If you would like to know more about Thermal-Vac Technology “The Monty Heat Treat News” recently featured a Heat Treat Podcast with the President of the company, Ms. Heather Falcone-this can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQhwA77IcQY.
“Gasbarre Thermal Processing Systems is proud to announce that Thermal-Vac Technology recently partnered with Gasbarre to add precision nitriding and FNC capabilities to their facility in Orange, California. The electrically heated furnace utilizes Super Systems, Inc. controls for automatic KN and KC control to AMS 2759/10 & 2759/12 specifications. The furnace is designed to meet AMS 2750/F as a Class 2 furnace, which allows it to be used to perform nitrogen tempering and stress relieving processes. For cycle time improvements and consistent process control the furnace is equipped with a vacuum pump for purging processes, pre- and post-oxidation capabilities, and accelerated air and atmosphere cooling systems. The furnace also comes with an ammonia dissociator to achieve zero white layer processes. It is capable of processing workloads that are 48” wide by 72” long by 40” high and weigh up to 7,000 pounds. Gasbarre Thermal Processing Systems is proud to say that this complete system is engineered, manufactured, and serviced out of our United States locations solidifying our position as a leader in equipment for the nitriding and FNC process. Thermal-Vac is set to receive the equipment in March of 2021 and is excited to announce the new capability to their growing customer base.
With locations in Livonia, MI, Cranston, RI and St. Mary’s PA Gasbarre Thermal Processing Systems has been designing, manufacturing, and servicing a full line of industrial thermal processing equipment for nearly 50 years. Gasbarre’s equipment is designed for your process by experienced engineers and metallurgists that understand your requirements.
Thermal-Vac Technology is Southern California’s premier brazing, heat-treating, and finishing facility. Thermal-Vac offers first-class services to a wide customer base, including some of the most demanding in the industry. For over three decades Thermal-Vac has been sought out by customers who require the most innovative solutions for challenging project needs, effectively helping to secure Thermal-Vac’s position as a leader in the industry.
“Adding a new piece of equipment to our shop is always a big process,” Heather Falcone, CEO of Thermal-Vac said. “We’re thrilled to bring the capabilities of the Gasbarre nitrider to our customers. It’s going to be a game-changer for them.”
The furnace will be installed in a newly constructed building across the street from Thermal-Vac’s long-standing headquarters, along with heat treating and other equipment being moved from the company’s former location in Santa Fe Springs, California.
Did you like this article? Click here to subscribe to The Monty.
View our recent magazines and podcasts by clicking the following link. https://themonty.com/magazine/
So why is John Hubbard one of the most famous commercial heat treaters in the world grinning like a Cheshire Cat? Because he knows this Thursday, April 1 he will be receiving the April issue of “The Monty Heat Treat News Magazine” after which he will know everything there is to know about the global heat treating industry. John recently shared his knowledge of the industry with Carlos Torres of “The Heat Treat Podcast” which can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H76BJtd6QsM&t=311s -it made for a fascinating discussion.
“John Hubbard is a founding partner of Thermal Process Holdings, and currently serves as Chairman of the Board. Mr. Hubbard has over 40 years of industry leadership experience, most recently serving as CEO of Bodycote, a publicly traded (LSE: BOY) international thermal processing group that specializes in sub-contract heat treatment, thermal coatings, hot isostatic pressing, and testing services. During his time as CEO, he led the organization’s revenue growth from $579m to over $882m and expanded their operations globally. Prior to that, Mr. Hubbard served as President & Owner of Hinderliter Heat Treating Inc., a North American heat treating group that specializes in sub-contract heat treatment, where he led the firm’s growth from a $1m firm into one of the three largest heat treating groups in North America.
In addition to Thermal Process Holdings, Mr. Hubbard also serves as Non-Executive Board Member for Cronite Innovative Group, the leading provider of high temperature resistant castings for the heat treating industry. Active across the heat treating industry, Hubbard has served as president & board member at ASM International, and has held leadership positions at the Metal Treating Institute and the Center for Heat Treatment Excellence. He holds an MBA and a Bachelor of Metallurgical Engineering degree from Cleveland State University.
Did you like this article? Click here to subscribe to The Monty.
View our recent magazines and podcasts by clicking the following link. https://themonty.com/magazine/
“L&L Special Furnace Co., Inc. has shipped two model GS2026 heat-treating furnaces to a manufacturer of brick dies, textured stucco rollers and extrusion equipment for the construction industry. The furnaces are being used to meet an immediate need for increased heat-treating capacity. They provide a supporting role in the company’s die manufacturing process. The Model GS2026 has internal working dimensions of 18” wide by 12” high by 24” deep. It has an operating voltage of 208, 220, 240 volts single phase, 60 or 50 hertz.”
Did you like this article? Click here to subscribe to The Monty.
View our recent magazines and podcasts by clicking the following link. https://themonty.com/magazine/
Back in February of this year “The Monty Heat Treat News” announced that Bell Helicopter in Fort Worth, Texas, USA was opening a Manufacturing Technology Center which will include a brand new “State of the Art” Heat Treatment department. The center is now officially open for business after a ribbon cutting ceremony last week as you can read in this press release from the company. As we mentioned in our original February 10th posting this facility will include a brand new, state of the art heat treating department which can be seen in the “artists rendering” below. The medium sized building in the center of the hall will house the actual heat treat system, just to the right will be a cryogenic system and to the right of that you can see where a vacuum temper will go.
“Bell is not just developing new aircraft, it is changing how they are made; The company cut the ribbon on its Manufacturing Technology Center (MTC) in Fort Worth, Texas Thursday afternoon ahead of a formal grand opening later this year. The MTC is located in a 140,000-sq-ft building 15 minutes away from Bell’s main campus and was established to lower lead time, cost, and variability from components for Bell’s future vertical lift (FVL) aircraft, including the V-280 Valor and 360 Invictus.
The MTC “is the way we are reinventing our manufacturing process at Bell for all of our next-generation products,” said Glenn Isbell, Bell v-p of rapid prototyping and manufacturing innovation. The MTC offers a digitally connected space for collaboration between Bell teams in an environment that promotes smart risk-taking. New systems will be tested and vetted for production suitability before being introduced to Bell’s future factories.
Bell will use the MTC to “showcase how we will deliver the most affordable, capable, and reliable aircraft for the warfighter,” said Bell CEO and president Mitch Snyder.
Since starting operation, the facility already has born fruit toward significantly cutting lead times and costs of critical V-280 components, said Isbell, noting that the lead time for the aircraft’s rotor masts was shrunk from 18 months to 90 days and costs were reduced by 40 percent. “In the vertical lift space, the manufacturing process hasn’t changed that much in the last 30 years,” he said. “We developed a significant amount of manufacturing technology when we developed the V-22 [tiltrotor] 30-40 years ago but the industry hasn’t had a different shift in how aircraft are made.”
Did you like this article? Click here to subscribe to The Monty.
View our recent magazines and podcasts by clicking the following link. https://themonty.com/magazine/
As an update to our story of last week about commercial heat treater Robert Wooler in the USA closing down and the equipment been auctioned off we have these comments from the company who purchased a lot of the equipment. Our understanding is that most of the items Solar did not buy went to used equipment dealers.
“We have lost a good heat treat company, Wooler, here in the greater Philadelphia area. Auctions are always difficult for me, and particularly not to get caught up in the flair. I sit on the side line and let my professionals do the actual bidding to keep me calm.
So, we bought the Solar, and VFS, vacuum furnaces (3) along with 15 other items making Solar the the highest price bidder to the tune of over $240,000. In my opinion prices were at fair value and the on line auction went well. The Solar Vacuum furnace, ten years old, was the most expensive and contested item selling for $140,000. Bill Jones, Owner Solar Atmosphere Companies”
A perfect storm has hit foundries producing cast components for the heat treatment industry, a perfect storm which is already giving end users serious headaches. A rebound in the US economy has increased demand at the same time as two foundries in the US have been faced with “challenges”. One of the largest suppliers in the US has been suffering boiler problems at their facility for several months and the problems are severe enough that deliveries of finished product have been seriously affected. A fire at another foundry in the US, Steeltech Ltd., in Grand Rapids, Michigan just over a week ago has certainly not improved their deliveries although much to their credit the company has responded quickly and effectively and it appears they will be back to normal in the near future. All in all expect longer deliveries for items such as cast fixturing, radiant tubes, base trays and rolls.
Did you like this article? Click here to subscribe to The Monty.
View our recent magazines and podcasts by clicking the following link. https://themonty.com/magazine/
Back in June of 2020 it was announced that Magnetic Shields Ltd., of Kent, England had purchased a new vacuum furnace from Solar Manufacturing. As can be seen in these pictures installation is now almost complete.
“Sellersville, PA, June 15, 2020 – Magnetic Shields Ltd of Kent, England and Solar Manufacturing have had a strong partnership since 2016. In this time, Solar Manufacturing has engineered one vacuum furnace and has been commissioned to design and build a second furnace. This new furnace will be one of the largest horizontal vacuum furnaces in the UK. The new HFL-7496-EQ vacuum furnace, being built with a SolarVac® Polaris control system, will be designed to accommodate loads up to 48” wide x 48” high x 96” deep, (1220 x 1220 x 2440mm) with a maximum weight of 5,000 lbs (2270 kgs). Operating at a vacuum level of 10-5 Torr, this new furnace will be able to reach temperatures up to 2400°F (1315°C). It will feature a partial pressure hydrogen gas process and an external quench system designed for negative pressure quenching.
Rick Jones, VP of International Sales at Solar Manufacturing states, “Solar Manufacturing is very pleased to be selected as the supplier to further support Magnetic Shields in leading the production of equipment for the medical industry and other high technology applications, specifically, high performance large magnetic shields and low field shielded rooms.” Magnetic Shields Ltd. Director Colin Woolger adds, “Magnetic Shields is delighted to order our second vacuum furnace from Solar Manufacturing. The new furnace will enable us to more than double the maximum size of shields we can now produce in one piece and also increase the general heat treatment capacity for our growing company. This order was awarded, in no small part, due to the superb reliability of our existing Solar Manufacturing furnace which has revolutionized the consistency and quality of our magnetic heat treatment process, a key stage in the manufacture of all of our shielding products. We look forward to the new furnace arriving later this year.”
Did you like this article? Click here to subscribe to The Monty.
View our recent magazines and podcasts by clicking the following link. https://themonty.com/magazine/
An ongoing story at “The Monty Heat Treat News” has been the closing of one of the oldest commercial heat treaters in North America, the Robert Wooler Company in Dresher, PA and the auctioning of the equipment which was concluded just this week. We are awaiting news about what all of the equipment went for but preliminary reports have at least some of the equipment being sold for far over reasonable pricing. As an example an older Surface Combustion Unidraw 36 X 48 being sold for over $60K when new it is only a little over $100K? We think bidders were getting caught up in the heat of battle.
“February 2021 Posting; Robert Wooler Company Closing-Heat Treat Furnaces Being Auctioned; December 29th, 2020 we mentioned that one of the oldest commercial heat treats in North American would be closing their doors at the end of the year. The company did indeed close and the equipment will be auctioned off March 19th to the 25th.
“Robert Wooler Company Closing-The End of an Era; It is truly with regret that we mention the closing of one of the oldest commercial heat treating companies in North America, the Robert Wooler Company of Dresher, Pennsylvania, USA. Founded in 1923 the company has a very impressive history which includes NADCAP certification which allowed the firm to service many of the local aerospace companies. At its peak a few years back it had over 40 employees making it a larger than average commercial heat treater. Even recently the company employed 25 employees and was a viable business, however a number of factors including the difficulty in finding good experienced employees lead to the owner deciding to close it down. The last work is being accepted this week and the company will continue to process customers’ parts through at least the first quarter of 2021 with the equipment being auctioned off the second quarter of 2021. As a footnote to this story we will add that as far as we can tell the oldest commercial heat treater in the USA is Commercial Steel Treating Company in Michigan started in 1916 by Anthony and Ralph Hoensheid.”
Did you like this article? Click here to subscribe to The Monty.
View our recent magazines and podcasts by clicking the following link. https://themonty.com/magazine/
We find commercial heat treat Hauck located in Cheltenham, UK will be closing within the next 6 weeks. Hauck is the second largest commercial heat treater in Europe as rated by “The Monty” (https://themonty.com/articles/largest-european-commercial-heat-treaters/).
“Hauck Heat Treatment (Cheltenham) plant has been the site of a heat treatment company since the 1950’s, and has a wide customer base dealing with Aerospace, Automotive and Precision Engineering companies across the UK. Some of their processes include; Nitriding, Carburising, Induction and Vacuum heat treating. Accreditations at Cheltenham:
- ISO 9001:2015
- EN/AS 9100 REV D
- NADCAP
- Rolls Royce
- Boeing
- McLaren”
In related news we recently mentioned that Hauck Heat Treatment had changed the name of the company to Aalberts Surface Technologies.
Hauck Heat Treatment Becomes Aalberts Surface Technologies; Aalberts Press Release; “From January 01, 2021 onwards our plants will be named Aalberts Surface Technologies. At the same time, we have decided to restructure our business units in order to create more transparency for our customers and suppliers with regard to the range of services and contact persons. Aalberts Surface Technologies has five divisions on three continents: “While the heat treatment division includes hardening shops, the surface treatment division includes the galvanic surface treatment of individual components. Polymer coatings are applied with common painting techniques and are mainly used as sliding and non-stick coatings. Reel-2-reel is understood to mean the tape finishing of punched strips, taped pins or solid tapes. The HIP | brazing | additive unit combines the technologies of hot isostatic pressing, brazing and additive manufacturing.
Aalberts Surface Technologies is part of the worldwide leading and globally positioned technology company Aalberts N.V., in short Aalberts, with its 135 locations worldwide and more than 16,000 employees.”
Did you like this article? Click here to subscribe to The Monty.
View our recent magazines and podcasts by clicking the following link. https://themonty.com/magazine/
“KROHNE is a world-leading manufacturer and supplier of solutions in industrial process instrumentation. Within the UK, KROHNE Ltd is the group’s global centre of excellence for Coriolis mass flowmeter technology. Its manufacturing plant in Wellingborough is where the award winning OPTIMASS range of mass flowmeters is produced.
The process of manufacturing products at Krohne Ltd often involves working with specialist materials such as Duplex 31803 and Super Duplex 32750 stainless steels. Particularly with regards to materials such as Super Duplex, it is highly critical that the brazing process is completed correctly.
However, the largest of Krohne’s products to be brazed are up to two metres in length and no suitable furnace exists within the UK that has the hot zone capability to process such a large product. This meant that the brazing of this product was subcontracted to a supplier in France, which brought challenges with lead times, transport, and associated cost issues.
The objective: bringing the brazing process in-house.
Krohne Ltd’s Management team made the decision to bring the process of brazing their larger products in-house, thus ensuring complete control over quality and lead times.
Following a significant investment in the UK’s largest horizontal vacuum furnace, the company required assistance with the design and manufacture of a fixture that would possess the specific hot zone capability, be of appropriate size and at the same time cope with weight, cost and distortion limitations whilst processing the larger Krohne Ltd products. For this, the Krohne Team turned to Erodex UK.
Evolution of fixture design
The resulting design was a 2.4m x 1.2m Carbon Fibre Composite (CFC) fixture consisting of 2 layers and a cover plate to ensure that there was no direct radiation heat onto the components processed on the top layer and that heat is evenly distributed within the furnace. Production Engineering Manager Darren Hawes comments: “The Erodex team were able to understand our specific requirements and design a fixture based on a CFC grid. We then had a further meeting and added in channels and a cover plate that sits on top of the CFC grid structure to maintain 0.1mm flatness.
“Perforated holes were added to allow the 360-degree gas cooling to flow underneath the fixture to the parts, because cooling is one of the critical features of the process. Side rails were added to the fixture to remove the possibility of any parts falling off and we added lifting points to the fixture, so once removed from the furnace, if the loader were to break down at any point, the fixture could be removed from the loader by overhead cranes”.
Andrew McFarlane, Technical Sales Engineer at Erodex UK and project lead adds: “When it became clear that a more intricate and technical design was required, we involved our full High Temp team and further meetings took place to come up with the optimum design to incorporate the changes our customer identified and to deliver the additional required project features such as spares and changes to the spacers. “We showed flexibility to provide what the customer wanted to achieve this and altered the designs until they were satisfied”.
Why was Carbon Fibre Composite (CFC) graphite the material of choice for fixture manufacture?
Krohne Ltd Manufacturing Engineer Tom Harrison explains why, guided by the Erodex UK team, they opted to manufacture the fixture from Carbon Fibre Composite (CFC) graphite: “We had to find the right material for the fixture when considering weight, cost and distortion limitations and we could not find another material that was comparable to CFC for achieving this. “The CFC fixture is lightweight yet as the temperature increases within the furnace the material gets stronger. Our main requirement of the fixture and the plate itself was to have a 0.1mm flatness tolerance, so when we manufacture and process our parts, any distortion of the fixture does not impact on the assembly that is being processed.
“The straight tube assemblies being processed within the furnace also have a 1/600mm straightness tolerance. Up to two metres we can have 3mm distortion end to end in the bow of the tube. To get that right, we required the fixture base to be as true as possible, so that we are not adding any additional distortion into the processing of the parts. The CFC fixture was therefore designed and manufactured by Erodex to deliver on that 0.1mm flatness constraint. “In addition, the more mass within the furnace, the greater the effect on heating and cooling rates. A metallic fixture can act as a heat sink, using CFC reduces the mass greatly so our process is optimised and the energy we do use is used efficiently”.
Additional benefits of using a CFC grid structure.
An added benefit of a CFC grid structure is that if individual parts of the fixture break, only these need to be replaced. This contrasts with a metallic grid, where the whole grid would need to be replaced or refurbished, resulting in a significant reduction in maintenance costs. Furthermore, Duplex stainless steel and Super Duplex stainless steel are mainly used for corrosion resistance, meaning that any carbon or other contamination picked up from the fixture itself could affect the metallurgy of the material, which in turn can add further complications to the products being processed.
To avoid this, the CFC graphite fixture was coated in a Yttria Zirconia coating to prevent any carbon ingress into the material. Hawes continues: “The knowledge of the application and properties of CFC within the Erodex UK team was vital in helping us to understand what could be achieved both with the material and the fixture design itself. As we moved through the process, the design became more complex, so having their expertise at hand to help develop this was very beneficial to us. They acted like a partner on this project, and it was clear from the outset that they were willing to listen, accommodating changes and providing new ideas”.
Fixture assembly and operation.
Erodex assembled the fixture prior to coating and provided a video demonstrating how this should be repeated. Following coating of the fixture, the team were back on site to reinforce this with demonstrations of the ease of assembly to all Krohne Ltd end users. Hawes’ team need to make sure the fixture is precisely central within the furnace every time it is loaded. To achieve this, a specialist forklift is used and Erodex designed the fixture to be held by the forklift so that this was achievable. The forklift is centralised as you drive it into the furnace, by two guides that sit underneath it.
Harrison adds: “The fixture itself has been used now since October, we have completed numerous cycles and it is holding up to design requirements of flatness, the coating is performing well and ultimately, the fixture is achieving what it was required to do. “We vacuum clean the fixture and furnace after every cycle to remove any debris coming from the processing. The fixture also goes through a maintenance check/ two weekly burnout to remove any contaminants that may have come onto the fixture because of the processing of the products in the furnace.
“We have also used the CFC graphite fixture to process a product as part of our furnace validation that was previously processed by a subcontractor. We could see that there was 7mm distortion end to end on the part provided by the subcontractor. Once we processed it through on the fixture all the contact points were then level again. We would have not been able to achieve that in a subcontract furnace.
“Ultimately, this has given us full control over processing. It has given us the capability to develop our processes and increase productivity and allows continuous development and improvement of the process too. “For example, we had identified a few issues with how one cycle was run, where we were positioning the monitoring thermocouples to ensure the parts are fully up to temperature before we started the brazing part of the process, so it has given us further knowledge on that, which in turn has benefitted the product being processed”.
Did you like this article? Click here to subscribe to The Monty.
View our recent magazines and podcasts by clicking the following link. https://themonty.com/magazine/
