Raleigh NC Area Hardness Testing?

B

Ben Thomas

Joined
Jun 21, 2020
Messages
23
Hi Folks,

Been lurking here soaking up knowledge for a while. One piece advice I've seen a few times is that local machine shops can sometimes do hardness testing. I've reached out to a few with no success so far. Does anyone here know of a shop in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area that could do this testing on a very low volume.
 
I can't believe that the Research Triangle does not have places that do hardness testing. I bet every university there has those facilities, too. Nathan the Machinist is over in Mooresville. I bet he knows someone in your neighborhood.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
I can't believe that the Research Triangle does not have places that do hardness testing. I bet every university there has those facilities, too. Nathan the Machinist is over in Mooresville. I bet he knows someone in your neighborhood.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately it's all "intellectual property" this and "campus security" that. There is a company called East Carolina Metal Treating that I'm sure could do it, but I'd rather hand cash to a smaller operator.

Mooresville is actually a couple of hours away. Morrisville is in the nearby town..
 
Give Nathan a call and ask him who he recommends. There may be several makers of shops he knows.
 
Ben, I live in Raleigh and also asked this exact question on the forum probably 6 months ago. Didn't get any answers. I'm looking at buying a hardness tester though. And if I do, I would be happy to help.
 
Stacy, I went to NC state for undergrad in mechanical engineering. I'm currently a master's student there. I've asked to use the hardness tester many times. Even if I just want coupons tested so that it isn't knife related I still get turned away b/c it's not a school sanctioned project or research. I've tried reaching out to the material science department to get into some research in the heat treat field started, no dice. It's quite annoying.
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
I can't believe that the Research Triangle does not have places that do hardness testing. I bet every university there has those facilities, too. Nathan the Machinist is over in Mooresville. I bet he knows someone in your neighborhood.
Click to expand...
 
Yes, it is sad how things have changed. In my day a phone call to the department would get an invite from the head professor and some great information.
 
If you are a grad student there, I would find out who the students working in that lab are and see if any of them are approachable. We have students running our instruments at all sorts of odd hours...
 
Skiller1nc said:
Stacy, I went to NC state for undergrad in mechanical engineering. I'm currently a master's student there. I've asked to use the hardness tester many times. Even if I just want coupons tested so that it isn't knife related I still get turned away b/c it's not a school sanctioned project or research. I've tried reaching out to the material science department to get into some research in the heat treat field started, no dice. It's quite annoying.
Click to expand...

I went to school at NCSU back in the 90's. Same thing, the hardness testers were off limits. The reason being, they're calibrated precision measuring tools with an important role to play and people who didn't know how to use them properly were damaging them, rendering them useless for legitimate projects. The professor told me that they would keep the good diamond indenter hidden and a broken indenter in the tester so if an unqualified person went to use it they wouldn't wreck the good diamond. It's a state school, it isn't swimming in money, and these things are important and expensive and not to be used by just anybody for personal projects. It's hard to argue with that. I wouldn't let you use mine either, I would insist on doing the test myself.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
I went to school at NCSU back in the 90's. Same thing, the hardness testers were off limits. The reason being, they're calibrated precision measuring tools with an important role to play and people who didn't know how to use them properly were damaging them, rendering them useless for legitimate projects. The professor told me that they would keep the good diamond indenter hidden and a broken indenter in the tester so if an unqualified person went to use it they wouldn't wreck the good diamond. It's a state school, it isn't swimming in money, and these things are important and expensive and not to be used by just anybody for personal projects. It's hard to argue with that. I wouldn't let you use mine either, I would insist on doing the test myself.
Click to expand...
I understand valuing your machines and not wanting other people to use/mess them up. However if that was the case they could have offered to do it for me rather than let me do it. Anyway that's not my main issue. I pay a lot of money to go here (and I have voiced this concern to certain faculty members), I should have access to this equipment. They should have a process in place to get students with interest trained and able to use said machinery. Ok, rant over
 
Glad OP found two options for getting knife's HRC.
Wish Benchmade's custom shop offered the dimple as an option.
What a bunch of ink poopers, is not state school owned and funded by the people? Agree with a handshake, to replace anything you break, or offer school approved student a homecooked meal or other valued commodity or cash.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top