Cutting - Some of the
cutting we can do is cut to length, split in half, angle cutting, and near net shape
cutting.
Maximum Capacities - Up to 62"
in diameter and 34,000 pounds per piece. 
Turning - Machining
material off the outside diameter of the material.
Maximum Capacities - Up to 60"
in diameter by 324" in length and 40,000 pounds per piece.
Trepanning - A type
of machining performed on solid material whereas a hole is bored through the part.
The end product is normally a heavy-wall tube or hollow bar. Trepanning is a
"coring" operation as opposed to other methods of drilling a hole. The
cutting toll cuts out a portion of the hole in chips and the inner portion of the hole
remains solid. This solid portion is extracted after the hole is completed.
Maximum Capacities - From a
¾" hole up to and 11" hole, and with lengths of 10" up to 40'.
Boring - A machining
process used on tubing, rolled, pierced, extruded or trepanned, to enlarge the size of an
existing hole.
Maximum Capacities - Up to a
25½" hole with weight capacity of 34,000 pounds per piece.
Honing - A process
using abrasive stones and emery cloth to achieve precise hole diameters and improved
finishes. This process is not used to remove large amounts of material. Other
machining process would precede honing when larger amounts of material are needing to be
removed.
Maximum Capacities - ID size range
of 1½" up to 20" with maximum weight capacity per piece of 34,000.
Gundrilling - This
type of machining is sued when smaller holes (0.125" - 1.250" diameters) are
required and a closer hole diameter tolerance is preferred or required. It is the
slowest of the drilling operations and the hole drift is typically greater per inch of
length drilled.
Maximum Capacities - ID size range
of .062" up to 1½" with lengths of 10" up to 100" long.
Off-Center Drilling
- A machining process where the hole is drilled off center and not down the middle of the
bar.
Maximum Capacities - ID size range
of .062" up to 1½" with lengths of 10" up to 100" long.
Pull Bore - a
machining process used on tubing, rolled, pierced, extruded or trepanned, to enlarge the
size of an existing hole. This process can be used to maintain the existing outside
diameter (OD) to inside diameter (ID) concentricity or used to straighten the hole for
drifting without regard for the wall variance.
Pack Bore - A
machining process used ot improve the straightness of the hole. This process is
applicable when the hole must drift with a drift gauge and/or requires turning with a
close wall concentricity. Trepanning only will not always produce a hole straight
enough to facilitate these requirements.
Skive/Reaming
- This machining process is used to economically enlarge the ID of tubing. The
optimum amount of material removal is between 0.090" to 0.250" total, although
larger amount to 0.500" can be removed.
Roller Burnish
- Smoothing the surfaces of an ID through frictional contact between a harden metal roller
and the ID of a tube or pipe.
Kelly/Spiral Milling
- A machining process where either flat or grooved sides are machined onto the OD of the
material.
Rough Maching -
A machining process done without regard to finish, usually to be followed by a subsequent
operation.
Maximum Capacities -
Straightening -
A process of straightening a piece of metal by suspending the two ends and placing a
stress higher than its yield strength to remove warp and distortion.
Maximum Capacities - Using a rotary
straightener, sizes from 1" to 2" in outside diameter and with lengths of
10' to 25' can be straightened. Under a gag press, a maximum outside
diameter of 42" and weight of 35 tons per piece can be processed.
Heat Treating Terminology
Normalizing - A
treatment consisting of heating uniformly to temperature at least 100ºF above the
critical range and cooling in still air at room temperature. The treatment produces
a recrystallization and refinement of the grain structure and gives uniformity in hardness
and structure to the product.
Annealing - A
treatment consisting of heating uniformly to a temperature, within or above the critical
range and cooling at a controlled rate to a temperature under the critical range.
This treatment is used to produce a definite microstructure, usually one designed for best
machinability, and /or to remove stresses, induce softness, and alter ductility, toughness
or other mechanical properties. When applied to nonferrous alloys, the term
"annealing", without qualification, implies full anneal. When applied to
nonferrous alloys, the term annealing implies a heat treatment designed to soften
a cold worked structure by recrystallization or subsequent grain growth or to soften an
aged-hardened alloy by causing a nearly complete precipitation of the second phase in
relatively coarse form. Any process of annealing will usually reduce stress, but if
the treatment is applied for the sole purpose of such relief, it should be designated
stress relieving.
Austenitizing -
Forming austenite by heating uniformly to temperature at least 100ºF above the critical
range and cooling in still air at room temperature. The treatment produces a
recrystalization and refinement of the grain structure and gives uniformity in hardness
and structure to the product.
Quenching - a
treatment consisting of heating uniformly to a predetermined temperature and cooling
rapidly in air or liquid medium to produce a desired crystalline structure.
Tempering - A
treatment consisting of heating uniformly to some predetermined temperature under the
critical range, holding at that temperature a designated period of time and cooling in air
or liquid. This treatment is used to produce one or more of the following end
results:
- To soften material for subsequent machining or cold work,
- To improve ductility and relieve stress resulting from prior
treatment or cold working,
- To produce the desired mechanical properties or structure in
the second step of a double treatment.
Stress Relieve Temper
- A thermal treatment to restore elastic properties and to minimize distortion on
subsequent machining or hardening operations. This treatment is usually applied to
material that has been heat treated (quenched and tempered). Normal
practice would
be to heat to a temperature of 100ºF lower than the tempering temperatures used to
establish mechanical properties and hardness. Ordinarily, no straightening is
performed after stress relieve temper.
Age Hardening -
A change in properties of certain metals and alloys that occurs at ambient or moderately
elevated temperatures after hot working, cold working, or heat treating. The change
in properties is often, but not always, due to a phase change (precipitation), but never
involves a change in chemical composition of the metal or alloy.
Induction Hardening
- A surface-hardening process in which only the surface layer of a suitable ferrous
workpiece is heated by electromagnetic induction to above the upper critical temperature
and immediately quenched.
Carburizing and
Hardening - A treatment consisting of dissolving carbon into the surface of
steel by heating to above the transformation range in the presence of carburizing
compounds. A form of case hardening that produces a carbon gradient
extending inward from the surface, enabling the surface layer to be hardened either by
quenching directly from the carburizing temperature or by cooling to room temperature,
then reaustenitizing and quenching.
Nitrocarburizing
- Any of several processes in which both nitrogen and carbon are absorbed into the surface
layers of a ferrous material at temperatures below the lower critical temperature and, by
diffusion, create a concentration gradient. Nitrocarburizing is done mainly to
provide an antiscuffing surface layer and to improve fatigue resistance.
Gas Nitriding -
A treatment consisting of introducing nitrogen into the surface layer of solid ferrous
alloys by holding at suitable temperature in contact with ammonia or molten cyanide of
appropriate composition to produce extremely hard "skins".
Carbonitriding
- A case hardening process in which a suitable ferrous material is heated above the lower
transformation temperature in a gaseous atmosphere of such composition as to cause
simultaneous absorption of carbon and nitrogen by the surface and, by diffusion, create a
concentration gradient. The process is completed by cooling at a rate that produces
the desired properties in the workpiece.
