heating/tempering metal

[Biggreenavalanche]

So, I loaned my box blade to a friend...who loaned it to his friend...his friend bent the he$# out of the "A-Frame" (three pt hookup)...I'm going over to my friend's house and our plan is to heat with a torch and bend back straight...my question is, do I need to re-temper the steel ? If so, how would I do that while the A-Frame is still attached to the box blade...if I don't need to re-temper, then disregard the question...one more thing...plan on welding a couple of braces to the A-frame, parallel to the ground to try to stiffen the frame a little, thoughts on that ?...BTW, it's a Massey Ferguson 72" box...

Thanks in advance...

Rich

 

[BukitCase]

Should be just mild steel, if so no need to temper.

Braces - not a bad idea, especially on a non-pto implement - but if you ever think you might want a quick hitch, I'd keep any new braces at least 8" below your toplink pin... Steve

 

[300UGUY]

I'd be kinda torqued at a friend who loaned your stuff to somebody else. Having said that, no need to temper, but getting a weldment back into form can be tough. It took a lot of force to bend it, it will take a lot of force to bend it back. Then the position of the pins might be out of whack. I'd not be loaning to this friend much.

 

[BukitCase]

Not only that, I think I'd be re-defining the word, "friend"... Steve

 

[Biggreenavalanche]

Yeah but a friend is a friend and I won't give up a friend over a lump of steel...true friends are hard to find...anyway, both arms are bent and twisted in three dimensions, we tried heat, total no go...so, the friend of the friend is buying a new set...124.00 on eBay...way I figure sh*t happens and he's gonna make it right...thanks to all for response...will file this new knowledge for future reference....

Thanks again,

Rich

 

[Arc weld]

Good thing it wasn't a vehicle or your tractor that you loaned. If it was bent that bad, it had to be used over it's capacity or improperly. Can you post a picture? Then we could give you an idea how to strengthen it so it doesn't bend again.

 

[k0ua]

The Friend pushed backward's into something solid..Happens all the time.

 

[Biggreenavalanche]

k0ua, yep, spot on and not gonna get worked up over it...

ArcWeld...I'll try to get back over there and get a pic...no promises...basically the a-frame on this blade consists of two arms coming from the rear and two heavy duty arms coming from the front, no welds, they all join up together at the apex where the top link connects...my thought is two horizontal braces welded in to both the front and back braces...will take BukitCase's advice and make sure the top brace is at least 8" down as I may convert to a quick hitch set up in the future...

How it was explained to me is the guy disconnected the lower arms and forgot to disconnect the top link and drove off at an angle, realized his mistake but compounded it by trying to back up to try and straighten things up...both actions really twisted everything up...anyway, he's paying for the fix...

And yep, glad it was not my tractor or vehicle !! Would probably have been a "bit" more worked up !!

Rich

 

[Grumpy Old Man]

I have a neighbor who wanted to borrow the 855 to clean his drainage ditch from storm debris ...I sent the ol' lady and a shovel ,Worked for me !

 

[jmc]

Just for the record, mild steel doesn't have enough carbon in it to harden. You can 'case harden' mild steel by heating it in the presence of carbon but that just hardens the surface where the extra carbon is- inside will still be soft.

 

[Biggreenavalanche]

Grumpy...Hysterical !! If I tried that with my girl she would politely inform me about a part of the anatomy where the sun never shines, when I could go, and what to take with me !! :shocked::laughing:

JMC, thanks I'll keep that in mind...

Rich

 

[BukitCase]

If anyone REALLY wants to know more about tempering, etc, see if you can find a book called The Making of Tools, by Alexander Weygers - he wrote a couple more, I have 'em somewhere but don't recall the titles exactly.

Weygers is (was, maybe) actually a sculptor, who ended up traveling worldwide - he describes things like being given a piece of exotic wood, "seeing" the animal inside, as sculptors tend to say, then realizing he wasn't home, had no tools, yadayada - he then describes finding (for example) a couple worn-out files, meeting a man and his son who had a makeshift forge, forging the sculpting tools he needed, then a pic of the finished piece, etc.

It's a very entertaining read as well as a learning experience - the title I mentioned even has a full color chart of oxidation temps/colors, as viewed in a dim light - VERY useful in tempering/hardening.

It's usually a pretty hard to find book, but well worth the effort IMHO... Steve

 

[Biggreenavalanche]

If anyone REALLY wants to know more about tempering, etc, see if you can find a book called The Making of Tools, by Alexander Weygers - he wrote a couple more, I have 'em somewhere but don't recall the titles exactly.

Weygers is (was, maybe) actually a sculptor, who ended up traveling worldwide - he describes things like being given a piece of exotic wood, "seeing" the animal inside, as sculptors tend to say, then realizing he wasn't home, had no tools, yadayada - he then describes finding (for example) a couple worn-out files, meeting a man and his son who had a makeshift forge, forging the sculpting tools he needed, then a pic of the finished piece, etc.

It's a very entertaining read as well as a learning experience - the title I mentioned even has a full color chart of oxidation temps/colors, as viewed in a dim light - VERY useful in tempering/hardening.

It's usually a pretty hard to find book, but well worth the effort IMHO... Steve

Sounds like an interesting read...I may order from BAM...Thanks for the info...Rich

 

[BukitCase]

Amazon.com: Buying Choices: The Making of Tools

New, it's $39 - used, from $7 and up. A search at Amazon also turned up one of the other titles I'd forgotten, The Complete Modern Blacksmith - it's good, but if you're only gonna get one I'd stick with The Making of Tools... Steve