Patent ID: 7802350

Claim:
A method of repairing an aperture and adjacent defect, the method comprising: removing one or more defects adjacent an aperture in a base material, wherein the material is removed to create a weld seam that extends past an area of high stress concentration on the aperture; providing an insert of material containing a profile that corresponds to the profile of the base material removed adjacent the aperture; providing a combination top and runoff plate that encompasses the insert of material; tacking the insert of material to the combination plate to assure a gap of less than about 0.003 inches between the combination plate and the insert, wherein tacking creates a plurality of tack welds that are located between the outer edge of the part and the original location aperture; inserting a backing plate underneath the combination top and runoff plate and insert such that there remains an air space between the backing plate and the combination top and runoff plate to prevent the combination top and runoff plate from becoming fused to the backing plate during a welding process; welding the insert to the base material; removing the backing plate; removing material from the insert to obtain an aperture containing a profile essentially the same as the profile of the aperture prior to initiating the repair.