General machine shop, Northwestern United States
Industry: Fluid Motion Control; General Machine Shop
Application: Pump Shaft
Location: Northwestern United States
Problem
A pump shaft manufacturer was having problems using stainless 410 and 416 for the shafts. There was a significant amount of residual stress in every bar processed, causing the customer to buy annealed, over-sized products so the bar could be machined down at the end of production; each bar would be bent, straightened and reground. The shop would buy the bar, machine it, send it out for a second heat treatment, bring it back in-house and finish the machining.
Solution
The customer was initially skeptical that any process or provider could reduce the issues related to residual stress. Castle is able to provide quench and tempered stainless 410 and 416 stress free, which removes the need for any additional heat treatment or processing. It also remains straight during production, removing the need for additional rework on the material. To ensure that the products would remain consistent, Castle provided a number of trials in different sizes to the customer.
Result
Since partnering with Castle Metals’, this customer has stated that he is ‘thoroughly impressed’ with the products and services received. He now purchases quench and tempered stainless 410, 416 and alloy 4140 in 35 different sizes from Castle. His cost savings are astronomical; the customer has reduced machine time, heat treatment, travel times and scrap. Labor costs are not devoted to reworking as many products, saving 30% of the original machine time. A total of $140,000 per year is saved on heat treating alone – with products from Castle Metals, no secondary heat treatment is necessary. Approximately $20,000 per year is saved on logistics because the customer is no longer sending materials to another shop for processing, (which also removes additional time for travel). Stainless scrap no longer exists because materials now arrive in the size needed for the final product, removing the scrap that resulted from machining down oversized materials.