Totally OT. I have a cast-iron stove which supplies a lot of our heat and all our hot water during the winter months. The ash is shaken down through a circular grid which is moved by a rod passing through a hole in the the cast iron casing, which you shake to and fro for a minute or so twice a day. Over the years, the rod has worn the hole in the casing to about twice its original size, and the air that bleeds in through here means it won't idle any more (like overnight) and uses about 50% more fuel than it did when it was new. I have removed the rod and filled the hole with instant metal stuff, and then drilled a hole of the original diameter and put the rod back. This works brilliantly and has restored the stove's performance to new. However, as the filler is only epoxy, I doubt if it will last very long with the twice-daily bashing it gets.
Which is a long way round to asking: would it be feasible to weld in a plug of , which I could drill out the same way to make a more permanent repair? Can normal welding be done to cast iron? The size of the plug would be about 10mm wide by about 5mm deep.
TIA.