Aluminium Frame Repair - Please Help!

[Barneyballbags]

I paid quite a lot for it in total (more than what it's worth), as I had to pay to have it sent over to the UK from Canada.

All of the kit is mint so depending on how much it costs to get the frame repaired, I might use it on another build.

 

[Barneyballbags]

I've Nitromors'd the affected area, and my fears have been confirmed. The frame is indeed cracked

 

[clockworkgazz]

sorry to hear that

 

[Barneyballbags]

A bit of good news though (at last!) - I've just spoken to Dan at BETD as I noticed that they have a 'repair facility' at their store.

I asked if they could weld up a crack on an aluminium frame and he said that it wouldn't be a problem. I was expecting him to wince when I told him it was a 20 year old Alpinestars, but he just said "cool"..!

They outsource the work to a specialist welder. He did warn me that it would wreck the paint around the welded area, but that's easily sorted once I get it back.

And the best bit? The price. £60 plus my postage cost

 

[ishaw]

That is good news. Be interested to see the result of the repair as I'm sure a lot of us are keen to find a good alu welder.

 

[highlandsflyer]

I think many people are scared of Alu welding.

No reason really, you can do it MIG as well.

Very simple.

In terms of a crack at least.

Not so simple when it is larger scale.

 

[Barneyballbags]

I think many people are scared of Alu welding.

No reason really, you can do it MIG as well.

Very simple.

In terms of a crack at least.

Not so simple when it is larger scale.

Fancy welding up an Al Mega frame?

 

[makster]

Really sorry to be reading this tale, but I'd be mighty concerned that a 'NOS' frame had managed to crack while doing nothing. What will happen to the rest of it when you ride it?
Once you go down the road of repair, you're essentially kissing goodbye to any rights over miss-selling.
I'd be looking for a full refund, including postage.

 

[Coleman]

Bad luck chap; my advice is:

1. Decide if you want to keep it. From the postage costs it sounds like that decision is made.
2. Get some more quotes for repair - just to make sure that you recover enough from the seller to fix it.
3. Get the money from the seller and bank it.
4. Carefully remove the paint and polish the frame to 'chase' the ends of the crack.
5. If you know someone with access to dye pen stuff then use that to confirm you have the right location. (I can help you here - pm me)
6. Carefully drill out the ends of each crack - small 0.5mm drill. This removes the high stress at the tip of the crack and stops it propagating further.
7. Hopefully the area will be small, so I'd put a white sticker over it. Every month or so remove the sticker and dye pen it again to see if its got worse. If it doesn't get worse fill/paint over it.

There are only a few reasons for that frame to crack there; firstly the defect was in the tube already and surfaced when it was formed - or it was caused by the seat post being inserted too far like Sq-root said on your other thread. By removing the tip of the crack you should stop it getting worse.

I would say that a weld repair is the last resort - it could make it worse and it will screw the paint. To do it properly the welder would need to pickle the crack to ensure any impurities (dirt etc) are removed - the staining I think is oil/grease being drawn though from the ID of the tube.

Good luck with it.

 

[shogun]

How easy would it be to see the crack from the inside, if there was one?

If the crack has penetrated right through the wall of the tube it should be very obvious, given it will be bare aluminium in there and probably not terribly oxidised (particularly if its had a seatpost in for most of the time?). If the crack is relatively recent it should be very distinct.

If its not cracked right through you may get away with them (CAREFULLY!!!) drilling the intersection of the cracks and then welding over them, and grinding it back to near the tube's original profile.

Where is it, just above the first bend down from the top?