Helm seat hinge repair - advice wanted

[SteveO]

Does anyone know where I could get a new hinge for a folding helm seat of late 1980s vintage ? The hinge is made of aluminium in 2 sections, each of which is about 7 inches long, and allows the seat back to be folded down onto the base. One of the sections has a crack in it, where the metal is bent to fit under the seat base, which will eventually cause a break.

Failing a replacement, how difficult would it be to find someone who could weld or braze the crack for me?

Regards

Steve

[Mowjo]

Steve no idea about replacement hinges, but for repairs try Ken Nevard at Catfield 01692 670926 he does all that stuff and his prices and work are the best I've found so far,,,,,

Regards Frank,,,,

[Antares_9]

Ali welding is a bit difficult though of course possible, any chance of a photo it might help in recognition of something else to replace it.

[Stranger]

you can buy piano hinges in about 1m lengths made out of brass from good hardware shops so you can cut it to whatever length you need should be ok for what you want

http://www.cglass.co.uk/piano-hinge-pr-17203.html

[jillR]

you can also get the piano hinges in stronger, stainless steel in alsorts of sizes.

jill

[Guest]

Have sent you a PM Steve.

[SteveO]

Here are a couple of photos of the offending article. Each arm of the hinge is about 7 inches long. You can see from the second photo that I have drilled a hole at the end of the crack in an attempt to stop it from spreading further. Hope that this didn't weaken it even more!

[Antares_9]

Thanks Steve, I expected they would be a bit different to piano hinges or butt hinges (hence asking for the photo's) otherwise you would just have gone out and bought some at B&Q in the first place They are simply folded from bar stock which is not a good idea with ali particularly at that bend radius as it will always fatigue crack in time.

I would be tempted to get them copied by a stainless fabricator locally, I doubt the cost will be silly, drilling the hole was the correct thing to do and may well keep it OK for a while.

[Guest clive_w]

You want a welder that does tig welding if hes any good he will sort that in 5 mins clive (Welder all my working days)