Heat Treat Tray?

[walterwoj]

I recently rebuilt an old muffle oven to use for heat treat parts, it is capable of at least 2000f. I have run a few items through it but most of my parts are smaller so I was thinking about a tray of some type to put the parts in. The oven is 6.5" wide and 16" deep. What type of metal should I make the tray out of? Does anyone else use a tray?

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[Headhunter Pipe Co]

Graphite molds .will hold up to 2000 degrees C

I suggest that you educate yourself on possible toxic fumes coming from each material will be working with that will be getting heated.
Check out a casting supply store, might give allot better info then me.

 

[benmychree]

Stainless steel holds up pretty well, 300 series, also cast iron used to be used for such as boxes for carburizing. I use a SS box in my oven for protection from scaling, I use crushed coke to pack the items in.

 

[BGHansen]

I made mine out of 16-gauge CRS. My small furnace is around 4" x 4" x 8" deep. I made this to just shy of the sidewalls and only about 6" deep. In retrospect, I could/should have gone 8" deep since that's the depth of the furnace. The sides and back around about 1" tall with a 1/4" lip on the front. I ran a 10-24 machine screw threw mine for a handle to grab onto with a pliers.

Bruce


Little heat treat holding tray from 16-gauge CRS



I grab onto the bolt with a pliers and dump the hot stuff in quenching oil

 

[walterwoj]

@BGHansen : How has the tray held up? Have you gotten a lot of use out of it? I was worried about cold-rolled steel reacting and becoming brittle with minimal use.

 

[pontiac428]

Altoids boxes are great for HT tool bits, especially if you use a gas generator like Kasenit or ferrocyanate- but even charcoal will work. Gas generation displaces oxygen so the part doesn't blacken. Cyanide and nitrogen both diffuse into the red hot steel and form very hard precipitates.

The other way to protect parts while heat treating is to use .002 stainless steel foil and seal the part in an airtight bindle.

 

[pdentrem]

Our graphite molds and crucibles will start to burn at 850F if the heat is not removed. When I cast by hand on the induction melter the metal cools quickly and the mold has no real chance of reaching or maintaining a high enough temperature to ignite, but from time to time one can smell the carbon/graphite getting hot. Inside the continuous casting machine we use Argon or Nitrogen gas, (which is cheaper) to keep the Oxygen away as the temps can be up to 2600F for hours.
Pierre

 

[BGHansen]

@BGHansen : How has the tray held up? Have you gotten a lot of use out of it? I was worried about cold-rolled steel reacting and becoming brittle with minimal use.

It has held up great. It's been used at least a dozen times to 1600 F. It has a little warp, maybe 1/8" from being perfectly flat, but that may have been from the start based on the expertise of the "craftsman" who bent it up! I did add a little lip on the front by the bolt. Things got a little exciting when I removed the tray from the oven and had a punch just about roll out the front.

Bruce

 

[walterwoj]

@BGHansen : Do you worry about decarb in your heat treating? I have just been accepting the discoloration but I would like to minimize it if it can be done easily/cheaply...

 

[BGHansen]

@BGHansen : Do you worry about decarb in your heat treating? I have just been accepting the discoloration but I would like to minimize it if it can be done easily/cheaply...

I don't, I hit the parts with a Scotchbrite wheel after hardening. One of these years I may try covering with SS wrap, but the Scotchbrite goes very quickly.

Bruce