I'm in need of a welder, but not just any welder. I'm looking for a real "artiste"! I need someone capable of doing fine welding and/or brazing to help me in bringing a sick firearm back to shooting condition. I need a hot-shot pro with a fine touch and good eye. I was, and am, a crackerjack when it comes to woodworking, but welding is beyond my skillset. I'm not looking for a freebie since I have no problem in paying a reasonable price for good work, and I'm hoping I can find someone in the GTA who likes restoring older firearms and takes pride in their work. Any takers? Thanks for looking.
WANTED!! A real welding artist!
- Thread starter LawrenceN
- Start date
It's not really easy to describe the work that needs doing. Trust me, over my years as a cabinet maker/carpenter, it was frustrating as hell when people tried to TELL me what they needed without having the correct terminology or language skills. Basically, I need some 1/16" or 3/32" steel welded or brazed to pretty tight tolerances. Since they're rifle parts, they have to be repaired as close to factory original spec as possible, so I need someone with exceptional skills and a very good eye. Clear enough?
The metals needed to be welded determines what is required of the welder, forming it via grinding and sanding afterwards is almost always necessary. If the part is critical or hardened that needs to be addressed, possibly making a new piece would make more sense, the person you contact to do the work needs more info.
--Alloy steel, Stainless Steel, Aluminum, Titanium?
--Chamber pressure parts (Receiver and barrel), or non-stressed like a trigger guard?
--1/16" round bar, or 1/16" sheet metal? And are both parts the same, or is it tiny part to large part?
I can weld pretty much anything, but the vagueness of the op makes me want to run away. Nobody even knows what material, or if he wants someone to magically TIG in some gold filigree onto cheap pot metal. The "and\or brazing" part tells me he doesn't really know what he needs or wants, and if he doesn't know, how is anybody else supposed to ? So OP, if you want quality people to actually respond, it would be in your bed interest to provide quite a few more details.
Edited because I didn't see the 'steel' part. There's only one kind of steel, right ?
And what, exactly, is factory spec ?
Edited because I didn't see the 'steel' part. There's only one kind of steel, right ?
And what, exactly, is factory spec ?
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Me too not much info to go on not even a simple picture i think the ball is back in his court. I have a miler dynasty 200dx that would do that thing in a minute if we knew what is required "LOL"
The fellow with the micro tig would also be a winner.
R
Ok, Ok, I had thought to meet up with a local welder and show him (or her) the parts that needed repairs. Given the responses thus far, I'll expand on my initial thread. I have parts for a Mod.100 Winchester in .308. Given the scarcity of parts for a rifle that they stopped making 40+ years ago, I had thought to have these things made functional again, either as spare parts for my rifle or for restoration of another one. They are all steel, so we're not dealing with alloys here. Pic #1 is the trigger group/mag catch assembly. The arms were broken off some time ago. They were repaired, and it looks like brazing to me, and broken again. They need to be re-brazed since welding would be difficult as they may not fit back in the stock if there's too much material. In the other pics we have the arm that holds the bolt broken off. That would be a tricky weld since it would have be repaired so as not to impede function which means the weld would have be inside the curve. There's enough meat to allow for a small scab, maybe 1/16" X 3/16th to bridge the break as a stiffener. The last weld is the gas tube holder which is attached to the barrel. As you see in the pics, there's not a lot of meat there either and the inside diameter and the alignment of the hole must be true. So, there you go. Hence my request for a very fine hand and a high degree of exactitude. I hope this clears things up.
If you are still looking, Gunco in Ottawa has a firearms welding specialist on sub-contract and from personal experience, they are top notch. They use only TIG and know what alloys to see depending on the gun in question. Highly recommend them. Gunco also does OA and silver solder. No web presence, they can be reached 613-224-6266.
Thanks for the pic's and I don't think that would be too much of a job for a skilled weldor. As for the brazed item it could be brazed again after a cleanup of original brass smeared on there use a tig and silicon bronze. If you were close it wouldn't be much of an issue myself.There will be a weldor close to you that could make that happen. Go and find out who works on small aircraft and they will be full of knowledge for you.
Take the small parts with you and i believe you would be surprised. Hope this helps.
R
Take the small parts with you and i believe you would be surprised. Hope this helps.
R
Micro tig is just regular tig, but at very low amperages with small filler wire (down to .002" diameter) and under a microscope. I do this a fair bit to build up knife edges on parting lines, and to repair chipped punch faces for stamping dies. Lots of applications for it.
Grand Valley specialty welding in Cambridge also offers micro laser welding. Dave Juahal (sp), is an awesome trick welder!
Cheers,
Stu
