Scraper Blade Material

[fatal-exception]

Hey Guys, thought I would ask the smartest group of guys I know for some advice. I've designed and had a floor scraping attachment made for our skidsteer. We have a large paintshop and when the fire commisioner came through last, he commented that we can't let the paint build up on the floor. So it's been about 2 years and the paint is about an inch thick, all types from enamels and epoxy's. The scraper attachment itself works great and the skidsteer can put enough pressure down to get under the paint, but I'm not sure what to try next for the actual blade. We had a bunch of QT100 plate laying around, so I made the first blade out of it, but it only lasted a few hours. (which I was actually surprised about...)

What would be the ideal material and heat treatment to make a tough and durable blade. It measures 18" x 3" x 1/2" thick with a 30deg bevel.

Thanks in advance.

Paul

[chipenter]

A high speed steel planer blade bolted to you blade , is the only thing that may last .

[Mike E.]

Blades used in commercial tree chippers might serve your purpose. ?

[Jonfb64]

How about a cutter blade from a large paper guillotine machine as used in the printing industry. Should be pretty though stuff as paper is known to blunt scissors quicker than cutting metal.

[PekkaNF]

How about a cutter blade from a large paper guillotine machine as used in the printing industry. Should be pretty though stuff as paper is known to blunt scissors quicker than cutting metal.

The ones I have seen have thin TC edge and soft blade body. Wonder if that would work on this sort of loading?

Pekka

[efrench]

How about Abrasion Resistant steel that is used in bulldozer blades?

[mattinker]

A pic would have made this easier to see what your talking about, but how about a leaf from a leaf spring, you can normalise it, work it and harden and temper.

Regards, Matthew

[sparky961]

Like efrench said, I'd be leaning toward AR400 or even AR500, though I recall knowing at some point that the QT alloys are similar. It isn't definitive, but maybe helps in your search.

[Pete.]

Hey Guys, thought I would ask the smartest group of guys I know for some advice. I've designed and had a floor scraping attachment made for our skidsteer. We have a large paintshop and when the fire commisioner came through last, he commented that we can't let the paint build up on the floor. So it's been about 2 years and the paint is about an inch thick, all types from enamels and epoxy's. The scraper attachment itself works great and the skidsteer can put enough pressure down to get under the paint, but I'm not sure what to try next for the actual blade. We had a bunch of QT100 plate laying around, so I made the first blade out of it, but it only lasted a few hours. (which I was actually surprised about...)

What would be the ideal material and heat treatment to make a tough and durable blade. It measures 18" x 3" x 1/2" thick with a 30deg bevel.

Thanks in advance.

Paul

I'd go with AR plate but I would put it on the underside so the bevel is against the floor and the flat face on top. It'll self-sharpen then.

[howsitwork?]

For speed and easy replacement I'd go with the planer blade from say a wadkin attach it to the end of the plate via its mounting holes and you're away. The mounting holes are generally elongated to allow for sharpening and as it's HSS should last fairly well as the floor will self sharpen it.

Ian

[sparky961]

HSS performs poorly in abraisive conditions. Try drilling concrete with a HSS drill bit and you quickly discover why masonry bits are carbide tipped. Any significant hardening of HSS (which is usually how it's found) makes it too brittle for an application like this.

Maybe you can find a way to mount a bunch if used carbide inserts to the blade, similar to the planer heads that use them. But this doesn't solve the issue of brittleness either.

[MetalMagus]

Why not just hire a floor scabbler. Designed for the job.

Will be quicker in the long run, just not as much fun as coming up with a MacGyver version.

Regards

Sean

[fatal-exception]

Some good ideas in here. Thanks all.

Not really interested in something that I have to source from some other machine, or I will have to do it for the next x number of years. I've been though this with many other devices I have designed for our company. I would rather just get the right material (from a steel supplier), get it machined and heat treated. The 'Easy' button so to speak. If this were for myself, it would be a different story. i would probably try the leaf spring idea, and it would probably work well for me as the operator.

My steel rep was at the paint shop this week and suggested 400f, which I had not heard of. It's basically AR400 that's heat treated all the way through and tempered back to 40RC. I also didn't know that AR400 was just surface hardened...learn something new every once in awhile. So I got him making a few 'samples' for our trial. 

That scabbler is pretty neat. Unfortunately it would take them a year to do this floor with something like that. Maybe for preventative maintenance in the future.

I'll let you know how the 400f plate works out. Maybe get a video of the scraping in action.

Thanks again.
Paul

[sparky961]

I also learned something. I wasn't aware of the different flavours of AR400.

Update us when you've had a chance to try it out.