Hi all !

Anyone got any experience about having Magnesium casings professionly welded (with MG welding Rod) ? I intend sending three clutch casings to be welded they say its no problem but can only be done from experts that have the right material and knowledge.

yes if you choose the right person it is possible to weld-repair magnesium castings. Yes it is a specialised job. My brother-in-law does this work regularly (he's in Australia though)

Depends on the exact grade of magnesium alloy and what else is in the mix.

For example a Yamaha TY250 ignition cover will nearly always crack after welding, A Yamaha TYZ 250 cluctch casing is easily welded and is durable. A Honda priamary drive case is unweldable but honda crank cases weld quite easily.

I have no experience of SWM to comment. I would have thought that a European bike of the SWM era probably had aluminium cases that are wewldable.

Cheers

I had an ignition cover welded successfully many years ago, unfortunately the company no longer trades, but it is possible.

Thanks for all coments, I´ll be sending them to a specalised welding company asap.

Not had any success welding 30 year old oil impregnated magnesium . Tried it with various specialists over the years, and no luck with the clutch covers. For small cracks or splits a decent chemical metal (like JB Weld) seems to do the trick.

I guess if you have a big hole in your clutch cover, it's worth trying to weld. Let us know if it works .

Hi Martin

THANKS for the important information !!

Haven´t sent them off up to now and I´m not sure if it´s such a good idea if you have already tried some specialists.

Did they use Magnesium welding rods and WIG or TIG or was it Alu-Magnesium that they tried ?

All that I have spoken to say that the oil can be a real problem which is no big surpreis.

Did the welding break straight away or after some time ?

Ian

The last ones were welded by a guy at Westland Helicopters, I will try and find out what was used.

The case I sent had a split in it, when it came back the weld was the size of a 50p. When it was filed back it just fell out.... Result one wrecked case that could have been repaired with plastic metal,

Hi Martin,

the case with a hole is the damaged one you sent me at the begining of the year for my Jumbo. This hole is now about as big as a 50p piece as well because a welder tried to do it but used a welding rod which was Alu based. As you said it also just fell out after a short time lying or resting on the shelf. It would be good to hear if your welder really used a magnesium rod (if I find it again I´ll give the ID-Nr. of these rods which cost about 30,- a piece).

Going on the safe side and have packed just the one casing with the big hole to be welded. I´ve orderd some JB Weld stuff for the less damaged ones !

Hi, why not buy a spare casing?

Hello zisko62,

have you got any information where I can get a spare one for the Jumbo (or for the TL320) ?

Hi,

Jumbo engine covers are difficult to find, 320 ones are quite common, couldn't be really difficult.

meine adresse zisko62@virgilio.it

cheers