can you weld to the cam face.

[The Buddha]

Say I wanted a bit extra lift and what not ...
Can I weld up to the cam and shave it to the new height. I got the specs to enlarge it to ... I can spend a lot of time micro polishing it ... anyway, can I just throw some material on it with a tig welder and have it work ?
Cool.
Buddha.

[littleblackjeep]

it depends what type of steel it is.  The best thing I can tell you is try it on a junk one.  actually, forget that.  These things are so small, I bet it would warp if you tried to weld on it. 

[The Buddha]

Its cast steel that was machined to the right sozes in critical parts. This cam is very wide ... almost 3/4 inch wide, I almost can put material down with a stick welder I think.
The bike actually has rocker arms. I may do somehting and extend or thicken those if that is better.
Yea I am doing it to a spare.
Cool.
Buddha.

[jp]

I would expect the problem to be with the hardening of the material. As soon as you weld material to the surface, you've altered the heat treating of the material. The same would hold true for the rocker arms, but those parts, being smaller, would cost less to have heat-treated.

[The Buddha]

Cams are soft. They are definetly not hardened. Rocker arms may be hardened ... in fact by heating them like crazy by welding ... I may have to anneal it and releive stress. Maybe send it to the place that freezes them ... like -200 or somethign like that.
Cool.
Buddha.

[coll0412]

Yes you can weld to the cams, as thats how megacycle makes race cams for the GS. They weld up extra material and then machine the lobes to lift and duration. Then once thats done they surface treat it for a hard face.

[The Buddha]

I am near about certain they parkerize it. Its not hard. Its a sorta anti gall anti chip treatment. But yes, Thanks for that info ... off to the welders I go ...
Cool.
Buddha.

[ohgood]

I am near about certain they parkerize it. Its not hard. Its a sorta anti gall anti chip treatment. But yes, Thanks for that info ... off to the welders I go ...
Cool.
Buddha.

-you- can weld to it, sure.

what you want to do is find out about how hard it is first though. decent machine shops have rockwell hardness testers, and they can tell you how hard it is. heat the cams (oven/furnace/whatever)  to xyz temperature, weld while still HOT, cool in sand until room temperature.

hopefully you won't alter the austenite and all those other fun things that cause things to get brittle.

i'd be surprised if the cams aren't hardened, and really really surprised if they aren't at -least- case hardened.

case hardening would make them last for freaking ever if they aren't normally hardened aleady.

polishing afterwards shouldn't be a big deal. you said you have plenty of time

good luck man, and post the pic's when you do all this mess !

( a file can tell ya just how hard something is / is not in about two strokes )

[GeeP]

The entire width of the cam lobe must contact the shim, otherwise the pressure will exceed the lubricants thin film bearing capacity, resulting in a lubrication failure.

Best to use a cam grinder.

The alternative is a large mill, a toolpost grinder, a set of centers, and an indexer.  Works well.  Tables are in Machinery's Handbook.

[Mdow]

it can be done this is how Delta cams do all of their regrinds weld a bunch to the cams and grind a new profile

[The Buddha]

The entire width of the cam lobe must contact the shim, otherwise the pressure will exceed the lubricants thin film bearing capacity, resulting in a lubrication failure.

Best to use a cam grinder.

The alternative is a large mill, a toolpost grinder, a set of centers, and an indexer.  Works well.  Tables are in Machinery's Handbook.

Not a shim, rocker face ... and its already narrower than the cam, so I am acutely aware of the full contact part.
The other option is to just back grind the can, take a few 10's off the inactive side, then adjust the threaded adjusters ... or heck, replace them with longer ones. Anyway, I will have to see ...

Mdow - delata cams ... maybe they do it for me cheapo ... This is a single camshaft with 2 cams in it and a Y shape rocker setup. Nothing to it, the whole cam shaft is the size of a cigar.
Cool.
Buddha.

[jp]

Cams most certainly are hardened. It may be a different degree of hardening than some other parts, but they get heat-treated. I had a 305 Chevy engine where they didn't properly heat-treat the cam. By the time the cam was pulled to check it out, there was virtually no lift left on the cam lobes.

[The Buddha]

Car cams I think are cast iron. Or some kinda ductile iron ... OK I better post links.
2 mins.
Cool.
Buddha.

[The Buddha]

OK forget it I was wrong, I saw that chrysler stopped doing in 1983 ... and I didn't read more ... screw it, the person that told me was racing an offenhouser 1930's ... whatever ... The one where intake comes in and exhaust goes back out on the same side.
Cool.
Buddha.

[Chanse]

Maybe you can find somewhere that has blanks. I used to deal with a company for my car that would buy parts from warehouses and such that were discontinuing parts or closing, and they got their hands ona  shippment of cams for my car that were discontinued so the cams that were already cast but not cut got sold, they would even grind them to custom specs if wanted. Ill look around maybe one of us can find something.

[The Buddha]

Oooo ... OK these are actually similar to harley cams ... single 2 lobe camshaft with stubby 6 inch long and 1 inch dia ...
You need a pic or application ... its a suzuki savage and pic ... OK I have to send you one.
Cool.
Buddha.

[werase643]

why don't you see if a DR 600 or DR650 race cam will fit?
why don't you see if megacycle or one of the other cam builders  can weld/grind your cam?

[the mole]

If you don't want to get too radical, I think you're right about grinding the back and re-profiling being easiest. There'd be plenty of adjustment in the rocker screws.