hi mgarym dissimilar would probably be best' or 7018 try and drill the end of the cracks this will help stop them from spreading. preheat would help also especially with dissimilar
I think you need to post more details about what it is you intend to weld. I dont suppose you know what type of material it is........can you find out from the manufacturer?
probably best to find out what it's made from cutting edge is usually just welded on in the long run you are probably looking at a replacement
dissimilar are used for welling unknown types of metal and different types of metal there easily enough to get in most places that sell rods their expensive but usually sold in singles
I contacted the manufacturer and they didn't give me a grade of steel
but said the teeth had been hardened to rockwell 20,and to use the hardest
rods possible
I contacted the manufacturer and they didn't give me a grade of steel
but said the teeth had been hardened to rockwell 20,and to use the hardest
rods possible
That is absolute rubbish. I would go back and tell them Rockwell 20 (assuming they mean Rockwell C Scale) isnt much harder than mild steel.
The hardest rods possible is also rubbish. You can get rods that deposit an alloy that will give you 70 Rc but I will guarantee that it wont do what you want because it is so hard it cracks. Its designed to crack, it isnt a problem as basically its stuck to the plate in small chunks.
You probably want something that will give you a good edge
Will a file mark the teeth, or does it just slide over the surface? Is it possible make a dimple with a centre punch, and drill a hole? If you touch the teeth with a grinder, how does the shower of sparks compare with those from (say) a cold chisel? Is the cutting edge much harder than the body of the tooth? That sort of information may help folk on this forum to give advice.
A shear grab used only for silage and feedstuffs probably doesn’t need a very hard edge, unless you have the sort of land where it is impossible to avoid getting stones in the clamp. (Now you are going to tell me that nearly all of Ireland has stony land).
Or does your grab get used as a general purpose bucket, and have to handle FYM, soil, hardcore, etc? Some farmers do use their machinery in ways the makers never envisaged, and I know a man who (very successfully) used his Keenan diet feeder to mix concrete for a large yard area.
Sorry about the delay in getting back to you all.
I've contacted the manufacturer again but they aren't providing any more info,the edge seems to be made of the same as the rest of the tooth, it can
easily be sharpened with a file and sharpening stone.
The grab isn't used for anything other than cutting silage,though this
year we have some crop silage in from a reseed and there are quite a few stones in it ,so maybe that has caused the damage.
As the teeth can be easily sharpened with a file, that agrees with TechnicAl’s point about Rockwell 20 being only a little harder than mild steel.
Am I mistaken, or do the photos show new welds between the teeth? I wonder whether contraction of those welds might have caused the adjacent cracking.
Maybe the cracks are not especially important. Closing the jaws of the grab will put the teeth in compression, and not tend to open the cracks. Provided the jaws are closed and the grab is “rolled” on its hinge pins to tear silage from the clamp BEFORE the loader starts to move backwards, there should be minimal bending stress on the teeth.
One thing that does concern me is acidic effluent getting into the cracks (the silage will probably have a dry matter content of less than 25% and a pH value between 3.8 and 4.2).
Now that I have put in my pennyworth about shear grabs and silage, I hope some of the welding experts will be able to advise on repairing the teeth and/or sealing the cracks against acid attack.