| Home hardening s7 steel? | |
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Evan Steeves great contributor
People Skills : 5090 Registration date : 2011-02-05 Age : 33 Location : towson md
| Subject: Home hardening s7 steel? Mon Mar 21, 2011 12:59 pm | |
| I have hardend steel before using used motor oil but now I would like to get a little bit more scientific for the weapon disc for my beetle.
So if anyone knows......
what temp is optimal range for s7 steel?
How long does it need to be maintained at this temp?
Is there a minimum or maximum of carbon it can take before it becomes brittle?
or is it just a bad idea and I should just leave it unhardened lol
oh and it is a 2.65" x .25" disc if that means anything | |
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Koolaid64 mega contributor
People Skills : 5899 Registration date : 2009-07-05 Age : 33 Location : PA
| Subject: Re: Home hardening s7 steel? Mon Mar 21, 2011 1:27 pm | |
| ok here is the best way to do it with a propane torch
hold the disc with the smallest tongs you can find because they will act as a heat sink and draw heat off the disc. start by holding the disc perpendicular to the flame and keep the flame at the center of the disc, flip the disc from side to side while keeping the flame in the center this will keep the heat distribution even on both sides. when then disc becomes blood red move the flame to the teeth. you may have to move from tooth to tooth in order to keep the heat distribution even as possible. when all your teeth are at a bright orange quench as quickly as possible in a figure 8 pattern. then when cool, file or wire wheel a shine to the disc this is very important in order to see the colors in the next stage of heat treating. now again hold the disc with the tongs with the center over the flame and keep flipping it to keep the heat even. you may want to hold the disc farther away this time so the heat enters move slowly. when you start to see a ring of colors moving from the center of the disc to the outside remove it from the heat. the colors will be in this order: amber, a dark purple, and a dark blue. hold the disc in the open air and watch as the colors move to the teeth, when you teeth are engulfed in a dark amber quench if a figure 8. when you are done quenching its ok to have a little purple in the teeth but if they are blue they will be to soft and you will have to start the whole process over, | |
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Evan Steeves great contributor
People Skills : 5090 Registration date : 2011-02-05 Age : 33 Location : towson md
| Subject: Re: Home hardening s7 steel? Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:28 pm | |
| wow thanks that helps a bunch
I think I will be using my backyard furnace that can melt glass to do the heating or if that dosent pan out
I will try a map gas torch
is there a limit on how many times you can repeat the process before it becomes brittle ?
and should the teeth always be a little off color because of the surface area difference? | |
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Koolaid64 mega contributor
People Skills : 5899 Registration date : 2009-07-05 Age : 33 Location : PA
| Subject: Re: Home hardening s7 steel? Tue Mar 22, 2011 3:38 pm | |
| well you can use the furnace for the first step instead of the torch, you just have to keep a close eye on it. if you over heat it you will burn the carbon out of it
if you can adjust you furnace set it to about 1400 it should take about 20mins to bring it to a bright orange or at least it would in a normal metal oven. my suggestion to you would be to watch is closely and to quench it as soon as it becomes bright orange
and a map torch should work just fine
and yes, the more times you repeat the process your part will become me susceptible to quench cracking but thats only with an excess of 20 hours of heat treatment time
and the reason you want the teeth to be an off color is because the second step is stress relieving the disc. the first step bring the disc up to a harden state, but its to hard and will easily chip and crack. the second step softens the center but keeps it strong and it tempers the teeth to make them shock resistant
the reason you want the teeth to be a bright orange is because you need them to be hard from the first stage. and its very important to get the dark amber in the second step because its what makes the teeth impact resistant. if you don't get the amber they will be to hard and chip, and if you let the color get to far and they turn blue they will be to soft and maul
its sounds like an ant weapon so i should think that it would be to critical the time you would have to worry is when facing something else with S7
hope this answers your questions good luck
-Kyle | |
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Evan Steeves great contributor
People Skills : 5090 Registration date : 2011-02-05 Age : 33 Location : towson md
| Subject: Re: Home hardening s7 steel? Tue Mar 22, 2011 10:13 pm | |
| Thanks kyle that helps alot,
and its going to be a 2.5" disc for a beetle.
the reason i though to harden it was because a material deformation calculator function i found claimed it would
expand 2% at 30 thousand rpm and i dont really like the sound of that so i though the harder it would be
the less it will expand. this is pretty new to me i have made plenty of things but this is turning out to be a
bucket of fun challenges | |
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Camden W big contributor
People Skills : 4891 Registration date : 2011-04-10 Age : 29 Location : Blaine Minnesota
| Subject: Re: Home hardening s7 steel? Tue May 08, 2012 6:02 pm | |
| Does this method work with most steels? My ant is using 1045 steel (s7 is way out of my budget), and I've found quenching advice for 830-860 c with it, but I have no means of getting a fire that hot unless the only friend I know who knows people about heat treating can help, and he's currently asking around. | |
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Don Doerfler super contributor
People Skills : 5608 Registration date : 2009-12-24 Age : 29 Location : Plum,Pa
| Subject: Re: Home hardening s7 steel? Tue May 22, 2012 12:34 am | |
| How would u do ti /steel armor | |
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rdubard mega contributor
People Skills : 5903 Registration date : 2009-06-10 Age : 59 Location : Ransom Everglades, Miami, FL
| Subject: Re: Home hardening s7 steel? Tue May 22, 2012 5:39 pm | |
| - Don Doerfler wrote:
- How would u do ti /steel armor
Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think there are heat treatments for Ti alloys. | |
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Evan Steeves great contributor
People Skills : 5090 Registration date : 2011-02-05 Age : 33 Location : towson md
| Subject: Re: Home hardening s7 steel? Tue May 22, 2012 6:38 pm | |
| I dont think ti can be hardened either. i have heard welding steel plate then grinding it smooth again hardens it but i have no proof to back up this claim | |
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Camden W big contributor
People Skills : 4891 Registration date : 2011-04-10 Age : 29 Location : Blaine Minnesota
| Subject: Re: Home hardening s7 steel? Tue May 22, 2012 9:11 pm | |
| Could that just be work hardening? | |
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Don Doerfler super contributor
People Skills : 5608 Registration date : 2009-12-24 Age : 29 Location : Plum,Pa
| Subject: Re: Home hardening s7 steel? Tue May 22, 2012 10:30 pm | |
| yea i felt a difference when i heated sns2's back wedge back into shape | |
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rdubard mega contributor
People Skills : 5903 Registration date : 2009-06-10 Age : 59 Location : Ransom Everglades, Miami, FL
| Subject: Re: Home hardening s7 steel? Sun Jun 03, 2012 10:39 am | |
| Now that you mention it, I certainly have had the (negative) experience of overheating Ti while trying to drill it. I had chalked up the broken bit to the bit overheating and the cutting surfaces losing sharpness, not to the Ti getting harder, but that wouldn't explain the second bit breaking too, so you certainly have a point. If I get less lazy, I might google "hardening heat treatment titanium" or something like that later | |
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Don Doerfler super contributor
People Skills : 5608 Registration date : 2009-12-24 Age : 29 Location : Plum,Pa
| Subject: Re: Home hardening s7 steel? Sat Jun 16, 2012 11:55 pm | |
| I made up weapons with low carbon teeth for a 3lb
Now im assuming that it can be hardened but will get brittle faster
Should i attempt to harden the teeth or should i leave the as they are? | |
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