We recently mentioned heat treater Härdservice in Sweden adding vacuum capacity. We now have this rather cool photo of their brand new, Ispen2Treater M with LPC low pressure carburizing being lifted into position at their Halmstad location.
“Magnetic Specialties, Inc. is pleased to announce the addition of Michael K. Smith as our Business Development Manager.
Having extensive experience in the custom magnetics industry in electro-mechanical engineering and business development, Mike brings a well-rounded experience to Magnetic Specialties.
Mike Afflerbach, President of Magnetics Specialties, says, “We feel extremely fortunate to be adding Michael Smith and his talents to our team. Mike’s prior sales experience within the custom magnetics industry brings a wealth of knowledge to MSI. Mike’s professionalism will cultivate new business and exciting opportunities for our company today and in the future.”
Joining Magnetic Specialties, Mike will utilize his experience and leadership skills to maintain and promote marketing and sales for MSI. We are confident Mike will provide our customers with outstanding support.
Mike lives in Pennsauken NJ and enjoys life with his wife, Kathryn. They have 2 married daughters.
For additional information, contact Michael K. Smith at 267-384-5231 x1108 or [email protected] and visit us at www.magspecinc.com.”
This past Friday we promised you an update on some of the recent auctions featuring used heat treat equipment-we start off with Angstrom Precision Metals of Mentor, Ohio, USA. This auction featured a total of 7 older Surface Combustion “Standard Allcases” which typically have working dimensions of 24” X 36” X 20” high and a couple of old Surface endo generators. Our feeling was that this equipment was not going to excite many people and our prediction proved correct. As far as we know captive heat treater Pace Engineering in nearby Willoughby, Ohio (who currently run 6 standard Allcases in their heat treat department) bought some of the equipment with the remainder being sold for scrap. This photo shows part of the heat treating department at Pace.
Aerojet Rocketdyne Auction, California, USA. We have already provided an update about this auction which featured a monster Abar Ispen vacuum furnace (photo below). However if you missed the update to cut a long story short the auction took place December 10th and the furnace remains on the used equipment market.
November 20th there was an auction at Ashland Precision Tooling in Ashland, Ohio. Of interest to heat treaters were a reasonably nice Plateg Ion Nitrider and an electrically heated Surface Combustion batch IQ furnace with working dimensions of 36” X 48” X 36”. The Ion nitrider sold to a commercial heat treater in the Cleveland, Ohio area for a supposed $50,000 USD and the Surface Allcase was bought by a used equipment dealer.
December 5th the equipment at what was once Bluewater Thermal Processing in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada went on the auction block. This included two older mesh belt lines, several batch IQ furnaces and two large systems for processing aluminum engine blocks. One of the Surface 36” X 72” batch IQ’s sold to a customer in Texas for over $300K USD, one was sold to a customer in Canada and supposedly 2 units were sold to an individual in Ontario who is planning on opening up a brand new commercial heat treat shop in the province, one of the mesh belt lines was also bought by this individual. The aluminum furnaces were not sold which is no real surprise, nice looking systems but a limited market. The photo below shows the furnace which went to Texas.
Last Friday, December 13th we had the photo below-when we posted it we suggested that the fellow on the left looked a great deal like David Crosby of the musical group “Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young”. We of course were having some fun with a good friend of ours, Mr. Henry Beckley of commercial heat treat Rochester Steel Treating in Rochester, NY, USA. On his left is the General Manager of the company, Mr. Keith Heiden. The company made our news section recently when we announced that they had just achieved NADCAP certification.
In people news we hear that Anne Miner has parted ways with furnace builder Diablo of Rockford, IL., USA. Anne has been in the heat treating industry for many, years, generally in a marketing position. The rumor mill is in high gear these days about one of the Larger Commercial Heat Treating Groups in North America being on the auction block. We say rumor, however we are pretty sure it is true. More to come on this in the near future. Metex Heat Treat (who we see are billing themselves as the largest commercial heat treat in Canada) just keeps on growing. The company which is based in Mississauga, Canada will shortly be installing a 36” X 72” X 36” batch IQ furnace which will compliment their existing 5 or 6 batch IQ’s (we’re losing track). This photo shows the founder of the company Mr. Surjit Bawa with Gord Montgomery in the firm’s induction department.
From Pennsylvania, USA we have this press release from Vacu-Braze; “Vacu Braze continues to expand its capabilities for the Aerospace Industry by receiving the GE Aviation Supplier Approval for Vacuum Heat Treating. The GT193 verifies that a review has been completed of Vacu Braze’s technical resources and quality system controls used in heat treating and has found our process to be capable of satisfying certain GE Aviation requirements and specifications. Vacu Braze offers a variety of services catering to the aerospace industry. These include precision vacuum heat treatment for parts such as fasteners, bearings and bushings, weldments, and many other aircraft components. As Vacu Braze continues to expand capabilities and technical certifications, we look forward to the opportunity to provide more high-quality services to customers in all the industries we serve.
Our friends at furnace builder SECO/WARWICK landed a nice order from an aerospace company in China.” SECO/WARWICK designed, manufactured and commissioned a 25-kg (55-pound) single-crystal furnace and a 50-kg (110-pound) vacuum melting and casting furnace for the production of high-quality, premium castings for a producer of aviation engines in China. The order includes a high-temperature vacuum gas-quench furnace that will be used for scale- and pollution-free thermal treatment of metals. SECO/WARWICK will also provide professional technical services to ensure smooth start-up and operation of the equipment.” And to wrap things up today we understand that aerospace supplier and captive heat treater Northstar in Bedford Park, Illinois, USA is about to start up some more equipment at their in house heat treat department. If you recall the Northstar facility in Milton, Ontario, Canada closed down at the end of 2017 and some of the equipment including furnaces and press quenches were transferred to Illinois after rebuilding.
Recently there have been a slew of auctions featuring heat treat equipment, Bluewater Thermal, in Canada, Aerojet Rocketdyne in California, USA, Angstrom Precision Metals in Ohio, USA, and Ashland Precision Tooling again in Ohio, USA all come to mind. We are prepared to give you an update on where all (or most of) this equipment went to of didn’t go to Monday of next week as part of our “Monday Morning Briefing”. In some cases we can give you an idea about what it sold for. The bottom line is that the equipment went to both captive and commercial heat treaters scattered all over North America.
You could be forgiven for thinking the fellow on the left in this photo is the famous David Crosby of “Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young” but you would be incorrect. Monday we will tell you who he is and what company he is with.
Remember this auction which was held yesterday (December 10)? Well the furnace is still available as it turns out.
“Machinery Marketing International, in collaboration with Hilco Industrial, has announced a large industrial auction of Aerojet Rocketdyne manufacturing equipment. Aerojet Rocketdyne is a rocket and missile propulsion manufacturer based out of California. The auction of this 800,000+ sqft manufacturing facility features advanced large capacity heat & vacuum treating, composite structure forming, CNC machining, quality assurance & more.? Key assets in auction include an Abar Ipsen HR-120x152VC 6-Bar MetalMaster Horizontal Vacuum Compression Braze Furnace, Baron 200A650 10′ Electric Autoclave, Grieve HB-500 500°F Electric Oven, a Giddings & Lewis 72″ CNC Vertical Turret Lathe, and more. Paul Zimmer, CEO of Machinery Marketing International, stated, “We are proud to have been selected as an asset disposition partner for this closure. This facility features rare aerospace equipment including vacuum furnaces and heat treatment machinery, composite manufacturing equipment, large scale turret lathes, and a wide selection of machine tools. The scale and quality of this equipment makes this auction a unique opportunity for buyers.” The live auction will take place December 10/2019.”
Paulo, one of the largest commercial heat treaters in North America https://themonty.com/largest-
“Paulo is proud to announce that three facilities have been awarded Gulfstream approval following on-site audits in St. Louis, Cleveland, and Kansas City. Leading the audit was a Corporate Quality Assurance Regulatory Compliance Specialist from the Savannah, Georgia Headquarters.
The auditor met with key Paulo team members at each of the three locations over a one-week trip. The results were overwhelmingly positive, and approval was granted quickly.
The scope of the approval is quite wide, encompassing several Gulfstream specifications for various materials and processes. Paulo is approved for GAMPS 5101, 5102, 5103, 5104, and 5105. Paulo’s Cleveland facility was also approved for Hot Isostatic Pressing and furnace brazing. Chad Simpson, Corporate Director of Quality commented, “We are excited to add another Prime approval to our capabilities and for the opportunity to provide Gulfstream and its suppliers with the customer service and quality Paulo is known for.”
“We’ve been intentional about working with Primes and OEMs over the past couple years, adding to our approvals and giving them more visibility into their supply chain relative to thermal processing. As the Aerospace industry works through the massive backlog of orders, we are excited to help do our part and provide alternative sources for Gulfstream and its suppliers,” said William Rassieur, Vice President Sales.
Need Gulfstream spec thermal processing? Let’s talk. If you’re in the Wichita area, see how we are bringing Paulo to you.
Founded in 1943, Paulo is one of the largest providers of thermal processing and metal finishing solutions in North America. Headquartered in St. Louis, Paulo operates six divisions servicing the Midwest, Great Lakes, and Southeast regions of the United States and northern Mexico.”
One of the hottest trends in the heat treatment industry in North America in 2019 has been the dramatic growth in Hot Isostatic Pressing. Kittyhawk in California, USA is a long established player in this field who has found the increased demand for this technology warranted a very substantial investment in an additional facility and more equipment.
“Kittyhawk has officially begun providing Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) services at their new facility in Canby, Oregon. In response to increased demand for HIP services in the Pacific Northwest, Kittyhawk expanded from its Southern California location to accommodate continued growth of its customers and to attract new customers from the region. Kittyhawk’s multi-million dollar investment plan included the purchase of a 27,000 sq. ft. facility capable of housing multiple HIP units and the purchase of a state-of-the-art 46×100 HIP unit. The company expects to hire local talent to join the Canby team and will install a second 46×100 unit in early 2020. Kittyhawk was founded in 1981 to provide Hot Isostatic Pressing services to the casting industry. Headquarted in Garden Grove, CA, a suburb of Los Angeles, Kittyhawk operates 6 HIP units and employs over 50 people. The company is dedicated to providing excellent, timely and economical services to its customers. Kittyhawk serves companies from the aerospace, commercial, military, automotive, firearms medical, oil and gas industries. For more information, please contact Brandon Creason at [email protected] or 714-895-5024.”
By way of background about Q-Tech Heat Treat we will summarize by using this description from their website: “Founded in 1972 by R.D. Fussell and sons in a 1000 sq. foot building with 2 furnaces. We have grown to our current size of 100,000 sq. feet and over 40 furnaces. Our main focus is on customer needs, and servicing them on a personal level. We have been ISO approved since 2003. We have also been approved for steel parts through General Dynamics, and Komatsu from Osaka, Japan.” With that background out of the way we can tell you that the company is run by John Fussell, his son Sean Fussell and his son in law Casher Dowell, all of who are some of the nicest people you are going to meet in the industry. The company has long been a very substantial player in the commercial heat treating market in Texas and recently they have been finding business to be good enough to warrant more capacity. The additional capacity will take the form of 2 gas fired batch IQ furnaces with working dimensions of 36” X 72” X 36” high and top cool option. Also included will be all the ancillary equipment required such as tempers, washer and charge car. It always makes our day to see companies growing and expanding.
“Centorr Vacuum Industries announced it has shipped a new lab sized Series 45 top loading furnace for ultra high temperature research and development work. The hot zone size of 6” diameter x 9” high is ideal for heat treatment of ceramics, graphite and carbon composites, process development, and lab studies. The hot zone is contained within a robust double walled, water jacketed, all stainless steel chamber. This newest offering combines the proven designs of Centorr’s popular LF 22-3000 Lab Furnace and the rugged Series 45 furnaces to yield a furnace capable of 3,200ºC in an inert gas atmosphere. Centorr’s Series 45 graphite furnace design includes solid graphite panel elements designed for long service life within a cylindrical hot zone of rigid graphite insulation to provide long-term service even in the presence of process off-gassing. The Vacuum Pumping System is capable of attaining 5 x 10-2 Torr prior to backfilling with Process Gas up to 2 PSIG. Operation is at 2,400ºC in 1 Torr of vacuum with full 3,200ºC capability in 2 PSIG of process gas. Furnace Control is via PLC/Programmable Controllers with Centorr’s custom-designed HMI visualization interface available as an option.”
Centorr Vacuum Industries is a high temperature vacuum and controlled atmosphere furnace manufacturer which was founded in 1954, with an installed base of over 6500 units worldwide. Their furnace offering ranges from large commercial and production units with hot zones over 3m x 3m, to smaller Lab and Research & Development furnaces. They are located in Nashua, NH with a fully staffed Aftermarket Field Service group, and Applied Technology Center offering R&D support and toll production service. For more information please visit www.centorr.com.
