| Gallery, Projects and General > Project Logs |
| Building a New Lathe |
| << < (47/171) > >> |
| Jonfb64:
Yesterday while at the Harrogate model show I bought a tin of case hardening compound, the ingredients are as follows Sodium chloride Potassium ferro cyanide Charcoal Calcium phosphate I forgot to ask how to use the stuff :Doh: Steve that lathe is starting to look really good. Are you going to go for direct drive for the spindle and use a motor vfd combination? Jon |
| DavidA:
VT, The method we used at work to observe the depth of hardness with steel samples was to grind and polish the piece (say a section cut through a case hardened bar) Then immerse it in NItrol. A mix of Nitric and Hydrochloric acid. You could then see the depth to which it had been hardened. In my job it was vital that I only used the original metal as samples, so I had to ensure there was no case hardening left. Dave. |
| awemawson:
In WW11 British Prisoners of War used to successfully case harden mild steel to make wire cutters from nothing more complicated than sugar and a spirit lamp. They were distilling hooche and used the resultant neat alcohol on a cotton wad wick, blowing through the flame with a tube rolled from tin plate cut from 'Klim Tins' (dried milk tins). The steel was heated to a bright red in the improvised blow lamp, then dipped in sugar which carbonised and formed a crust. It was then reheated for several minutes for the carbon to penetrate the surface to get a decent depth of case, then plunged into water. This made a glass hard case and the remnants of the carbonised sugar flaked off. It just shows that if the needs must ..... simple processes get results ! |
| NormanV:
I tried to case harden some steel using sugar, I'd never heard of anyone else using it. Sugar is carbon rich so I thought that there might be a chance that it would work but it didn't for me. The reheating might be the answer, I will try it. |
| vtsteam:
Thanks guys. I think this is an interesting enough subject to many of us that I'm going to start a separate Mod-Up, with the purpose of finding and trying useful DIY case hardening materials and methods. No prizes (other than possibly useful information) and I don't think it makes sense to have a vote or winner, but just for fun experimenting, with maybe some benefit from the results. Also disproving any myths, answering arguments over what works and doesn't, and what is better or worse. My guess is that we'll find that method is at least as important as ingredients. Give me a few minutes to set that up...... Okay, here it is: http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=10681 |
| Navigation |
| Message Index |
| Next page |
| Previous page |