Hi all,
I have a cheap snowblower, a little electric gadget. It does a decent job; but recently we ran it over a curb and broke the weld, where the paddles attach to the axle. I was going to take it apart and get it re-welded but thought I might do it myself. My first thought was to use an acetylene torch; but that would create a lot of heat, perhaps melt the housing and burn the shock absorber pads on the paddles.
Then I thought an electric weld, those things that look like a garden hold gun, with a long welding rod sticking out of them. Is this a feasible idea. Do I need a lot of expensive equipment for this? Any thoughts are appreciated.
Thanks,
… john
My thought is that welding requires heat, either from an acetylene torch or an electric arc welder, and that heat is what could melt plastic parts on it. Doesn’t much matter how the heat is generated. Possibly with an electric welder you might be able to contain the heat better, but that depends on the makeup of the machine and how close contact the plastic parts are.
Welding equipment is not generally cheap, even on Craigslist. It sounds like what you want to do would be simple enough, but it would certainly be cheaper to find a guy with a welder already in his garage to do it for you. Also, electric welders will absolutely heat the metal up to cherry red, but it will be somewhat more localized than acetylene.
That said, if you do want to do it yourself it’s not a bad skill to learn. You could get a cheap Harbor Freight or Northern Tool welder for less than $200, or something used in that price range on Craigslist. I would not recommend acetylene, it takes a lot of practice to get a good weld; I only use it for heating and cutting. There are two types of welder you could use for the project–stick or MIG (TIG is another type, but generally used more in manufacturing application. I’ve never done it, so I can’t say much about it).
Stick welders use individual rods of filler metal that’s shielded with flux, which protects the arc from air contamination. They tend to be cheaper than MIG. MIG welders use a spool of wire as the filler metal, either as pure metal with a canister of shielding gas or with a core of flux similar to stick rods. Flux cored wire tends to leave a worse weld than using shielding gas, but it’s one less thing to buy. Most people will agree that MIG welders will leave a better looking weld than stick, as it’s easier to get a consistent bead going when the machine is feeding you wire instead of you holding the rod, and also since the sticks tend to spatter metal more, depending on the type of rod. That said, both types will leave just as solid a weld.
If you do decide to do it yourself, I would highly recommend getting some steel stock from a hardware store to practice on before you actually try to fix anything. It takes a little while to get the hang of keeping a consistent bead going and finding the right settings on the welder for the metal.
If you could post a picture of what’s broken, it would be easier to give advice on how to do the job.
eta TL;DR, litterally exacty whats written one post up…I probably should have read that first.
To weld metal you’re going to need oxx-acetalyne, not just acetalyne. Acetalyne on it’s own will get it really hot, but it’s not likely to actually melt the two metals together (though I could be wrong). If you want to go this route, you can get a cheap OA rig at Home Depot. It’s two blow torch sized tanks and the hose that connects them together. IME, you’re not going to get much down with it.
If you want to try welding it yourself, but not really looking to make welding a hobby, I’d suggest getting a cheap flux core welder from Harbor Freight. They’re typically under a hundred dollars. Watch a couple of youtube videos, get a few pieces of steel from Home Depot to practice on and then give it a shot. The worse thing that’ll happen is it doens’t work and it’s already broken, so it’s not a huge loss.
As far as the heat causing collateral damage. This possible, but not if you’re careful. You have a few options.
1)Take the auger out of the snow blower.
2) wrap a bunch of wet rags on either side of where you want to weld. They’ll help to cool things before the heat makes it all the way to the bearings (not too close, you do need the heat).
3)Weld a little bit at a time. That is, just make tacks all the way around. One here, one on the other side, The two spots between them etc. Taking a break between each weld (or pair of welds) to let everything cool. T
4)Weld somewhat quickly and quench it with a garden hose or bucket of water.
Personally, if it were me, I’d probably just use some rags to help keep things cool.
Also, even if you don’t want to turn this into a hobby, this is still going to be an investment. A really cheap welder is going to be, say, $100. A really cheap auto-dimming helmet from HF, probably another $35. Get some welding gloves and flux core wire, another $30 maybe.
If you’re not planning to put the welder to at least a little bit of use, consider calling a local welding place. You’d be surprised at how cheap it is. Every time I’ve had small things welding by some guy renting space in a warehouse, it’s been like $8. I bet you can get this fixed for $20 or $30. It’s almost nothing in materials, and it’ll take an experienced, literally, a minute or two to clean everything, throw on some gear and zap it back together.
Thanks guys.
I appreciate (and needed) the tutorials.
I should have told you that my original plan was to take the axle and paddle assembly to someone for welding, but have not been able to get the nuts off; so, I’m considering my DIY options.
When I said acetylene, I was actually thinking of one of those canisters. I have one of ‘map gas’ and one of ‘brazing fuel’. If one of those babies will work, I’d like to consider it. What do you think? If it’s doable, what do I need?
… john
I don’t think brazing will be strong enough to deal with what a snowblower will put it through.
Welding melts the two metals, as well as a filler metal (mig wire, flux core wire, welding stick, tig rod etc), if used, and they all solidify together.
Brazing melts only the filler wire and the plan is that, as it re-hardens, it will individually stick to the two metals that you’re welding together. Brazing is similar to soldering. It works well for a lot of things. I think it’ll probably break the first time you hit a chunk of ice.
Are you saying that you can’t take the whole thing to a welding shop? Because I agree with the recommendation to do so. It will be quick for them to do and they’ll almost certainly do a better job than you can.
Hi Joey,
OK. I didn’t know … thanks.
Hi Dewey,
Oh no. I can take it to someone and have it welded. I just thought I would do it myself, if possible.
… john
In this situation this is almost certainly accurate. Though as a nitpick, brazed joints can rival or exceed some welded joints in strength, however the skill and preparation to on average acheive that strength is exponentially higher.
I can’t think of a way a complete amateur could possibly get any sort of weld or braze that isn’t going to cost as much as a new cheap electric snowblower.
That said , if you want to get a cheap flux core setup for future repairs of all sorts it may very well pay for itself in a couple uses , and you can chicken shit weld a lot of items to be functional.
If you want to learn, get the cheap Harbor Freight flux core (125a) welder. It’s $115 right now and often goes on sale to $100 (plus another $50 or so for supplies/accessories) and give it a shot. You’re not going to break it more*, and you might fix it.
But have a back up plan. Be sure you can afford the welder AND a new snowblower, or at least replacement parts, if you destroy it.
*Actually that’s not entirely true, it wouldn’t be difficult to burn through the metal to the point where it’s not repairable or you weld it right to the (non-moving) axle that runs through it.
It doesn’t seem suitable here, but I’d thought I’d mention that the only easy way to do welding, without getting things hot, is with a spot-welder. A lot cheaper than they used to be 
$150 and very noisy. But require almost no skill to use no UV, no sparks.
And to my amusement I see that they are now battery powered. I think that probably doesn’t get you a very big spot.
It would seem like the spot welder is my best option, but I’m not even willing to spend that. The blower itself is only worth $200-$300. So, I think I’ll try and devise some sort of brace and bolt it to the other (unbroken) bracket.
Thanks again for your help.
…john
This doesn’t sound like it will hold up. Find a neighbor with a welder and do it right. They’ll do it for a 6-pack of beer usually.
That’s what I charge. 
12-pack for bigger jobs.
Maybe just slap some JB Weld on it.
Or some Elmers glue:smack: Come on…:rolleyes:
If welding needs to be done, pay a craftsman for their service. You may* think* you have the capability within the limitations of a $100 expenditure to grasp everything necessary over a lifetime of experience… but you don’t.
A $150 spot welder is for sheet metal. It will not weld a blade onto a shaft. My Porta Spot 2001 draws 23 amps at 240 volts and has cables about 3/4" in diameter and weighs 150 lbs.
Dennis
Thanks again guys,
Yes, I may end up having to weld it; but I’m going to try bracing it first. And yes, JB Weld under the brace. Good idea Joey.
I’ve made the brace. Now I have to bolt it to the axle and paddle assembly. I’ll let you know it goes. Hopefully that won’t be until next year, but I have my doubts.
… john