How to fix the broken stove burner grate on an antique Magic Chef stove?

September 15, 2015 6:40 AM

How do we fix a cracked stove burner grate on an antique Magic Chef stove?

We recently bought a vintage (30s-ish) Magic Chef stove. It was in great shape for the most part, but one of the burner grates was cracked in two pieces right in the middle. It is very heavy and I think it is made of iron.

Here is what the stove looks like.

The burner grates consist of two separate pieces that have two burner grates each, much like this setup.

(Note: these photos are for example only - they are not of my particular stove).

The crack is right down the middle between the two burners, and it is a clean break. My partner tried JB-Weld twice now and both times the grate has come apart either when picking it up or when setting something on it.

The JB-Weld may have been old - would its properties deteriorate over time? Should we try with new JB-Weld? Should we find some blacksmith who could weld these parts together? I don't want the shape to warp any or else it won't fit correctly on the stove. Is there another kind of adhesive we should try?

Any help is very welcome!

posted by amicamentis to Home & Garden (10 answers total)

Are you using the stove as an actual stove? JB Weld says it's good at sustained temperatures up to 500F - I would imagine it can get at least that hot when you're running the burners.

Would you consider just replacing the burner grate? That seems simplest. There are people online who sell antique appliance parts.
posted by mskyle at 6:47 AM on September 15, 2015

Response by poster: Yes, it'll be used as an actual stove - good to know the max temp for JD Weld. I hadn't thought about a temperature limit.

I would definitely be interested in a replacement grate but unfortunately this Magic Chef model is a rare unicorn and I've barely seen the exact model in pictures, let alone the burner grate sold separately.
posted by amicamentis at 7:10 AM on September 15, 2015

Simple solution: try ThermoSteel High Temp Weld. It's like JB Weld, but good up to 2400F.

When I was an undergrad engineering student, one of my capstone projects was spurred from a gentleman with an antique wood-burning stove. He needed a grate constructed from cast iron. If it were you coming to me, we would have taken your existing grate and made a mold of it, then poured cast iron into the mold and voila, we made a thing.

Clean the enamel off with a wire brush or grinder, apply the ThermoSteel, then repaint with Rust-Oleum High Heat.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 7:17 AM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

You are probably going to need to work with an antique stove restoration specialist, like these guys (I don't have any affiliation with them, they just came up in a search for "repair cast iron grates").
posted by rockindata at 7:18 AM on September 15, 2015

Have you tried calling metal shops and seeing if they can join it with an actual heat weld? They'll need to know that it's for a cooking surface, so whatever they use for flux or whatnot shouldn't contain elements that'll vaporize and poison your food, but it should be a relatively easy thing-- there's a reason the iron age came before the space age.

Otherwise, I'd consider getting it re-cast as spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints suggests. Iron is just fine for sand-molding which is fast and cheap; the cost would come into the detail of cleaning the sprue bits and burrs off the piece after casting, I'd imagine.
posted by Sunburnt at 7:50 AM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Iron is just fine for sand-molding which is fast and cheap; the cost would come into the detail of cleaning the sprue bits and burrs off the piece after casting, I'd imagine.

Since metal shrinks as it solidifies and cools, using the part as a pattern for the new casting will mean the replacement part is slightly smaller than the original -- probably only about 1% smaller, but not the same. Also, the parting line on these grates isn't flat so cutting the sand mold would be a bit tricky. You'd be looking for a foundryman with skills that aren't exactly common these days. Then, the (porcelain?) coating is whole 'nother problem.
posted by jon1270 at 8:12 AM on September 15, 2015

By which I mean to say, if you can find a specialty business that does these sorts of restorations regularly then you should just hire them to do it even if it seems expensive, rather than trying to put the resources together yourself piecemeal.
posted by jon1270 at 8:13 AM on September 15, 2015

I'm not speaking from a point of knowledge here, but I would speculate that the additional layer of ceramic coat might make up the 1%. Placing on the new coating might be just the job for that high-temp Rustoleum product mentioned above, but again the issue of food-safety rears its ugly head. I agree that a specialty restorer is the way to go.

I don't think there's any harm in not fixing it at all, though, and just searching over time for a replacement. If it really did split at the joint between the grates, I'm not seeing any problem with some (slightly gingerly) use of either burner on its own. Just want to prevent rusting on the exposed iron by seasoning, I'd guess.
posted by Sunburnt at 8:30 AM on September 15, 2015

Magic Chef vintage burner grates? That is the google search.

Ebay and etc, businesses have these parts.
posted by Oyéah at 9:41 AM on September 15, 2015

On the coating, I have no idea. On the cast iron part, TIG braze it. It could also be brazed with an an oxygen-acetylene torch, but the whole piece would have to be preheated to say 500f.
I can braze with a torch, but hit my limit and had a friend TIG-braze some broken machine parts for me - they see heavy loads on the welds, and no failure in the several yeas I have been using them. Nice neat process, very strong. You'd be joining the parts with bronze filler metal. It melts about 840 f.
posted by rudd135 at 7:24 PM on September 15, 2015