder big blobs of metal. it had broken again by the time i went to see it and that was a year after the owner got it welded.

only reason i say this is its worth going to someone good to weld it. they'll also know straight off what metal it is

[IFGL]

Not sure, I have seen a few morsos with cracked casings which makes me think they are cast.

Is your machine raised off the floor?

[22rabbits]

good or bad to have them raised off the floor IFGL?

[GeoSpectrum]

I had question about my Morso a while back and called Dan-List direct n Denmark, they were very helpful and answered my question immediately.

[IFGL]

It is OK so long as the pedal doesn't travel further than it should, this is one reason the case can crack.

[ratty]

The pedal doesn't travel further than it should as I don't have it on blocks.
I don't know how it was used by previous owners.

I think this is a long term problem that I was lucky to spot.

I won't be doing the welding myself but wanted to get all the info before passing the job on to a welder friend and also supplying the correct rods!
Having looked again, I think it must be steel as it seems too thin for cast iron.
I will wait for conformation from Dan-List as Geo-Spectrum suggested.

Thanks a lot for your help

[ratty]

I sent an email to Dan-List yesterday and received a reply at 07.54 this morning.

How's that for service, with no money involved?

"Hi John,
Thank you for your mail.
Your machine was made in 2001. ('Me'- It's had a hard life before I got it then!')
If we understand you correctly, I think you mean what we call the frame of the machine. And the frame is made by metal sheet plates with a thickness of 1,5 mm. So the frame is not made from cast iron.
The cast iron parts are the table, the knife block, the slide frame, long and short guide rails, fences and some other small parts.
We hope this is the information you require, but should you need further, please do not hesitate to contact us Again.

Best regards
Claus Pedersen"

[IFGL]

Very good indeed.

[Steve N]

Good way to stop cracks in cast iron is to drill a hole at he end of the crack, it stops the crack from traveling any further

[Graysalchemy]

Good for aluminium as well, the use thst technique to stop planes wings from falling off.

[ratty]

The crack is on the body of the machine that is 1.5mm steel so easier to weld than cast iron (or aluminium for that matter!).

Now I have taken the horizontal bar out at the back of the lever system, a small piece of the casing came away with it, on the right hand side this time!
On the left side someone had done a right bodge job and glued a piece of perspex on the inside of the casing with a hole through it to attach the horizontal bar to, and painted it green so it couldn't be seen! There too is a bigger piece of the casing missing.

So it looks like two plates will be required to weld in position and drilled for the horizontal bar to be able to be screwed into, plus what I thought was the original crack to be welded
It looks to me, too difficult to weld a plate on the 'inside' of the casing (The radius of the end of the case is in the way and there would be no room left to fit the bolt in that holds the bar in position!)
So welding plates on the 'outside' of the casing will also mean shortening the bar as it's a pushfit into its position.

It's a good job I have a couple of engineering fitters in my motorbike club.
Turning into a bit of a nightmare!

[ratty]

Just to give a heads up on the repair job, in case anyone else has similar problems.

I bought some 2mm thick mild steel sheet from ebay. Size was 100mm long X 32mm wide, cost was £1.25p including postage.

I hacksawed the 100mm length in half to give two 50mm lengths and drilled two 12mm diameter holes roughly in the middle of the pieces.

I had a friend with a lathe take 2.5mm from both ends of the horizontal bar.

I ground off the paint around where the plates would fix then clamped the plates into position and connected the lever system back together, including tightening the two bolts that hold the horizontal bar in position.

Matey came round and mig welded the plates and crack, and asked me to buy him a pint when I see him next.

Today I bought a small tin of green Hammerite (£6.99) and applied, after wire brushing the area.

I took the opportunity to change the blades, did a test cut and all is well.

I think a little reinforcement in the area wouldn't go amiss in new machines (take note Morso!) as it seems to be a not too uncommon problem.

Will update if anything further happens.

[22rabbits]

sounds a good job ratty ill remember that