[AT] Heat treating tractor parts

[l50bmg at earthlink.net]

Dean;

  You would gain a tremendous amount of tensile strength by heat treating the parts. I was a commercial heat treater  in our family business and 4340 is right on the money for the steel choice. The RC hardness may be a little high depending on the application. How long are the rods? You may run into a problem with them bending during the quenching of the part. Another option would be to use the 1008 LC steel and case harden the parts to a depth of 0.025". You would get the outer toughness with the give of the soft core.  Contact me off list for a heat treater that will do small batches.

Jim Thomson
james.thomson at hexcel.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Dean VP <deanvp at att.net>
Sent: Mar 16, 2005 7:19 PM
To: at at lists.antique-tractor.com
Subject: [AT] Heat treating tractor parts

I would like some help from experienced metal fabricators.  I would like to
know how much increased durability/strength "heat treating" a 1" round steel
shaft, threaded at both ends would offer.  The shaft is primarily under
tensile forces only but the forces are severe in actual application. The
threaded ends of the rods are RH and LH threads and are inserted into
threaded cast forks at each end. Kind of like a turnbuckle. 

I am trying to have these fabricated at a local machine shop however, in
order to heat treat economically they need to be heat treated in batches of
50 each which is a larger quantity than what I would like to produce at one
time. If not done in a relatively large batch the heat treating becomes a
too significant part of the overall manufacturing cost. 

What am I gaining in this application by heat treating or what am I losing
by not doing so?

I have been advised to use 4340 steel, heat treated RC40 or 1018 steel not
heat treated.  Help, I'm not a metallurgist. These would be for resale so
there is an inherent responsibility to do it right. 

Any help is appreciated.

Dean A. Van Peursem
Snohomish, WA 98290

I'm a walking storeroom of facts..... I've just lost the key to the
storeroom door 


www.deerelegacy.com

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