When I was a machinist in the Air Force during the mid-80s, we merged our shop with the metals processing or welding shop. This gave me the opportunity to be introduced into the massively complex world of heat treating all metals. Metals in an untreated state know they are just a hunk of soft, in this case, 4140. Think of baking a cake. All the ingredients dont know they are a cake. Mix them together they still have no idea they are a cake. The batter now is like our metal, not sure what it is yet. As you heat the batter, it blends together structurally to rise and become a cake. Now our metal is like the cake. It knows it's not what it used to be, but its internal structure is changed. It no longer knows its steel, thus, not magnetic. Your quench freezes your steel at a certain structure to meet your needs. Your piece of steel now through heating and cooling is educated to be a better form of itself. It's still 4140, but heat treated to your specification. Blah, blah, blah! I'll stop now. Can you tell I was a trainer? Merry Christmas Mr. Kieth! Cheers Terry
I think that cake would ruin my teeth faster than the most sugary of conventional cakes, maybe the instructions should include a warning not to eat the finished piece 😉
I have lived by two rules all my life: 1. never take home a woman from a bar at 2AM. 2. Never leave batteries in anything longer than a day. It has gotten me to 65 without many problems in life.🤣 I love your videos Keith!
Adding an insulator to one terminal of the circuit works for several years, and in this day and age creating a reminder to check that battery specifically will cover the life of the device. Adding a date to the paper insulation is just icing on this cake of success. Make sure the ink is folded inside the paper where it act like a semiconductor .
There are so many types of metals and there are variations of treatments for each. Thanks for showing us one and if you have others (air hardening, aluminum, or even case hardening) we'd like to see them too! Stay safe in the shop.
Good morning Keith, Excellent video. Watching you wrap up the gear and using paper inside is mind blowing. I am always impressed with the bag of tricks you have. Merry Christmas and I hope your cold goes away soon.
These "back to basics" type video are among my favorite. Heat treating is advanced but still a basic skill. Your explanation of how the heat treating process was clear and in depth. "Put a piece of paper in the pouch to consume the oxygen." The difference between hardening and tempering and how they work together. Stoning the pieces at the end to determine flatness. A quick mention of micro-crystallization and how it changes would be interesting. Thank you for a great Christmas eve present.
Merry Christmas, Keith! And, Happy New Year! I am enjoying your retirement and looking forward to the many interesting and entertaining videos coming in 2025!
Of all the gifts to metaphorically find under the tree, this just might be the nicest one! Thanks for the Christmas upload, I was just about to go rewatch an old video of yours to make me feel better. Merry Christmas to your loved ones, Mr. Rucker!
I spent many lunch breaks in the Milacron heat treat department, soaking in knowledge from the grey heads. Now, many decades later, I wish i had written down the lessons. There were tricks to keeping 8 foot long splines straight within 0. 001 inch.
Merry Xmas Keith. Couple of tips to prevent issues like warping. Do a normalization cycle to refine the grain structure, Preheat the quench oil, after the quench let it air cool and don't put it on a steel workbench. Strictly needed? No but it helps in preventing cracks and warping.
It's as hard as a pinion gear, because that hardness was what I called for when using the same material in them. I used to design gearing for machinery used in railcar manufacture, and I've used a lot of 4140 and 4150 to make pinions and shafting. The larger bull gears were generally made from something like 1040 - 1045, etc.
Copper tops are notoriously leaky, in my experience. Ive learned the hard way to remove batteries from seldom used equipment. Thanks for explaining the hardening process. Merry Christmas.
A nice Christmas treat for us all, Keith. When I saw you take out your infrequently-used hardness tester with batteries inside, I thought "uh oh!" Two days ago, I had pulled out some stabilizer binoculars and found the batteries had leaked and frozen in place. I misused some inexpensive small screwdrivers to work the batteries loose and pry them out. I found that Q-tips and water seemed to clean up the dried alkaline-battery leakage from both the holder and the electrodes. When I stowed the binocs away again, I left the battery case empty. Lesson learned. I suspect that this is a common error, which could be expensive to repair. Do others have any tips?
I have learned that painful lesson. Take the batteries out of infrequently used items. And look into batteries that don't leak, Project Farm did a big battery test recently.
Hehe yes it looked like her newest fave best quality one was now getting used for holding engineering oil. On the one hand I'm happy for the video, on the other I'm sad that this is the last video he will ever release as there is a good chance his missus has already cracked him over the head with it 🤣. Joking aside I'm glad for the unexpected video. Forgot that paper inside tinfoil trick too.
... lol... 6am and I was up doing random (and not required) electrical work overnight .... glad to know I'm not the only one doing stuff xmas eve/day 😂😂 Cheers
Yuletide Question: What does the Rucker Family serve the U-Tube for Xmas Dinner? Answer-JOY and Metallurgy! Thank You Keith, for your Great Devotion tor "Getting The Job Done" in 2024.
Merry Christmas - to get the batteries out I use a small magnet. I use a small tool magnet that I use to pick up nuts that I drop to get them out of a small laser.
Thanks for sharing. Hind sight, wish you had tested flatness before and after just for comparison. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family.
Maybe Santa will bring new batteries for the hardness tester light (which you'll remove when you put it away). Merry Christmas, Keith and the Vintage Machinery Community! 🎅
Thanks for the educational video, Keith. I've lost mini-Maglites to leaky alkaline batteries. See the Project Farm video recently on AA batteries. You may have better luck with lithium AA's. Or just leave the batteries out until needed. It's a very expensive and frustrating problem. And Merry Christmas to you and your family.
7:35 I worked in a Heat treating facility, and the owner (my supervisor) had a Doctorate in Metallurgy, AND .. That s exactly how we heat treated 4140 and other similar alloys .. the "soak at high temperature" is inoperant on very thick metals (over 2") We treated mostly punches and dies. But we also heat treated stamping dies for, coin type currency manufactures.
I'm only in 9-th grade, but completely agree with Your supervisor, because according to heat equation, heated metal (any substances, not only metals) can't instantly transmit ALL its temperature to the environment. Therefore surface cools down quickly, so martensite density in it very big; but core cools down much slower, and martensite has some time to partially disintegrate into ferrite.
cooking with Keith on Christmas Eve nice
It appears that Keith hit the recipe right on the nose! Lol
Merry Christmas to you and your family; Thanks for the years of excellent videos.
When I was a machinist in the Air Force during the mid-80s, we merged our shop with the metals processing or welding shop.
This gave me the opportunity to be introduced into the massively complex world of heat treating all metals.
Metals in an untreated state know they are just a hunk of soft, in this case, 4140.
Think of baking a cake.
All the ingredients dont know they are a cake.
Mix them together they still have no idea they are a cake.
The batter now is like our metal, not sure what it is yet.
As you heat the batter, it blends together structurally to rise and become a cake.
Now our metal is like the cake. It knows it's not what it used to be, but its internal structure is changed. It no longer knows its steel, thus, not magnetic.
Your quench freezes your steel at a certain structure to meet your needs. Your piece of steel now through heating and cooling is educated to be a better form of itself.
It's still 4140, but heat treated to your specification.
Blah, blah, blah!
I'll stop now.
Can you tell I was a trainer?
Merry Christmas Mr. Kieth!
Cheers
Terry
Excellent explanation of the transformation process.
Thank you for your service and the great explanation
Very good!! Could not have said it better :)
I think that cake would ruin my teeth faster than the most sugary of conventional cakes, maybe the instructions should include a warning not to eat the finished piece 😉
@ruben_balea definitely put some weight on ya....LOL!
That's a rather nice Christmas present for us all. Have a good one all, looking forward to next years videos.
I have lived by two rules all my life: 1. never take home a woman from a bar at 2AM. 2. Never leave batteries in anything longer than a day. It has gotten me to 65 without many problems in life.🤣 I love your videos Keith!
Both good rules. One maybe better than the other. Not saying which is better
Adding an insulator to one terminal of the circuit works for several years, and in this day and age creating a reminder to check that battery specifically will cover the life of the device. Adding a date to the paper insulation is just icing on this cake of success. Make sure the ink is folded inside the paper where it act like a semiconductor .
That’s when the ugly ones get pretty!….
Merry Christmas Everyone!
A Merry Christmas too , to You and Your Family.
There are so many types of metals and there are variations of treatments for each. Thanks for showing us one and if you have others (air hardening, aluminum, or even case hardening) we'd like to see them too! Stay safe in the shop.
Good morning Keith,
Excellent video. Watching you wrap up the gear and using paper inside is mind blowing. I am always impressed with the bag of tricks you have.
Merry Christmas and I hope your cold goes away soon.
Merry Christmas Keith! Thanks for all the work all year to bring us the videos.
These "back to basics" type video are among my favorite. Heat treating is advanced but still a basic skill. Your explanation of how the heat treating process was clear and in depth. "Put a piece of paper in the pouch to consume the oxygen." The difference between hardening and tempering and how they work together. Stoning the pieces at the end to determine flatness. A quick mention of micro-crystallization and how it changes would be interesting.
Thank you for a great Christmas eve present.
Merry Christmas, Keith! And, Happy New Year! I am enjoying your retirement and looking forward to the many interesting and entertaining videos coming in 2025!
Of all the gifts to metaphorically find under the tree, this just might be the nicest one! Thanks for the Christmas upload, I was just about to go rewatch an old video of yours to make me feel better. Merry Christmas to your loved ones, Mr. Rucker!
I spent many lunch breaks in the Milacron heat treat department, soaking in knowledge from the grey heads. Now, many decades later, I wish i had written down the lessons. There were tricks to keeping 8 foot long splines straight within 0.
001 inch.
Merry Xmas Keith.
Couple of tips to prevent issues like warping.
Do a normalization cycle to refine the grain structure, Preheat the quench oil, after the quench let it air cool and don't put it on a steel workbench.
Strictly needed? No but it helps in preventing cracks and warping.
Merry Christmas Keith
It's as hard as a pinion gear, because that hardness was what I called for when using the same material in them. I used to design gearing for machinery used in railcar manufacture, and I've used a lot of 4140 and 4150 to make pinions and shafting. The larger bull gears were generally made from something like 1040 - 1045, etc.
Merry Christmas to All
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Copper tops are notoriously leaky, in my experience. Ive learned the hard way to remove batteries from seldom used equipment. Thanks for explaining the hardening process. Merry Christmas.
Vinegar cleans up battery leakage. Getting them out will be more fun. Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas and have a great new year
Nice lesson. Never have seen the foil pocket method used before. Welcome Christmas day video.
Now I know a little about heat treating; TY and Merry Christmas to you and yours. And my first real job was at "The Mill" a long time back.
So, it really was a HOT job. Merry Christmas!
Good stuff, Keith. Happy Holidays!
Thank you Keith! 🎅🎅
Merry Christmas Keith. Thanks for the Christmas video present for all of us out in cyberspace. Cheers!
Merry Christmas to you and your family, Keith.
Thank you so much for the entertainment and education though the years.
Shop ASMR time with Keith again! Merry Christmas Keith.
Happy Holidays!
Merry Christmas Mr. Keith!!!
Happy Wednesday Georgia, and Merry Christmas! 😊
Merry Christmas 🎄🎄🎄🎄
Merry Christmas thanks
Merry Christmas to you and yours Keith, and thank you for your informative interesting videos,
Was an amazing video ! Merry Christmas and thanks for the video :) May God bless you !!!
Most interesting Heat Treating Steel to Rockwell 43C......Thank you Keith.......🇺🇸
Merry Christmas and thank your for sharing with us.
Merry Christmas, Keith. Thanks for the video.
Merry Christmas Keith from Australia. Now I will have to put an oven on my wish list as well as a bigger shed!
Merry Christmas 🍾🎈🎁
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas. This was a very interesting video. Thank you for sharing.🙂🙂
Keith you sure do good work
Merry Christmas! Hope you have a wonderful New Year.
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
A nice Christmas treat for us all, Keith. When I saw you take out your infrequently-used hardness tester with batteries inside, I thought "uh oh!" Two days ago, I had pulled out some stabilizer binoculars and found the batteries had leaked and frozen in place. I misused some inexpensive small screwdrivers to work the batteries loose and pry them out. I found that Q-tips and water seemed to clean up the dried alkaline-battery leakage from both the holder and the electrodes. When I stowed the binocs away again, I left the battery case empty. Lesson learned.
I suspect that this is a common error, which could be expensive to repair. Do others have any tips?
I have learned that painful lesson. Take the batteries out of infrequently used items. And look into batteries that don't leak, Project Farm did a big battery test recently.
Merry Christmas from East Tennessee. Thank you for sharing your work.
Merry Christmas to you and yours Keith!
Merry Christmas, Keith!
Does the Mrs. know that you have her sauce pan? 😉
Merry Christmas!
Hehe yes it looked like her newest fave best quality one was now getting used for holding engineering oil.
On the one hand I'm happy for the video, on the other I'm sad that this is the last video he will ever release as there is a good chance his missus has already cracked him over the head with it 🤣.
Joking aside I'm glad for the unexpected video. Forgot that paper inside tinfoil trick too.
Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Happy Christmas to you and your family keep up the good work
Thank you Keith and Merry Christmas to you and your family 😊
Hi Keith, hope you and yours have a great Christmas and a happy and healthy new year.
Merry Christmas Keith!
Happy Christmas!!!
Thanks for that Xmas treat Mr Rucker. A very Mohs Christmas and a Brinell New Year to you!
Merry Christmas again
Merry Christmas from San Francisco
... lol... 6am and I was up doing random (and not required) electrical work overnight .... glad to know I'm not the only one doing stuff xmas eve/day 😂😂
Cheers
Merry Christmas Keith from your #1 fan ! Carl
merry Christmas to you and family excellent videos and explanations thank you
Love playing your videos!
Merry Christmas Keith !!!
Merry Christmas!
Cool process! Thanks. Merry Christmas Keith!
Merry Christmas 🎄
Yuletide Question:
What does the Rucker Family serve the U-Tube for Xmas Dinner?
Answer-JOY and Metallurgy!
Thank You Keith, for your Great Devotion tor "Getting The Job Done" in 2024.
Thanks for sharing 👍 and Merry Christmas to you and your family 😊
Merry Christmas, Keith.
Merry Christmas.
Another great lesson thanks Keith
happy holidays
Merry Christmas 👍
Merry Christmas Keith.
Very Interesting thank you and a Merry Christmas
Merry Chrismas Keith !!!
Thanks Keith
Merry Christmas! Santa needs to bring you a legit Rockwell Tester..
Nice Wilton vice! A hair bigger than mine even. A keeper, lover mine! Merry Christmas Keith & everyone!
Merry Christmas Rucker dude.
Merry Christmas Keith from Jackson Georgia.
Warm episode
l really enjoyed watching. Very informative
Merry Christmas brother
Merry Christmas - to get the batteries out I use a small magnet. I use a small tool magnet that I use to pick up nuts that I drop to get them out of a small laser.
Ha so Keith is wrapping his Christmas gifts in stainless foil :) !
Thanks for sharing. Hind sight, wish you had tested flatness before and after just for comparison. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family.
Merry Christmas to all!
Interesting proces!
Marry Christmas
A very Merry Christmas to you! I use lithium batteries in all my flashlights and other applications and do not worry about corrosion.
Kieth, your New Years resolution should be to remove batteries from your measuring equipment.
Happy new year.
Thank you for sharing.🎄👍
Maybe Santa will bring new batteries for the hardness tester light (which you'll remove when you put it away). Merry Christmas, Keith and the Vintage Machinery Community! 🎅
Thanks for the educational video, Keith. I've lost mini-Maglites to leaky alkaline batteries. See the Project Farm video recently on AA batteries. You may have better luck with lithium AA's. Or just leave the batteries out until needed. It's a very expensive and frustrating problem.
And Merry Christmas to you and your family.
7:35 I worked in a Heat treating facility, and the owner (my supervisor) had a Doctorate in Metallurgy, AND .. That
s exactly how we heat treated 4140 and other similar alloys .. the "soak at high temperature" is inoperant on very thick metals (over 2")
We treated mostly punches and dies. But we also heat treated stamping dies for, coin type currency manufactures.
I'm only in 9-th grade, but completely agree with Your supervisor, because according to heat equation, heated metal (any substances, not only metals) can't instantly transmit ALL its temperature to the environment. Therefore surface cools down quickly, so martensite density in it very big; but core cools down much slower, and martensite has some time to partially disintegrate into ferrite.
MERRY CHRISTMAS and anything else y'all may be celebrating, ...
Mike
Very cool science plus I'm guessing your sponsor plug is done and dusted for the year. 😉 Hitting the hardness dead nuts on was impressive.