Fixing broken front handle

[treequip]

I never would have thought of welding, I didn't know aluminium alloy could be welded.

 

Not by your average blacksmith, the tube is worn, see the lines where the folded tube has worn through to separate both walls and a nice fracture right across it?

 

Its a worn out part and fixing it will be less than perfect for the sane price as a new part

[treequip]

Sorry guys, my posts keep crossing with yours.

 

What about reinforcing the repair with fibreglass tape and resin to prevent rivets working loose?

 

Alloy is a denser medium than GRP. IF you could get it to bond you would need a big ugly dollop to achieve the same strength, and the tube is worn.....

[daltontrees]

Alloy is a denser medium than GRP. IF you could get it to bond you would need a big ugly dollop to achieve the same strength, and the tube is worn.....

 

You are breaking down my resistance. IS there any cost-effective alternative to importing one of these handles from the States. Any time I walk into my Husky dealer, I am sure they have got the door mechanism wired to make a ker-ching noise like a till.

[treequip]

You are breaking down my resistance. IS there any cost-effective alternative to importing one of these handles from the States. Any time I walk into my Husky dealer, I am sure they have got the door mechanism wired to make a ker-ching noise like a till.

 

I have tried fixing front handles, because I don't like to be beaten by an engineering problem or spend money. The only one I had any lasting success with was on a round section where I managed to sleeve it.

[agg221]

It's very much weldable - try your local fabricators or alloy wheels place.

 

The area adjacent to the weld melt pool, known as the heat affected zone (HAZ) will have an altered microstructure from the heat input which weakens it. This means you want to get them to build it up thicker and don't grind the weld off to the original profile to make it look pretty.

 

Alec

[treequip]

It's very much weldable - try your local fabricators or alloy wheels place.

 

The area adjacent to the weld melt pool, known as the heat affected zone (HAZ) will have an altered microstructure from the heat input which weakens it. This means you want to get them to build it up thicker and don't grind the weld off to the original profile to make it look pretty.

 

Alec

 

Have you tried welding one? I have.

 

Its high mag and just wants to be a silver puddle, there is a load of oil and crap in the crack where the wall has worn through, and its going to twist like a bugger when you get it warm.

 

How much do you recon its going to cost to weld it? Even as a cash job it would be 20 or 30 quid and a new one is a tenner more.

 

Oh and getting it hot wrecks the plastic cover

[TGB]

I'd go for a new replacement, as the pictures show signs of a metal fatigue fracture. Meaning, it didn't happen instantly or without prior history. Instead it started a long time ago with a micro fracture or a tiny inconsistency within the tube's original manufacture. Over a period of time, the ductile zone became enlarged to the point of dynamic failure.

 

There may have been little outward evidence of the impending failure. Unless you'd been routinely visually inspecting the area with a magnifying glass. However, the pictures clearly show, the fracture zone extending past the very visible break; and on along the underside of handle. Extending along the frontal edge of tube/handle's crimp.

(Note the dynamic failure runs around the top of the tube and along the rearward section of the tube/handle's crimp.)

 

This is a present and future weakness. How confident are you, that there are no other micro fractures within the handle, perhaps shrouded in the handle's covering?

 

For piece of mind, get a new one.

Edited February 20, 2014 by TGB

[agg221]

Have you tried welding one? I have.

 

How much do you recon its going to cost to weld it? Even as a cash job it would be 20 or 30 quid and a new one is a tenner more.

 

Oh and getting it hot wrecks the plastic cover

 

Yes, I have tried welding one (from an 090 rather than a Husky 181 but similar alloy), with successful results, but then I'm reasonably good at TIG welding nasty stuff (e.g. rebuilding missing lugs on die cast parts such as nla carbs and starter cups on old Stihl models and also doing sub-mm SS corners). It is nothing like farmer-style stick welding and it does want to drop out as a soggy pool, but if you know how to grind up the electrode properly and use the right filler rod it's not too bad. You just have to allow for the differences.

 

I agree that in order to avoid melting things you need to take it right off to do it and strip off the remains of the grip if still present, but then if you buy a replacement it will be off the saw anyway.

 

I would expect to pay around £20 cash for someone to do it in their lunchbreak. With a bit of luck, it might get done tomorrow. Buy a new part from the US and expect to pay £40 for the part, £15 for the shipping and another £15 for duty and 'handling' and receive it in about 2-3weeks. Hence I would get it done, even if I couldn't do it myself.

 

Alec

[daltontrees]

I had no idea this was so complicated. I am far from sure there is anyone near me that can do non-farmer welding. I can get a fake part form the States for £30 all-in, and if I figure in my time spent taking to welder, discussing, picking it up, etc. it probably works out cheaper to order a part and wait for it to cross the atlantic on a steamer. I don't need the saw back in service right away so I can wait.

 

It is good to know tha there are people whose determination greater than mine wouldn't let this problem beat them. I shall ponder for a day and then go with what I decide. Thanks everyone, but keep firing away with anything else that comes to mind meantime for the furtherment of the common good.

[Shane]

If you want a final cheapo possibility....

Get a length of steel pipe and find a pipe bender and a heavy vice- off you go!

A bit heavier but it could work