Steel hardening questions

Unfortunately, second picture was focused on booklet, not the foot, and the others behind it makes it appear longer than it is. That short piece made 4 feet with just a smidgen left over for shank positioning, should work! Have another 9' foot piece to make shanks, and possibly more rippers as 4 places them 16" apart, and most commercial scarifiers are in the 12" spacing neighborhood.

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Thankfully my driveway is fully paved and I don't have to grade it. Some years ago we had a country property, 100 Acres, sold in 2004, and I used to grade the tracks every year, plus make a few new ones We only had a small tractor, but we did have a proper, although light weight, grader blade on the back, and I made some ripper blades for that, just used whatever cheap or free steel that I could scrounge, I used to just hard face them never had a problem as they didn't do a lot of work, I also hard faced the edges of the grader blade and the slasher blades when needed. Not very often 5 or 10 years depended on use.
 
D1005 said:
Unfortunately, second picture was focused on booklet, not the foot, and the others behind it makes it appear longer than it is. That short piece made 4 feet with just a smidgen left over for shank positioning, should work! Have another 9' foot piece to make shanks, and possibly more rippers as 4 places them 16" apart, and most commercial scarifiers are in the 12" spacing neighborhood.

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Starting to look good, should do what you want. What sort of tractor you got..
 
Bob,

A paved driveway, that would be nice. :excitement:

The project I'm just finishing now is a belly mount grader blade. I've used the one on my old Wheel Horse for more years than I can count, and it grades far better than any other blade I've tried, front or back. Other than the aggregate sorting a I've mentioned. Which is worse at this place as I had road gravel hauled in to make a proper driveway, and it has more of the larger aggregate than I had at my first place for 24 years, or the farm for 20 years before that.

Because of health/mobility problems, getting on and off the old garden tractor is hard to do, I need something overhead to pull myself up to get on and off. I bought a Kubota BX2670 (25hp) a few years back for mowing and blowing snow, with a flat operator platform which is much easier for me use. Time to upgrade! Now while virtually every manufacturer 40 years ago made grader blade attachments, they no longer do, so I'm building my own. 70" wide rather than the Wheel Horse's 42". Hydraulic power angle as well. No more getting on and off to adjust the angle to build proper crowns.

A little addition here, the scarifier these shanks/shoes/feet will be front mounted, with it's own independent hydraulic raise/lower. So I can scarify or not, depending on the exact needs at that particular spot.

Which brings me up to more questions. Now remember, I'm just an old, self taught, farm boy when it comes to metal work. Cut it however possible, stick weld it together. That's it. That's the sum total of my tools beyond the oxy/acetylene torch (which I've dabbled at with welding, but have never had any real success with, so I've always revert back to the stick). I am NOT a machinist, don't claim to be. I don't know metallurgy, certainly don't claim that. But I like to dabble, and ask questions, and get stumped with so many terms common to those of you in the know.

How the heck does one hardface the edge of a blade? Or are you just talking the previously mentioned type of welding rods, and just lay a bead on it? I wish I could lay a decent bead!!! I have "sorta" good luck with 6013 electrodes, tried 6011 and did terrible. Clean and dirty steel alike. "Hardfacing" electrodes, or whatever the heck the proper term is, would be a real unknown to me and whether I could even lay a good bead or not.

The steel I used for the blade, you got it, junkyard steel of an unknown quality, a piece of 8 3/4" pipe I cut a section out of. When it wears out, which could be quickly, or not, who knows, I have a couple of options. Weld/bolt a chunk of whatever I can find cheap, on to replace what wears off or, cut out a complete new blade from the pipe. There is plenty left.

Or hardface to last, which with zero education on steel work under my belt, I'm not sure what we're talking about. Again.

Sorry, I get long sometimes.

Dale
 
Laying a bead, hardfacing or just plain steel is really only a matter of practice, set your machine up as recommended on the welding rod packet and give it a go. If it doesn't work experiment with machine settings up or down but not more than 20%. If it's still no good talk to the local welding supplies guys, they are usually always willing to help. Always with arc welding it's important to store the rods correctly sealed up and in a warm dry place, not always easy in your climate, especially if you don't have continuous heat in your shop.

When you buy new rods keep in their sealed packet until you need them. If your shop is cold and damp keep them in the house, or you could make a rod storage cabinet. get an old metal box that is a suitable size for the rods you want to store, also get a used coffee can big enough to fit a regular incandescent light globe, fix a light globe holder into the base of the can, and drill a series of holes around the base, size is not important 1/2" to 3/4" is fine, drill some corresponding holes in the base of the metal box and attach the can to the underside of the box so the holes line up, now mount it on the wall, Plug it in and leave it on 24/7 you could also wire in a basic thermostat to hold the inside of your storage box between 20c 68f. and 30c 86f. If you winter are really cold it may help to insulate the box. That will keep your rods warm and dry so they will work perfectly next time you need them.

I've always found hardfacing rods relatively easy to use, especially if you set the job up so it's straight forward downhand welding. Talk to your local welding supplies see if they run a course. and get their advice on what rods to use for your application.

I'd tend to stick with your 6013 rods for general structural welding as in building your tynes, and just use the hard facing rods on the wearing surfaces, and they will become obvious with use. When welding the foot of your tyne to the leg don't forget to deep V the edges where the wild will be, and give it plenty of amps up to 20% more than the guide. this join will need good penetration as it is a high stress join. waiting to see the results.
 
Downunder Bob, THANKS! :applause: You've been very helpful and patient with my questions, I really appreciate it. For once, I'm left without more questions, not sure if that's good or bad.:) The majority of my rods are kept in closed, sealed, plastic electrode storage containers, but don't use quite as many precautions as you mentioned. Bottom line, they seem to work the same whether freshly bought, or if they have been stored a while. It's kind of a balancing act between buying big packages which are way cheaper per rod, and buying smaller packages so they get used up before getting too old.

I've read so often, "expand your abilities", "expand your horizons", "try new", "improve yourself", etc., and I have with varying degrees of success, and much failure. If I remember right, 6011 was all we had on the farm, but somewhere along the line switched to 6013, then got the big idea of comparing them head to head. Yeah, I'm sticking with 6013.:D Anyway, I was about ready to stick with what I know, but heat treating and/or hard facing just might be worth a shot as they sound entirely doable, with the instructions attained here.

Thanks again. :cheer:
 
magicniner said:
That's where you're making your mistake :D
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If I was trying to make a living, I'd agree. What I'm doing is trying to fill free time, get some exercise. So the time may not be "free" it's actually paying me! ;)
 
And always remember "He who dares wins".
 
With the oncoming cold weather, I've been shut down most days, but did manage to finish welding the shanks today. Now remember guys, I'm a chicken scratch welder. My welds are never pretty, but they usually hold. For some reason, I can't make the same thing twice with identical dimensions, but close enough for me.

I'm thinking 5 shanks, but cutting a 45, makes two 45's, so I made a spare while I was at it.

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