How to repair crack on arch front

[Goggleeye]

I've got a wood fired leader king, 2.5 X 8, and it's developed a crack in the cast front from the top corner of the door opening to nearly the top (within an inch) of the front. Can this be repaired with a weld or braze? Or should a person get a whole new front? If so, where could I find one?

Thanks

[Schiefe4]

Are you concerned with the front being air tight? If not, drill the ends of the crack to arrest it. On the back side of the front bolt a piece of steel perpendicular to the crack to band it.

If you want to restore the air tight, you can try to weld/braze but it may crack again. Just make sure whatever you do to drill the ends of the cracks to stop the crack from propagating. If you weld/braze, weld/braze up to the hole and fill/seal the hole with a bolt.

[COMSTOCK MAPLES]

If the front is made of cast you must pre heat it before you weld on it, or the crack will run on you. And cool it slowly. good luck with it.

[maple flats]

I've talked to others who have welded cast. In each case they had to heat the casting to glowing hot in an oven, then weld and then put it back in the oven to cool. You might also be able to insulate it with ceramic blanket on both sides, but that might be risky.
One other option might be to get an insulated airtight front and replace it, but that is costly and you need to take the old front off and then after putting the new front on, you need to re-brick the front of or maybe all of the firebox. Maybe not a good option this close to the season.

[brookledge]

I have had good luck welding cast using Ni-rod. costly but works good. I'd do what Schief4 said. You could posibly put in a thin layer of c eramic between the cast and your piece of steel. I'd also put your patch on the inside if possible. It will look better
Keith

[Goggleeye]

I've talked to others who have welded cast. In each case they had to heat the casting to glowing hot in an oven, then weld and then put it back in the oven to cool. You might also be able to insulate it with ceramic blanket on both sides, but that might be risky.
One other option might be to get an insulated airtight front and replace it, but that is costly and you need to take the old front off and then after putting the new front on, you need to re-brick the front of or maybe all of the firebox. Maybe not a good option this close to the season.

What do you mean this close to the season?! We've already made 100 gallons! :)

I was wondering if a person could weld it while it was really hot while I was running the evaporator, being that we're in the middle of our season?

Gotta love the maple trader! Thanks for all the advice, guys.

[sugarsand]

For a easy fix use a pipe clamp from side to side. We fixed our old King that cracked the same as yours this way. Lasted over 15 years, stillon there when we sold it.

sugarsand

[maple flats]

Sorry, at this point my season looks to be 3 weeks+ away, if I believe the extended forecast.

[maple flats]

If you got it welded when in use how would you get a very slow cool as the fire burns out? Cast expands and contracts and that causes the issue. However, it "might be possible" that having the whole front hot and all cooling at the same rate may work OK, I would ask a welder with cast iron experience. I know you can't just weld the crack because the surrounding cooler cast draws the repaired area's temps down too fast.

[WESTMAPLES]

ive welded cast iron a few times it can be tricky I would (when its cold ) drill small pen tip size hole right at the end crack, then taper the crack itself slightly with a grinder, then get area with 6 inches of where your about to weld hot to the touch ( less likely top distress the cast when welding ) , then weld it up ive used high tensile and stainless mixed rod with decent results tractor supply sell specialty rod in small packages if don`t want to spend a ton on a 2 lbs box

[Flat47]

I welded ours with a 110 volt, 130 amp mig welder with flux core wire. Didn't know enough to preheat it. I set it on the highest heat setting and made three passes over it on both front and back sides. That was 5 years ago and we've had no cracking or breaks. Guess I got lucky.

[adk1]

I have a leader 2x6 Classic arch. I bet my crack in the cast in the front is in the same spot

[cpmaple]

Hello just gonna put my 2 cents in on this. They do make cast iron brazing rod in looks just like a piece of square stock. I have some here on hand second I had issue with cast iron last spring on my boat motor. Had a pocket of water that never mixed with anti freeze and cracked my motor. I talked to several people and they told me to stick weld it and not to drill the ends. So we took the motor apart and welded on it. It held great still running and no leaks or further cracking. We use cast iron stick rod and it worked great a little tricky to run cast rod but got it done and off to the lake I went for the rest of the summer and fall.

[Schiefe4]

The problem with not drilling the crack is you leave a pathway for the crack to propagate. Any stress in that zone will help the crack to grow. If you drill the ends the crack cannot continue on and will not travel around the circle you created.

[BreezyHill]

I welded ours with a 110 volt, 130 amp mig welder with flux core wire. Didn't know enough to preheat it. I set it on the highest heat setting and made three passes over it on both front and back sides. That was 5 years ago and we've had no cracking or breaks. Guess I got lucky.

Not lucky, that is a good way to get heat into the object , make consecutive passes. The first pass heats the object and each additional pass spreads the heat further in the item. If you go into the Farm Journal website's archives there are great articles on how to weld cast iron and talks about grinding ot a crack to get