Is there a cure?

[xtaffy2]

Found the float in an old Ac motor damaged as per pic,
Are there any cures for repairing this damage?
Ive tried boiling it, no joy.
Thought about drilling a small hole and using the compressor at 100psi and try and blow it out or using the hole to poke a bit of steel rod to push it out.
Have you any suggestions for another way or is it beyond repair.

[electrosys]

How about drilling a very small hole, injecting water into it - then when full, soldering over the hole (that part might be tricky - big iron needed), and placing in the freezer ... ?

Repeat process as needed, then empty, and finally solder the hole shut.

Sounds straightforward - but ....


Hang on - is that a solder line around the middle ? If so, then melting the solder and splitting the two halves might be the best way to go. Push out the dents as best as you can (say, with a spoon handle), then resolder the two halves back together. If it were mine, then that's the method I would try.

[dandrews]

The water method works on fuel tanks, but does tend to make them bulge a bit if you go too far.
Here's a mad idea. Use vacuum, not pressure.
1) Assuming the float is airtight, find an old strong tin with a well fitting lid big enough for the float to fit in it - e.g an old paint tin or a golden syrup or treacle tin.
2) Put something heavy in the bottom of the tin so it will not float - sand, nuts & washers etc
3) Put the tin in a bucket
4) Fill the bucket with boiling water to just below the lip of the tin
5) Wait for a couple of minutes for the tin and air inside it to heat up and the air to expand out of the tin
6) Put the float in the tin and put the lid on tightly
7) Take the tin out of the water
What happens next depends on the strength of the tin. It will either collapse and crush the float further, or the float may expand a bit in the partial vacuum formed in the tin, or the float will be locked forever in the tin by the vacuum force on the lid.

Could be fun, especially with pictures!

[charlesp]

Or get a new one...

John would be a good start, I know you're a long way away but he is sure to have loads. Amal carburettor bodies tend to lose their threads, so the other bits are commonly available.

[Horsley-Anarak]

I would not bother trying to mend it, there are spare ones about.

If it is not circular it may bind in float bowl.

As there are lots of damages carb bodies about, there should be people on this site who could offer to send you a replacement.

I will have a look when down the shed, I think all of mine are in good carbs but I will check.

John will almost certainly have some.

H-A

[The Tinker]

Try these guys seagullparts@xtra.co.nz Post: Simply Seagulls, P.O.Box 237 Waitara, Taranaki, NZ
Phone/Fax 06 7544056. Mobile 027 4844301
Jan & Graham Keegan ~ Simply Seagulls
Very helpful on our side of the world.


Sorry John SOS hope this doesn't offend just trying to help

[mrford]

Well there is a cure and this is it . You take a peace of brass and solder it to the side of the dent then pull it with a vice than re solder it to the new place and work the dent out slowly re soldering and pulling it off . I have seen this done with an irreplaceable float from an antique car . It works not fast but effective hope it helps VIC

[david1230]

Once had a similar problem with a crushed float from an old car carb.

I drilled a hole in a 4x4 piece of hardwood with a large ajustable wood drill exactly the same diameter as the roundest part of the dented float, and pushed the float covered in Vaseline inside down to where the top was dead level with the surface of the piece of wood.

I then centered a small hole in the exact middle of a 1/4 inch thick piece of plywood, screwed that to the 4x4 and pierced a 1/8th inch hole from the top down through the top of the damaged brass float.
I pressed the mouth of the barrel of a RamSet nailer (without the nail of course) and using the weakest .22 cal cartridge I slammed the hammer and shot through the hole.

When I unscrewed the top plywood and pulled out the float, it was perfect in all aspects, except for the small hole which I later soldered. Never tried this technique though on a Gull fuel tank...who knows, it might work if the mold was properly formed and the right cartridge used!

[Niander101]

There are loads of these around as said not worth a difficult fix