Fixed an oil can.
I've recently become interested in these old style pump oilers. Ones that look like this. Used to be high quality items but now they're from cheap importers. They inject at a significant pressure and have a tight tolerance in their pump chamber between their piston and cylinder.
They pump a messy gush of oil at pretty high pressure. It can be useful for some applications where oil needs to be forced into a tight clearance. In some cases you want to dispense a viscous oil and you need something more substantial than a disposable aerosol can of WD40 or light oil. These old style cans do the trick and can be had for $5 - $10 at the usual stores. Harbor Freight. I got this one at Autozone. I kind of liked the metallic blue paint so I decided I'd get it.
I've discussed in threads here how I scavenge old oil jugs at the autoparts store trash and drain out several tablespoons of new oil. People change their oil in the parking lot. They are in a big hurry to pour it all in and leave anywhere from a few tablespoons to a quarter cup of oil in the bottoms of the jugs. There is a special dumpster for empty jugs so I just grab those. Free oil. Free synthetic oil at that. I bring the empty jugs home and drain them out.
I also drain out my oil jugs when I change oil at home. I have collected up about two salsa jars of oil. This is useful stuff to keep around to oil linkages, hinges, machine tools and sewing machines. But it is kind of messy using a salsa jar and a brush so I got this pump can. Seemed like a nice way to use an Autozone giftcard I received recently. I really like the idea of scavenging leftover oil and not using the disposable aerosol cans of lubricant that seem to have taken over nowadays.
So I got back from Autozone and I noticed my pump lever was binding. I traced it to the pump and started making small adjustments to the pump linkage with a pair of pliers. Then "Tink" it broke at the weld between the pump actuator and the pump. Below the spring rod must be attached to the thick tube at the center. The thing works by moving the central cylinder up and down while a double acting ball valve pumps the oil out the hose.
There is a little spot weld that broke free. It was barely welded. My guess is a poor assembler didn't want to overheat the wall of the central pump and didn't have the current turned up high enough on the welder. The weld stuck together well enough to pass inspection while not damaging the pump with excessive heat. A win for the worker and a lose for me. There is a narrow window for success on this assembly. Cold weld. Fragile. It just came apart. You can see the shallow spot weld that came loose.
So there were a variety of things to do. I could take it back to Autozone. But I noticed they downgraded to cheap black paint on the other ones in stock and I had the only metallic blue one. I didn't want to exchange. I could glue it with steel filled epoxy like JB weld. May not hold up well in oil over the years. May also not handle many pumping stress cycles. Possibility two was flame brazing with my cheap torch and brass wire/borax laundry booster. This would be good because the tube is very thin walled and may need gentle heat. Possibility three was lash it on with safety wire. A weak fix and there is a possibility I'll deform the tube.
Finally I figured, hey, I just bought a $600 TIG welder and I need to start using it on fixes to justify the cost. I got out the welder and tacked the bracket on in three spots using Silicon Bronze rod. The advantages are low temperature for thin walled steel, sticks to plating, resistant to oils, strong and more. Here is the result. Note the small size of the components. This is a delicate welding job. If you burn through the center pump cylinder it'll never work. If you deform the pump cylinder with too much heat the piston will bind. It is the perfect application for TIG brazing.
Not bad for a cheap TIG welder from China. I had no problem controlling the heat. The bronze stuck to the steel without blowing holes in it. My guess is the tubing is 0.025" wall thickness. Super easy to blow through with a torch.
Oil can is back together and working.
Not sure I saved much money on this one but it sure was satisfying to fix the poor manufacturing and make something that'll last many years.