Drill Rod

[Franko]

[Wreck slipped so some duplicaton]
Thanks, Wreck. I did some Googling after I asked the question.

For clarification, W designation is Water, the number after is carbon content.
There are three that I know of, W (Water), A (Air) and O (Oil).

When I purchased some drill rod from Enco, I noticed that the O rod was slightly less expensive than the A rod. I was mostly buying it to be consistent, smooth, straight rod to fabricate with. Since I was getting a selection from 1/8 to 1/2, I chose the O rod, as money was a factor.

My understanding, is that A rod hardens with slow cooling, so if you get it hot while you are working it, it will harden as it cools in air, where O and W rod, requiring respectively faster cooling to harden, stay annealed a little better, so are slightly easier (less complicated) to forge and machine, and can be easily re-annealed.

 

[Billh50]

I know A-2 requires it to be hardened in a stainless steel bag (or tight wrap). There is also a trick we used to use if we had no bags or wrap. Using a stainless pan deep enough. Put the part in the pan and fill all around and pack tightly in cast iron chips. This does work as I have had to use this method several times. I always kept cast iron chips in a box under the bench just for that purpose.

 

[bobl]

Yes can be but take care if you harden as can be a problem with threads as you need to temper after hardening


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk