Bore welding

[couesaddict]

Hello, I’m entertaining the idea of getting into bore repair. Have had to get a few things at work done over the years and people call me often asking who to use. Not many around my parts do it. The eBay Chinese stuff makes it look a lot more cost effective to get into it than say climax setups. Anyone have any experience with the knockoff eBay units good or bad? I’ve done a lot of welding but I’m not a machinist so I’d be starting from scratch with tools and knowledge. I’ve got a broken scraper hitch I could practice on that wouldn’t be a crime to mess up the first time or two.

 

[Legdoc]

I would think someone that does this repair that is not in your area therefore not a potential competitor will help you out. I would think the most critical aspect of the process is proper alignment. If you over bore a hole you just weld it up and go again. But remember there is nothing on a machine cheap today. Back in another life as a machinist there was an assembly that had a 10K value that had some very tight dimensions like plus zero and minus half a thousandths. That was tough to hold even with CNC and a single point tool. No grinding to finish. The owner would really get twisted when one was scrapped or damaged by a broker tap. Each one was basically his helicopter payment.

 

[Joe H]

Don't forget to disconnect the battery;

Joe H

 

[Nige]

The eBay Chinese stuff makes it look a lot more cost effective to get into it than say climax setups.

Have you considered SIR Mecanica line boring equipment.? A lot cheaper than Climax and seems to be pretty good. They have bore welding attachments. Kurtis at Cutting Edge Engineering (on YT) uses one.

home - Sir Meccanica - Sir Meccanica Portal

www.sirmeccanica.com

 

[HeavyMetalRepair]

I use the bore repair systems boring machine and bore welder. It was 26k for the whole set up. It is a nice kit, all in one box. Customer service is great, most parts are made in the USA. They have options for smaller bores and facing. The bore welder works great. My only complaint with it is the bearing adjustability. Once you have your mount welded on you can’t move it.

I have also used the Climax set up and in my opinion it is better.

 

[HeavyMetalRepair]

You can also rent them from mactech. Try it out on your hitch and see if you like it.

 

[couesaddict]

I’ll check them out. Thank you.

 

[ps66x4]

What I don't like about chinese things like that is they make them with parts that you can't get to repair when they break down.

 

[ThatGuysFarm]

We got a China Ebay special one. It was about 6K and it is still doing a good job. We had a local company do a bunch of boring for us and they charged 26K so I figured the gamble on a 6K machine was worth it. We've had it about 2 years and have bored quite a bit with it. The cutters and set screws are all metric so a little harder to find, if you are running it heavy in the shop when it's 100 degrees outside and as bad inside in the shade, the auto feed may stop moving? At least we had the feed stop moving twice on hot days and the next morning it worked fine, so not sure if that was the issue or what. But all in all, well worth the 6k, tight tolerances and a pretty basic controller. The welding setup for it has the "European" plug in to attach to the welder, we have not needed to use the welding part yet but I have located an adaptor plug for about $130 to plug it into a Miller 255 welder.

 

[couesaddict]

I appreciate the feedback. I’m definitely leery of the welder portion of it because they don’t really give many details of hookups. Does it connect to the leads like an LN-25 or does it just run off ac power? Id be running it off a vantage 500.

 

[ThatGuysFarm]

I appreciate the feedback. I’m definitely leery of the welder portion of it because they don’t really give many details of hookups. Does it connect to the leads like an LN-25 or does it just run off ac power? Id be running it off a vantage 500.

The one we got came with an entire new lead and the gun that spins in the machine. We have not used it but with the adaptor that I found, which we have not gotten because we haven't needed to, it looks like we just take our lead off of our machine and unplug the lead wires, then hook the boring lead up and plug in the new wires. So basically just a different lead on my welder. I have Miller 255's, 252's, and a 251. They are all running Bernard leads and it looks like it will be interchangeable once you put the adaptor on the China lead.

 

[couesaddict]

Ok so you still need a feeder then correct?

 

[ThatGuysFarm]

Ok so you still need a feeder then correct?

For the setup we have, yes. It only came with the lead and gun that fits the boring tool and rotates in the bore. The welder itself did not come with the Portable Boring Machine.

 

[couesaddict]

Ok thank you.

 

[RayF]

It depends on what you intend what line boring is going to do for you. If it's a going to be a supplement to what you do, a cheaper set up may do the job. My sole income for 35 years was line boring, and I'm thankful that I started out with top class equipment. That is by far the cheapest way to go. If you want to go cheaper, consider backup. Consider if your clients are thinking if you have a break-down part way through a job that he wants working tomorrow. At the end of the day, if you don't have satisfied clients, you aren't going to do well.
And of course the type of gear you want to target has a big influence on the equipment you buy. No good getting a machine with modest capabilities if you are going to be boring 250 to 900 tonne diggers. And that's the work I would be chasing because it's easier work and the dollars are there.

 

[couesaddict]

I agree. If I was looking at this as a career I would absolutely bite the bullet and buy the best. Realistically though I doubt I would use it more than once or twice a year around here local. I don’t have much time for side jobs and our equipment rarely needs it done thanks to our lube guy. This scraper is the last one needing tightened up. The rest of them are fairly tight still.