Chair welding

[iggyuk]

Good day every one.
I have a general question about an issue I have.
Long story short - I have 8 Chinese ( ) chairs which have bases spot-welded only. As you can imagine 3 months from getting them one is broken and 2 other on their way out. Will TIG welding sort it out or should I find some one with MIG welder? Parts are metal, polished chrome or nickel plated (not an expert). My first thought was MIG as portable but TIG leaves neat weld. Its for the office so needs to look nice but then I would have to get some one with TIG welder to turn up in the office to do it there. Does any body know some one who does TIG welding at custommer's site? Tried to google TIG welders down London but no one is fancy...
Regards,
Iggy

 

[rtbcomp]

Welcome to the forum.

Firstly the plating will contaminate the weld, so it will have to be removed and if you want a neat job, the weld will have to be ground down and re-plated. The time will far outweigh the value of the chairs.

Secondly welding in an office isn't really on, the job would have to be done where there are no furnishing to set alight, no spectators to blind or sensitive electronic equipment to zap.

 

[hotrodder]

3 months old... surely you just back 'em or were they bought direct from China or something that complicates returning them?

As RTB said getting them fixed by a mobile welder is going to be (at least) complicated by H&S stuff in an office environment. It'd likely be cheaper to take/courier them to be repaired i.e. might only be an hour or so of work to fix all 8 of 'em but done on a mobile basis you could be looking at paying for a full day (by the time you've got there, set up, done the work and packed up the day's effectively gone). They're almost certainly plated which, as said, will be damaged by welding anyway

 

[Hitch]

Mobile welding for a couple of chinese chair repairs? Not really cost effective....As above, load van, drive, unload, setup, weld, pack away, drive back, unload van.....that could very easily cost you £200

 

[Shox Dr]

Every thing else aside. I've used SIF No8* to repair 3 of those telescopic high chairs that are popular at the moment. OK the Chrome was slightly discoloured. As yet 10months on they are still in use, with no weld failure.

Not the best of pictures the chrome looks like copper, weld is about 25mm long

*Is there nothing I can use this stuff on

 

[iggyuk]

Thank you for all your replies.
to be honest I thought it through yesterday and decided that taking them apart, loading to company VAN and dropping off to welder's is only (reasonable) option . Chairs were expensive and have been purchased during a trip my boss had to china so 'warranty' cover is questionable . Shox Dr thank you for the picture, it gave me an idea about eventual 'damages'. It looks good to me additionally chairs are quite low so there is a chance that weld wont catch the eyes .
I will try to take a picture of the chair next week so you will see what I mean
Iggy