Why Heat Treating Won’t Increase Costs and Lead Times
Heat treating is frequently the first line item that manufacturing customers axe when they want to expedite delivery or keep costs low. However, more than 40 years of precision machining experience have taught us that the conventional wisdom about heat treating isn’t necessarily accurate.
Heat treating, as you know, makes metal materials much harder and more wear-resistant. But this blog post isn’t about what heat treating is. It’s about what heat treating is not.
Allow us to explain.
From top to bottom: The top part is a soft CPM blank that has been machined with wire EDM and surface grind. The 2nd part is a soft CMP blank that has been CNC machined. The 3rd part is post heat treatment, hardened to roughly 56-58RC and ground. The 4th part is a finished part with ARMTEC plating.
Debunking Common Myths about Heat Treating
In this quick read, we’ll outline how heat treating can help you:
Cut costs
Maintain tight tolerances
Meet quick turnaround times
Here’s a look at the common myths and truths of heat treating precision machined metal parts:
Myth #1: Heat treating is too expensive
Some customers view heat treating as an unnecessary expense, especially for parts made from softer metals or designed for applications that won’t be exposed to extreme or corrosive environments. You may even be under the impression that heat treating will eat up a large percentage of your budget.
Truth #1: Heat treating can actually help you cut costs
While heat treating isn’t always strictly “necessary” (more on that in a minute), it’s almost never more expensive than skipping the heat treatment.
Practically speaking, machining a soft workpiece costs us more in machine time, which costs customers more money. For $60, we can get your part heat-treated, which will toughen the metal and make it easier to machine; or we can spend three hours at $60-75 per hour methodically cutting or grinding away the soft material. That’s a cost comparison of $60 vs. $180-$225 for those of you who haven’t had your coffee yet.
By getting your part heat treated, you’re investing in a higher-quality, longer-lasting part—for less than you would have paid had you nixed the hardening process.
Myth #2: Heat treating is not “necessary“
You may point out that some materials don’t benefit much from heat treatment, such as pure iron, wrought iron, and very low-carbon steels. Or perhaps you’re wondering why we’d heat treat a part that won’t ever be exposed to significant stress. But there are other factors to consider in addition to the end-use environment, such as tolerance specifications.
Truth #2: Heat treating may be necessary to maintain tight tolerances
Certain materials, such as softer stainless steels, are inherently loaded with stress, making them prone to bowing and twisting—and making it difficult, or even impossible, for precision machine shops to hold tight tolerances.
After cutting the stock down to size, we heat treat the workpiece, stabilizing the material and hardening it enough for us to machine tight tolerances to your specifications. In fact, we regularly heat treat materials that sit in the teens on the Rockwell hardness scale, and we get those workpieces back with hardnesses in the low 60s!
To be clear, if we’re making an aluminum part with standard tolerances, for example, we won’t suggest heat treating. That part should be easy enough to machine without hardening the material first. But if you’ve specified precision tolerances, flatness, or parallelism, heat treating does become necessary.
Myth #3: Heat treating takes too long
If you’re worried about delays, we absolutely understand and appreciate your concern! If we had to pack up your workpieces, ship them across the country for heat treating, receive them back, and then machine the parts, heat treating would potentially take a long time!
But we don’t have to do any of those things.
Truth #3: Heat treating is fast at Area Tool & Manufacturing, Inc.
We’re fortunate to partner with Peters’ Heat Treating for a full range of heat treatment services, including hardening, annealing, stress relieving, tempering, and even cryogenics.
Peters’ Heat Treating operates only seven minutes down the road from Area Tool & Manufacturing, Inc. Several times a day, our truck drives between our two shops, delivering aluminum for destressing and cryogenic freezing, transporting stainless steel for stabilization and solution annealing, and moving many other materials that require heat treating.
With standard 24-hour turnarounds and no shipping time or costs, there’s no excuse not to heat treat workpieces that will be improved by the process.
Say “Yes” to Heat Treating at Area Tool & Manufacturing, Inc.
We’re always looking for ways to improve our services and deliver the highest quality parts. Heat treating allows us to dramatically enhance your part’s performance quickly and affordably.
Request a quote to work with us!
