Wasted a whole morning trying to fix a shoe with a bad weld from a new supplier

I got a batch of keg shoes from a new supplier that was a bit cheaper, about $15 less per box. Figured I'd give them a shot. The first few were fine, but then I had one where the weld at the toe just gave out when I was setting it. Not a clean break, it just sort of crumbled. I spent over two hours trying to salvage it, grinding it down, re-heating, the whole deal. In the end, I had to scrap the shoe and start over with one from my old stock. That's about $4 down the drain plus the two hours of my time I'll never get back. The horse owner was cool about waiting, but it threw my whole day off. I'm sticking with my regular brand from now on. Has anyone else had a problem with welds failing on budget shoes?

2 comments

2 Comments

grantt1110d ago

Man, that's rough. I've seen bad welds hide under a decent-looking finish, so the first few being okay doesn't mean much. It's a gamble you only lose once.

spencer_chen610d ago

Yeah, grantt11 is right about the gamble. Makes you wonder if they're mixing old or dirty metal into the weld to cut costs, not just doing a sloppy job. That crumble you described sounds like bad filler rod or no gas coverage when they welded it. A clean break is one thing, but crumbling means the metal itself is junk. You can't fix that with a grinder, it's just weak material all the way through. That's the scary part with no-name suppliers, you never know what crap they're using.