HT querstion for Mete or Kevin

G

Gene Martin

Joined
Feb 5, 1999
Messages
1,068
I need to heat treat several pieces of odd shaped ATS34. The pieces are 5x8"x 3/32 thick. They will not stand up staright in my Paragon.

Is there a practical way to heat treat them without warpage. If I heat treat them flat I'm afraid of sag. I can cool them between quench plates. Will that do the trick?

They are just odd shaped blades for a customer order. I've been doing my own heat treat for years but this is the first time blades wouldn't stand upright in the oven.

Ideas?

Thanks, Guys,

Gene
 
I'm not mete or Kevin, but...

Are you using a rack in the oven?
 
I normally use a rack to hold the blades vertically. I figure I'l need some sort of a rack to keep the blades off the furnace floor, otherwise heat would be a lot less than even. As to a rack separating each blade, I can make one up, so that's not a problem, either.

Gene
 
Gene: I never use racks-All my blades lay on a firebrick, and I never get any warpage from sag-Or, from any other cause, for that matter. Above 1400F or so, the temperature in the furnace is really even, and your ATS34 will be Austenitized well above that temperature.
 
Newbie here, but could you notch fire brick to hold them without affecting the heat flow?
 
I'm having a hard time envisioning a piece that wouldn't stand up in a rack - but how about fashioning a temporary "rack" out of folded foil?

Rob! :confused:
 
Wrap them in HT'ing foil (HT one at a time only). Be sure to put them in vertical position. Quench between aluminum plates. Do not over soak. At that thickness I advise some experimentation with sample pieces of same thickness. The met's will advise you better upon seeing your thread.

rlinger
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Fellows, they are too tall for his oven...That's why he can't use a rack.
Laying them flat on the oven floor won't be any problem.
Plate quenching should hold down warpage.
Stacy
 
Thanks, guys. They just are too tall for my oven, so I'll lay them flat. Worst case scenario is that they warp, but the plates should make that a non issue. I hope.

One of theses days I'm going to replace my Paragon. I need a larger chamber, length, width and height. For those long blades I've built a box, lined with kaowool, that sits on the door. I can use the oven and get an extra 5 inches out of it without a problem. I use a wedge in the door switch and it works very well. Of course it is the tang sticking out the door, but heat has always appeared very uniform. It's just a chamber extension and kaowool is really efficient.

I just can't beat the ceiling height, though.

Gene
 
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