In a message dated 10/7/99 7:01:20 AM Central Daylight Time, lesbart@juno.com writes: << I tuned a Kawai, KG-2D today for a church. At the point of the bass/tenor bread the plate struts cross each other in an uneven "x" pattern. At the keyboard end, this leaves a triangular floor in the plate, approximately six inches on a side and maybe four inches at the base. A crack is developing along the top of that triangle, just below the "x" of the struts, Is this a significant problem, or is this just a poor weld of a relatively not-important part of the plate? Thanks for help. les bartlett houston, Les, There is no such thing as an unimportant crack. I have seen small cracks develop into catastrophic failures. I have also seen a lot of welded cracks reopen or spread further into the plate. This is not a situation to ignore. I am not a big fan of welding cast iron unless you are in a foundry situation instead we use a "stitching" technique. Use a nickel alloy rod we literally tie the pieces of metal back together. I first saw this method in large (30 - 60 TON) industrial presses, comparatively speaking the stress we deal with are much less. If you want any further info e-mail me privately.
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