Need welding help - Orange County (BMX bike repair)

[nwoods]

My son cracked the frame on his BMX bike, separating the top tube from the head tube (where the handlebar stem is). It's 4130 chromoly steel and my neighbors welding rig won't do it (he says). I don't know anything about welding, but I assume we need some decent sort of welding rig to properly weld this type of steel?

Anyone in Orange County (nearer to Yorba Linda would be great) willing to help out my kid with some emergency repair welds on this bike frame? I can pay in beer or cash :-)

[daniel_buck]

You'll want to find someone who can TIG weld and who has experience specifically with 4130. From what I understand if you want to maintain the strength of the chromoly you'll want to heat-treat the area around the weld, and not weld it to hot.

In a pinch you could probably MIG weld it, but I don't think I'd want to rely on that for more than a temporary fix.