Pot Metal (?) Welding Chain Saw Handle

16 years ago

I have a Homelite 150 - 16 inch bar chain saw. While starting, the handle snapped off. The broken area is a cast metal of some type. I was glad it snapped when I was cranking. I shudder to think what could have happened under a trimming or cutting load. In addition, in what was a design flaw, where the handle sits on the bottom of the saw, there are two screw holes. There's nothing for screws to attach to the housing. So, the cast metal connection is (was) the only part of the handle/housing holding the saw. It is a dangerous design, obviously. I need to get the handle soldered or brazed so I can use the saw which only has a few hundred hours on an excellent engineIn additiion, if I can figure out who or where to get the repair made here in Northern VA or Charlotte, I am going to have the bottom of the handle attached - welded - to the saw housing.

Any thoughts, ideas, or guidance will be appreciated. Otherwise, I have a unique and expensive door stop.

Thanks,

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Comments (3)

randy427
16 years ago
If I had to speculate, it's probably an aluminum alloy which would require a specific shielded welding process. A bad weld would leave you with another accident looking for an inconvenient time to happen.
I'd surf the web to try and find a new casting. Unfortunately, you will probably find it cheaper to replace the whole saw.
tonybeeguy
16 years ago
You'd probably have to tig weld it. The two concerns are, for tig welding the metal has to be very clean to get a good weld, and there is quite a bit of heat produced so you may have to disassemble and remove any plastic parts or rubber bushings, and you still have the whole design flaw issue to deal with.
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californian
16 years ago
There is a kind of glue called JB Weld which from their advertising I seem to remember them saying you could even use it to repair a cracked engine block. I never tried it but you might look into it.