(ET) Fall=Welding time!

[Chris Zach <cz alembic crystel com>]

Took the E20 out yesterday to start on the leaves. The process is deck, 
tractor, vacuum, trailer with very big bag. The right deck motor has a 
slight axle wobble but it wasn't the end of the world. So off we went.

Then I noticed it was vibrating a *lot* more so I decided to swap out 
the armature. Not a biggie, just used a spare I had, took the top off 
the motor, dropped the armature through the bottom leaving the casing 
and magnets on, then put it all together. Fired it up, noticed it was 
still vibrating a bit, then saw another problem.

The bracker that goes around the mower motor to hold it on the deck had 
broken off in one spot. *Great*. The second spot had a crack in it right 
by a mounting bolt, but the first one was broken off in two places.

Normally I would pull the motor but these are getting rare. So out came 
the wire brush to clean up the edges and the collar on the motor, and 
out came the Elec-Trak welder, also known as the "glue gun".

The welder is pretty good, but you're doing DC stick welding so it is a 
bit tricky. Went to get my helmet and found that my good helmet (the 
auto-dimming one) was missing, leaving me with the stupid standard 
helmet. Which is a pain because you can't see *ANYTHING* until you 
strike the weld, usually in the wrong location.

So out came the 300 watt portable Halogen light which gives me a very 
very dim view of the work when I shine it right on the spot to be 
welded. Stuck some arcs, got used to it, and happily tack welded the 
flange part back on.

That should hold for leaf season, but once I'm done with that I'm going 
to put the deck up for repairs and properly re-weld it. Glad to have the 
welder, it comes in *very* handy for problem projects like this.

Question: Can a motor repair shop straighten a bent motor shaft? Should 
I pull the bearing or will they do that?

C