Mod Iron Disaster: FedEx Makes UPS Look Like Amateurs, Not Hams

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

I should've corrected the subject line to read "When It Comes to Smashing Stuff, FedEx..." since I've never gotten anything this trashed from UPS.

But I agree with the statements of this being bad luck on my part, as it has been for others in the past. Jim, your theory would certainly account for the broken frame, but this thing looked worse than a baby harp seal on opening day of seal season. The box corners were crushed down to the point that the container looked more round than square. Paint worn off where the box was dragged along a concrete floor or similar, wearing through two layers of cardboard with 3 layers of solid foam board between. It was clearly a case of mishandling overall, not merely one impact.

MrMike was over Saturday and took some shots for the claim. He sent them to me in zipped format, unfortunately my new work PC lacks anything to unzip them. I'll see if he minds posting a couple of the more obvious shots to the thread.

[kf6pqt]

The thing that gets me about this, is half a century ago, this stuff got shipped exactly the same way, and DIDN'T get trashed.

Maybe teaching a few brownshirts some respect the hard way would help?

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Here are a few shots. Note the skewed threaded rods on the top shot. When the frame snapped, it was shoved backwards, causing this.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

And a few more...

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Last ones. If the boxes and packing look insignificant, it's because they were pulverized. The foam and cardboard not damaged are still quite stout, there just isn't very much of it. There were two boxes, separated by foam sheets (blueboard and Styrofoam) along with the shattered board as a base.

HUGE Thanks to MrMke for helping me out in the photo department.

[Rick K5IAR]

What a tragedy!  All that beautiful work down the drain, not to mention the time and money.  I use FedEx exclusively and have had very few problems, but this just goes to show it can and does happen.  Gary has shipped several things back to me and they have always been packed well just as this one was.  I'm sure sorry Todd, can it be salvaged at all?

Rick/K5IAR

[Ed-VA3ES]

Sigh...

Whenever I have to ship a heavy transformer, I  always use a wooden box. I bolt the xfmr to a wooden base, (usually 1/2" plywood) then place the thing in a stout wooden box.  I build the box frame from  2X4's and then wrap the box with nailed plywood sheet  5/16ths thick. I add some more 2X4's to the outside.  I screw the 2X4's together with sheet-rock screws.

I keep spare boxes in my garage. I'd love to find a metal tape wrapping machine cheap; that would really finish the packaging in fine style.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Yes Rick, it can. I don't think the laminations suffered and damage, but there's really no way to know until Gary opens it back up and tests it. Had it not been for the cracked frame, I'd have it installed now. The bent studs and paint loss on the corners are minor. Finding a replacement frame will be the fun part.

It's just another nuisance I don't need right now, or Gary either for that matter. 'PITA' comes to mind.

Ed, I'm not sure they allow banding unless you're shipping freight. 'PJP did exactly as you described, built a solid wood box to ship iron to Dahl. It also got trashed, he said the transformer was hanging out the bottom when he got it back, but it survived at least.

[WA1GFZ]

I wouldn't be surprised if some of the insulators are cracked and you won't find them until they see high voltage.
Looks like the 97 pound weakling handled this package...

[The Slab Bacon]

Todd,
        FWIW, I have always had pretty good luck welding cast iron. If you can get it to me I can prolly weld it for you. I'd be happy to do it with one condition! I hear it back on the air!!

                                            The Slab Bacon

[Ed-VA3ES]

Ed, I'm not sure they allow banding unless you're shipping freight.

I don't know what else this stuff is, except freight !       It sure aint  mail!!!   

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Ed, I have a UTC power transformer that must be 2 feet long or more. It's built into a rolling cabinet power supply. Now, that would easily make the 'freight limit'. This mod iron was maybe 40 lbs, if that.

Slab, you have a deal! As soon as I can find a replacement, I'll get it to you. Skip is looking into a dead transformer just like it, so we'll see what happens. I had thought about JB Weld, but SB (Slab Bacon) Weld should do the trick?

I've always been told that cast iron can be welded, but it's very tricky. An art form, really.

[WQ9E]

Hi Todd,

I live in a rural farm community and there are a couple of guys here who have a lot of experience with cast iron-if you find a community with lots of farmers near you I bet you could find somebody who is good with cast iron.  JB Weld is about the only welding I can do, anything else goes to professionals.  Growing up on the MS gulf coast I recall seeing a self-styled "welding expert" showing how good he was with some cast aluminum spiders from a cubical quad that was damaged in a hurricane.  Apparently it was high magnesium content aluminum and it made a beautiful fire and it also took care of the welding problem too since once the flames died out there wasn't anything left to weld.  After seeing that little demonstration I decided that welding would not be a skill for me.

73, Rodger WQ9E

[The Slab Bacon]

Welding is just like building radios. Itz an acquired skill. Like everything else in this world,
"practice makez poifikt" I picked up a stnger for the first time when I was 10 or 11 years old. And besides when you are buildin somethin big, weldin takes a lot less time than drillin a million holes!! Especially in heavy steel.

                                                                                the Slab Bacon

[WBear2GCR]

Two things:

- the cracked part looks like a band around the lams, and the plate on the front looks like stamped metal, yes?? If so, the "band" has to come off.  Then it can be repaired, OR a new band can be fabbed from steel (easy enough). (they did the cast, because it was cheap at the time) New feet can be welded on, no prob. Looks like two steel bits, one for the top, one for the bottom - drill through holes (make simple jig then--->), weld on new feet (spot through a hole, or weld along the sides) and weld on thinner stuff (1/8"?) for the sides (spot a hole, and then weld the edges to the top/bottom sections, grind round & clean/smooth), paint. Small mig or Tig. Even gas Brazed is ok.

The question is what holds the stamped plate to the band? -just the through threaded rods??

- two, notwithstanding Frank's offer, the usual fix for cast is Braze, not weld. Weld gets too hot and makes the surrounding cast super brittle and can cause stress craking. Of course Slab may have some tricks. But Braze is really easy and simple on something like that piece.

My 2 cents.

                  _-_-bear

[W1ATR]

Finally, something I know something about.

Bear, just remember one thing about brazing, it's a wetting technique and the repair will only be as strong as the filler used. The parent metal isn't bonded at the molecular level.

In Todds' case, that piece probably has some force on it from the threaded rod pulling against the lams, so actually welding it is the preferred method. looks like it's made from 'gray iron', the most common with about 4-5% carbon in it's makeup. Piece of cake

first off, sandblast it, takes a second, cleans the surface, and the piece is going to need to be repainted anyway.

Your going to need a 5 gallon bucket of clean sand, like beachsand or whatever. (This really isn't totally necessary, but will kill any chance of cracking from brittleness altogether. Pour a small pile on the floor or whatever maybe 2-3 inches deep, (half a bucket, your going to need the other half in a minute)

Grind a slight relief along the break to allow penetration.

Clamp it down in place with some c-clamps or whatever to hold it still.

Mark the piece with a 650 degree paint stick.

Get the welder ready to go. about 120A, DC, 99Ni, or 55Ni Nickel rod

Preheat the piece until the 650 deg paint mark gets glassy looking.

strike and push the weld along, not dragging, about an inch to 1-1/2 at a time. In this case, do it all in one pass.

As soon as the welding is done and the area turns dark, pick it to find anything loose so it's clean (move fast) then put it ontop of that pile of sand and pour the remaing sand over that to cover it.

The fun with the sand could be skipped all together on a non critical part, but the purpose is to slow down the cooling. Do it, and there won't be any chance of brittle material around the weld.

Sounds like a lot when it's typed out like this, but in real time, only takes a few minutes to do.

I have an old mod reactor from a 20v downstairs that I broke two of the legs off,(opposite sides) that I need to get to one of these days, but it still stands up just fine, so no emergency there.

[The Slab Bacon]

Ni-rod 55 is the berries for cast iron. They also make a phosphor bronze arc welding rod that is very good for cast metals.

Another way to do it is to preheat it with a hand torch. Weld it while it is still hot, do not allow it to cool between passes. chip the slag and make the next pass while still hot. After you have finished welding the crack, put the torch back on it for a few minutes to help relieve the stress rizers. (keep it cherry red for a few minutes)  While it is still hot, toss it into a pre heated kitchen oven turned up a high as it will go. After about a half hour, turn the oven down to around 375 for about an hour, and then turn the oven off, leave the door closed and allow the part to cool slowly in the oven until it reaches room temperature. (several hours)

I have used this technique on cylinder barrels, exhaust manifolds, antique gas engine parts and other tricky pieces of cast iron for many years. I have also used this technique to weld steel to cast iron and other difficult repairs. If You cant find NI-ROD 55, you can also use 308-16 stainless steel rods, but you have to really pre heat the hell out of the work and cool it more slowly.

                                                                         The Slab Bacon

[Bill, KD0HG]

(CBS4) DENVER Six UPS workers were hurt while moving acid Friday night.

The incident happened at about 10 p.m. at the UPS freight division facility in Adams County.

Fire officials told CBS4 it was an accident. UPS employees were moving hydrofluoric acid from one forklift to another when more than a gallon of the liquid spilled.

Hydroflouric acid is often used in pharmaceutical production and can dissolve glass.

[WBear2GCR]

Whoa!

Also known, i think, as Aqua Regia?
Or, a component thereof. Maybe it also has some HCL in it...
Dissolves gold.

Not a good thing to get on ur self.
Not a good thing to breath the fumes after it reacts and releases some Flourine gas...

Well packed!  ??

                _-_-bear

[AF9J]

Hi Bear,

Not quite.  Aqua Regia, is a mixture of Hydrochloric, and Nitric acid in a ratio of 3 to 1 respectively. It is called that because it can dissolve most (but not all) noble metals such as Gold, Siver, Platimum, etc.  Here's some more info on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua_regia

BTW Hydroflouric acid is still, VERY nasty stuff.

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[W1RC]

Hydroflouric acid is still, VERY nasty stuff.

Indeed it is.  It's also used in the printing trade to etch metal plates.  Wow!

[kf4qkr]

The shipping companys are just getting worse . Wonder how many temps are working there now ?

[WA1GFZ]

You welder guys are just too cool.....coming from a guy who makes a beautiful slag bead.

[The Slab Bacon]

You welder guys are just too cool.....coming from a guy who makes a beautiful slag bead.

Just like everythin elze pwacktiss makez poifict!!

thatz allright, We still need you to answer all of the tough rf techincal questions.

That is one of the very cool things about this group. As a collective intelligence we got it all!! there is someone here that can give an intelligent answer for just about any question on just about any subject. This is also pretty much true of the entire AM community in general!! This is what makes it all work!!

                                         The Slab Bacon

[WA1GFZ]

imagine if all the talent here and formed a company.....but who would be the boss?

biggest strapper
best shot
longest old buzzard TX.