[Stevee066]

Hi Everyone,

So, I got my hands on this 48" lawn roller where it was left full of water over the winter which expanded, splitting the seam open as per the attached pics. I plan to try to bend this back into shape after heating it with a torch and then weld the seam shut.

Has anyone had to do a similar repair... I believe I will also need to wrap a chain or heavy duty strap around the roller at the widest spot and tighten it gradually to pull the seam closed.

Please share any ideas / thoughts on best way to repair this.

Thanks in advance!

20210407_184418 (Medium).jpg (59.14 KiB) Viewed 3142 times

20210407_184503 (Medium).jpg (63.53 KiB) Viewed 3142 times

[cj737]

Weld on dogs either side of the seam. Use large G clamps to pull the edges together. Stitch it in places to close the gap. Then weld fully.

You can whack the seam wile its hot to flatten it out as needed as you put a stitch down.

[BugHunter]

I would do as much cleaning as I could before I tried closing up the gap. Give yourself room to clean inside.

[Louie1961]

I am not sure I would heat that before reshaping/welding. It looks like fairly thin gauge material and I would be worried the heat will cause more distortion. I would use a large ratchet strap to pull the edges back together. I am thinking you could do a sequence of ratchet straps moving from left to right. and as you get the edges together, tack it up. Keep moving the strap and couple of inches at a time and keep tacking. I have a feeling that will get you close enough to a round shape without flat spots that will be fine for use on a lawn. You might have to do some hammering where it looks particularly kinked in the middle, or maybe add some heat in that one spot. Once you get it tacked you can focus on doing stitch welds to make it water tight again.

[Stevee066]

Thanks all for the replies. I think I will first try an HD ratcheting strap or two. I did try pounding the widest spot down with a hammer, and the gauge is heavy enough that it will require more than that. The idea of tacking weld dogs on is not a bad idea as well.

Not easy to see in the photos but there is a flat spot as well to the left of the widest opening of the seam, so I need something to pull it out back into round as well. I guess drilling a hole, using a puller of some sort, or maybe tack welding on some threaded rod? Thoughts on this?

I will post a follow-up with what actually worked best after I get some time to work on this!

[cj737]

You will need heat to move that metal. The “flat” spot has stretched, the center “peak” of the split had stretched.

For the flat spot you can try to cold shock it up. Heat the spot with Oxy/Ac, then immediately apply ice. This can cause the metal to shrink and bring up a dent. The center peak, work from the edges inward after getting hot and hammering it back down. Work the perimeter slowly and you can re-shrink it back pretty well.

I doubt ratchet straps will work. Tacking from the ends towards the center with clamps is the simplest approach.

[Poland308]

Hammer it close. Weld it. Fill it with sand like mine. No freezey in the winter.