LOCAL ENTERPRISE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XVII, Issue 1647, 11 March 1922, Page 5

LOCAL ENTERPRISE.

OXY-ACETONE WELDING. 9 MODERN ENGINEERING PROCESS A very interesting demonstration of acetone welding was given last week at the works of Mackay and Jones, Ltd. Oxy-acetone welding is the process of uniting metal surfaces by heat, without the aid of solder or compression. By this process, iron, steel, cast iron, aluminium, brass, copper, and other metals may be so perfectly united as to defy detection when the joint is smoothed. Its uses include reclaiming light and heavy castings, adding metal to parts subjected to friction, repairing large or small frame members in place, filling in cracks, welding split piping or flanges on pipes, extending short shafting, renewing teeth broken from gear wheels.

Some of the above processes were quickly demonstrated when broken castings, aluminium parts and different kinds of steel were quickly mended —the intense heat ((5300 degrees Farenheit) fusing the broken parts into one homogeneous whole. A vanadium steel cam. shaft on which the cams were worn, down, had the cam built up with vanadium, steel to the requisite height. Further, in the garage was a huge four-ton lorry with the main frame broken, and which the owner was about to rail to Auckland for repair. This was mended, and the lorry was able to proceed on its journey the same day. The saving in freight alone was about £2O. The demonstration was witnessed by engineers, blacksmiths, farmers, and others, who, one and all, expressed at the possibility of having this class of work done without the delay and expense of sending it away.