I am currently working on restoring the gyrolight our musuem acquired. When we received it, the interior was rattling around (not a good sign). I did a brief visual inspection and found a broken piece on the inside from the body and the support bracket had been cracked. Today I finally dug into the light and found that the bracket that was broken, is in fact part of the entire body casting. From the light weight of the casting, I'm assuming it is aluminum. My question is what, if any, parts availablity is there for these lights? Second, can the aluminum casting be "welded" in some fashion? TIA.

Gary R.
SA, TX

There are aluminum rods on the market that will allow welding aluminum with a propane torch. The secret is getting the pieces hot enough to accept the rod without the piece melting into a bigger mess. You can locate a commercial welder nearby that can do the job if there isn't a person in the group willing to try. I suggest welding together the bottoms (or tops) of soda cans for practice before messing up a good light repair job. Make sure the soda cans are full so as to act as a buffer to too much heat.

It is a dirty trick to weld the soda bottoms: BUT, lots of fun to watch an unknown trying separate the cans (I love doing it).

Harry Nicholls

It also seems like a dirty trick to have the unwary practicing thin-wall aluminum welding with pressurized soda in the cans...

If nobody in your group has a decent amount of welding experience, I would suggest sending it out to a qualified welding shop in your area. Aluminum is one of the more difficult metals to weld, and it being thin only makes it that much more of a challenge. Also, since aluminum doesn't glow when hot, to an inexperienced person it can melt almost without warning.

I would echo that if you don't feel comfortable welding aluminum, find someone who does and can.

Absolutely agree.

And the correct term is Gyra-Lite if it's a Pyle-National product.

Quote:
"
It is a dirty trick to weld the soda bottoms: BUT, lots of fun to watch an unknown trying separate the cans (I love doing it)."


"It also seems like a dirty trick to have the unwary practicing thin-wall aluminum welding with pressurized soda in the cans..."


Well, the welding of "pressurized" soda cans has not been a problem as the heat sink allows the air in the can to escape first before the soda spurts. I have never had that problem, even on my first try. If you get a leak, just use that can as your next experimental weld. Then, try the others.

Harry

You know, this discussion has gotten way off base... We don't even know that the light housing IS aluminum, it may well be Zamac (zinc alloy, typically die cast). Take it to a welding shop, preferably one that specializes in non-ferrous metal repairs, before you just blow a hole in it.