Broken Float Post Repaired

[rpgoerlich]

Had some time and dropped of my glasses for repair... Guy said no problem, he could laser weld them back together. HMmmnnn I thought what about that ol broken float post on the carb? He wouldn't do it, but I found another guy close by that just got his laser welder who does Metallurgical Repair. So I went over there and he did 2 passes on it while I waited. Guess I caught him when he wasn't busy. Got home and he already had posted pics on his website. His first carb repair! Bruce is a great guy, really into what he does and loves his laser welder! Obviously each repair is different. He charged me $80, took him close to an hour. The Laser comes at a cost of $36k.


METALLURGICAL REPAIR LASER SERVICES, INC.

[trbig]

On one hand, I see the need to charge those prices for a machine that expensive. On the other, I see whole carb banks going for less than that on Ebay.

BUT... someday, all these parts are going to dry up, and we'll need alternatives besides "Throw it away and get a 'new' one". Thanks for posting your find!


Tod

[rpgoerlich]

On one hand, I see the need to charge those prices for a machine that expensive. On the other, I see whole carb banks going for less than that on Ebay.

I agree and I had already purchased another set of 81 carbs from Andreas for a good price. No plug on the Idle Jet was the only difference with them and that carb off of the 80.

BUT... someday, all these parts are going to dry up, and we'll need alternatives besides "Throw it away and get a 'new' one". Thanks for posting your find!

Tod

Seems like the #1 Carb off an 80 is already getting scarce. I just couldn't let the carb sit there and be junk or lose the post. It had already been JB'd and didn't hold. I have 2 XS's and I'm looking at another. Spare set of carbs on the shelf is a good thing.

[Ken Talbot]

Richard - did you get to actually watch him doing the repair? Sounds very interesting!

[rpgoerlich]

I wasn't able to see it being done as he was viewing it through the scope. He did stop, remove the carb and show me what he was doing through every step. After he was done I sat and viewed the float post repair through the microscope which has a cross hair where the laser would make contact. He was also feeding Argon during the welding process. He also said that being it was a clean break it welded up nice. He's said he's going to get some .040 aluminum wire for the next aluminum weld project so he could put an actual bead outside of the weld.

The laser is fixed and the part being welded is moved into place and laser activated for each weld. The unit has multiple settings, which he had setup for different metals so it's just a touch of a button to go from Titanium to Aluminum to Copper to Steel and other metals. It's only limitation was the size of the part being repaired had to be able to go through one of the openings you see on the front/side. A long pipe could be welded in it as it has pass through openings on both sides. It has a bottom plate that comes off easily that would let a larger part inside such as a large DIE, but he found them too heavy to handle in the close quarters without some kind of roller rack which he's looking for.

He is a first class gemoligist and artist as well. He had some great pieces in his show cases. He has done alot of repairs on jewelry. He likes the smaller intricate welds on sensors, tubing and such. It would have been hard to tell who had more fun today as I was crawling all over it, while he was like a kid with a new toy getting to play with it for the first time again.

We talked a little about motorcycles, He was telling me rode one early on but had some back problems and gave it up.
He does fish alot though.