Home / Machine Shop Uses Benchtop Oven for Heat Treating with Nitrogen

Machine Shop Uses Benchtop Oven for Heat Treating with Nitrogen

Hueter runs small lots of Becu pins under a nitrogen atmosphere inside a 42GT-H12 oven from Lucifer Furnaces to achieve a specific Rockwell hardness and reduce surface oxidation for a scale free, bright finish.

Posted: March 13, 2017

Operations manager Adam Hueter stands beside the customized 42GT-H12 bench top oven that has a 9 in x 12 in x 12 in chamber and is insulated with 5 in of both insulating firebrick and mineral wood backup. Its 4 kW power allows fast heat up to 1200 deg F. Built for operation using inert atmosphere, it is crafted with a continuously welded outer steel shell and gasketed roof plate. A strong seal on the double pivot door is achieved with a square gasket around the door perimeter to form a tight seal to the oven face-place. Swing bolts with T handles make clamping easy.

R. Hueter Co. (Beverly MA), a northeast CNC machine shop specializing in male and female RF connector contact production, has added a heat treating oven from Lucifer Furnaces, Inc. (Warrington, PA) to meet their growing heat treating needs. Adam Hueter, the operations manager at this machine shop, chose the Model 42GT-H12 oven from Lucifer Furnaces because of their reputation for delivering high quality products at an affordable price.

This oven was customized as a bench top unit. With a chamber size of 9 in x 12 in x 12 in, this oven is insulated with 5 in of both insulating firebrick and mineral wool backup, and uses 4 kW power to allow fast heat up to 1200 deg F. GT Series ovens, built for operation using inert atmosphere, are crafted with a continuously welded outer steel shell and gasketed roof plate. A strong seal on the double pivot door is achieved with a square gasket around the door perimeter to form a tight seal to the oven face-place. Swing bolts with T handles make clamping easy.

The stainless steel liner baffles the work chamber from the side wall heating elements and directs the air flow horizontally through the chamber for uniform heating. Hueter chose a Honeywell DC2500 temperature controller with a Soak Timer to shut off heating elements at the end of a programmed cycle, in addition to a Flowmeter that is mounted and piped to the oven for easy connection their atmosphere supply. The shop plans to use the furnace primarily around 600 deg F for two-hour cycles to achieve a specific Rockwell hardness with small lots of Becu pins under a nitrogen atmosphere to reduce surface oxidation in order to achieve a scale free, bright finish.

“Right now this oven is running like a dream!” noted Adam after the installation. “I am completely satisfied with it and their team has given me great support along the way.”

R. Hueter Co., 416 Cabot Street, Beverly, MA 01915, 978-927-3482, r.hueterco@verizon.net, www.rhueterco.com.

Lucifer Furnaces, Inc., 2048 Bunnel Road, Warrington, PA 18976, 800-378-0095, www.luciferfurnaces.com.