85 Year old metal; Breaks like 85 year old metal

You can get it welded up. You will ha ve to find someone who can weld cast iron.

What press is this from? I may have a spare platen lying around.

12x18 c&p

Best solution? Replace the platen. There isn’t an epoxy available to withstand the pressures of printing on a 12x18 press.
Second solution? Cast welding. And then only after the piece has been pinned. Any competent welder will know the procedure. But, if he suggests brazing, well, pick up the pieces and find another welder. Brazing of cast - unless properly done - will not hold under platen conditions. A braze is not a true weld. Even other cast pieces, unless thoroughly brought up to temperature, often fail under sudden shock. And bringing cast iron to welding heat is a long (read: expensive) procedure. You can easily identify a poor braze - it will have gobs of brass over, around, and under the affected area. Of course, after any treatment involving heat, the piece must be trued.
Question: how in the world did the fracture occur?

I believe the guy who owned the press before me dropped something hard while the press was running at the wrong time and cracked the corner. It wasn’t completely broken until I went to take off the gripper bar support and then the rest is history. I have a welder coming to look at it Monday.

“And then only after the piece has been pinned. Any competent welder will know the procedure.”

Is that actual pins going into each piece to help support?

Also explain to me what “trued” means. I looked it up but all I could find was “to straighten”

Thank you

I run and have run a welding and machine shop for thirty years
This can be repaired, the process I would use is to take it off the press and heat it up to approximately 1000 degreed F weld it with an acetylene torch with cast iron rod and cool it back down over about a three day period to allow for stress relief . Then true the piece back to flat on a milling machine.
I have done this on cast iron and it works well however, I don’t think it would be cost effective on a piece that can be replaced instead of repaired. I would not recommend it to a customer
Ted Salkin 707 431-1944
Region: Northern California
Healdsburg, CA USA

Ted listed 6 acres of parts available some time back maybe he can do you some good on a replacement part.

Good luck
Don

Now that’s a welder and conscientious businessman! Heed the advice.

yup, dredaker is dead to right. I asked my brother, a 30 year welder about it and he said your better off getting it replaced.

Updated. If the platen couldn’t be replaced right away and since “only” the corner is broken off would it be possible to use the press as is? It looks like the area missing would be mostly in line with the chase and so wouldn’t necessarily be used for packing, etc. Or are there other factors to consider?

Thats what I was thinking. its such a small piece and like rpolinski said its inline with the chase. The reason I ask if I could temporary fix it so its strong enough to hold the bar that holds the grippers

If i were going to use the press as is I would not put the piece back in at all. I would just file the edges so that it doesn’t cut the typan . Doing this will prevent any chance of a brittle
adhesion seam from coming loose and dropping the piece into the press.

Don

Dredaker is right on. I do have a good one for a new series press for $300.00

File the edges and “KEEP ON PRINTIN!”