A colleague recommended to use Durmetal for a repair but never heard of it before today. Any of you all have experience using it? Considering Durmetal or Belzona but have heard mixed results on Belzona metal repair technology
haven't heard of it.. & it kinda depends on the type of repair being made.. I HAVE used Belzona for aluminum repair.. EXPENSIVE & not pleased w/ results.. I was new to the product tho & that might of had something to do w/ the results.. I found it "crumbled" when drilled or tapped. Theres always the "field mechanics" go to.. JB Weld.. I've gotten "repairs" in that have held up for YEARS using JB weld.. Cracked alum. housing, Alum. hsgs w/ holes in them.. the list goes on and on.. AND.. it takes a hammer & chisel to remove..
Ive only used JB weld but not very often and only for very light applications. I've seen others use everything on the market without much success. Like thepumpguy said, it depends on what your trying to accomplish. Just don't waste your time trying to form a missing tooth on a final drive gear. (YES, I saw a guy spend half a day doing this on a final drive bull gear that had broke a tooth off. It looked real pretty when he was finished. Are you going to ask me if I said anything to him? Well NO I didn't...……….But the next day when he was bragging about the repair and how pretty it looked I walked over to see it with him and did 1 strike with a 2 lbs. hammer and it broke off and fell in the floor. The look on his face was priceless.)
Belzona works good as a filler that only has to hold in place. I've used it on cracked engine blocks and never had a problem. The key is it's not something that you can machine like a metal part.
never used it but it has been around since 1966
I have used DevCon plastic metal. It worked great, nothing structural though. Just built up lower liner sealing area in an old Case. That was 30 years ago. The guy still runs that old crawler. He is super careful when it comes to coolant testing now.
yeah durmetal is a reliable repair method but Belzona would be the best option for repair.
Belzona is awesome in the right application. Had a crankshaft damper come loose on a Mercedes diesel, wore down the crank on a slight taper. Slid a new damper on and oh-boy not gonna cut it, wobbled as bad as the old one. Put a stone on a diegrinder and cut 1/4" wide slots lengthwise in the crank in 5 equal spots, added release agent to the new damper and timing gears, put Belzona on the end of the crank and inside the damper and installed the damper and snugged the retaining bolt. 24hrs later, removed the damper with a gear puller, dressed the excess Belzona off the parts, pressed the damper back on and 4 years later was still going strong when the machine was sold. Prep is critical for success, so is mixing it the way they say to. I've had really good results each and every time I've used it. No idea on durametal, never tried it.