Recently, Philadelphia Gear, A Brand of Timken Gears & Services Incorporated was awarded a contract by the U.S. Department of Defense for the supply of main reduction gears for the new Arleigh Burke Class Guided Missile Destroyers. Philadelphia Gear has been a long standing Metlab customer for over 50 years. Metlab will be helping with the heat treating of these gears.
The gears will come to Metlab’s facility one at a time in specially built wooden crates. Each gear is ~ 112″ in diameter by 86″ tall and weighs about 20,000 pounds. There will be a total of six gears initially required for the destroyer project. The gears are a fabricated, welded construction, with the gear teeth made from a special alloy developed specifically for nitriding. Upon receipt, the gears will be cleaned and then placed in one of Metlab’s two pit furnaces for nitriding. Six (6) thermocouples will be positioned on the gears to make sure that strict temperature uniformity is met. The furnaces have work zones that measure 15′ in diameter by 12′ deep, and 12′ in diameter by 10′ deep respectively. It is expected that the parts will be in the furnace for at least a week at temperature. Upon completion of the nitriding process the gears will then be sandblasted clean to remove maskant, and shipped back to the customer.
During the course of the project, government inspectors will be on-site, monitoring the various stages of the project to ensure that processes and specifications are met to the high standards for this application. Metlab is familiar with working with these inspectors and providing them with the access and information necessary to ensure a smooth and compliant processing job. These gears are also on a time-sensitive schedule with tight deadlines.
 Main Drive Gear for a nuclear submarine, similar to those referenced above, nitrided to a 0.040″ case depth. Gear measures 12′ in diameter by 12′ tall and weighs approximately 24,000 pounds. Gear hub, bore and web faces have been masked to prevent Nitriding to allow for post heat treatment machining.
Metlab has accommodated many government and military projects including flight critical components like wire supports for aircraft carriers for the Navy. The company has the experience, facilities and resources to comply with all specifications and regulations for these projects and more.
Mark Podob
Vice President of Sales
Metlab Heat Treat
Metlab has shipped Machine Ways used to guide the track wheels of a precision industrial aluminum machine used for cutting wing segments and fuselage frames for commercial and military aircraft. Metlab chose A-2 tool steel as a replacement for the original cold fused flame hardened bi-metal steel design, which failed at the junction of the two dissimilar metals. The selection of through hardened A2 eliminates the need for complete replacement of the machine ways due to wear in service.
The Machine Way consists of eleven 12 foot long bars connected end to end, 2″ thick by 6″ wide, match ground to ± 0.003″ in length, ± 0.0005″ in thickness, with a maximum joint gap < 0.004″ between adjacent bars. The overall Machine Way is over 130′ long when installed.
Metlab was chosen to manage the entire project which involved partnering with the material supplier and grinding source to solve the unique problems presented by the Machine Way design. A2 tool steel needed to be obtained in the special length and size. Domestic material was purchased from the one source in Illinois which allowed for timely delivery.
 The bars were heat treated vertically in Metlab’s unique 48″ diameter by 16′ long vertical pit furnaces under a protective atmosphere to ensure no decarburization or oxidation. The individual bars were straightened to less than 0.050″ in special fixturing provided by Metlab. Precision drilled and tapped locating holes (over 24 on the length of each bar) needed to be placed in the bars before heat treating. The use of low expansion A2 selected by Metlab allowed for predictable compensation for movement during heat treatment. The finished bars were then precision ground.
Metlab’s expertise in overall project management, background in material selection, and experience with large shape heat treatment produced a dramatic improvement in the component without a sacrifice in the machine design.
Mark Podob
Vice President of Sales
Metlab Heat Treat
Factory boss warns Congress: Don’t cut gov’t too deep
“I’m worried that the current over-emphasis on the deficit reduction, about which we were all concerned, could result in a fall back to recession,” if Congress cuts too much, says James Conybear, director of operations at Metlab, a Wyndmoor company that provides metal-treatment services to other manufacturers. “Heavy, one-sided reductions (will) stall or reverse the recovery.”
I met Conybear last week as a group of Philadelphia-area factory owners met with US Reps. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Chaka Fattah, D-Phila., and Allyson Schwartz, D-Phila. and Montgomery. I wrote about the tough questions some of Conybear’s peers had for the Democrats and for government generally.
But Conybear reminds me that US manufacturing faces tough competition from government-backed factories abroad – so this is no time for Congress to put a minimal-government ideology in front of real-world production and jobs.
How, I asked, does government best help manufacturers? Unlike many defense-dependent manufacturers, Metlab relies on Navy work for only about 5% of its sales. So exports are crucial.
US-backed free-trade agreements “make it easier for small manufacturers to ship stuff across borders.” Thanks to the 1995 North American Free Trade Agreement, “it’s like Canada and Mexico are part of this country now. In my mind, they should be. They are strong partners.”
By contrast, China, potentially the world’s largest market, “has policies (to) capture segments of industry. It’s not a labor-cost issue.” Energy equipment, cars, Western-style bicycles – China pays to produce and export them all, and much more. How can US companies compete without a tough State Department to push back at unfair competition?
Conybear also praised the work of the 23-year-old Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center, a nonprofit manufacturing consulting group established by the late Gov. Bob Casey that relies on federal and state contracts, plus membership dues.
“They are one of the best things we have in Pennsylvania manufacturing,” Conybear told me. “One, they provide leverage to us as small-business people” looking for guidance in boosting exports, improving processes and cutting costs. “And they give us a vehicle for communicating upward,” reaching out to people in Congress, the presidential administration and state government. But in the current environment, “they are in danger of getting any support reduced or eliminated.” Conybear hopes cool heads will prevail in Harrisburg and Washington.
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-phillydeals/Factory_boss_warns_Congress_Dont_cut_govt_too_deep.html#ixzz1JKdOxqdr
Recently, Metlab was awarded a contract to heat treat camshafts. The manufacturer of the camshafts target market is NASCAR racing engines, as well as specialty aircraft, marine engine and industrial engines. They also make camshafts to order, and Metlab has in fact heat treated some cams for Model T Fords and other antique cars.
These camshafts are manufactured from 8620 or 9310 steel, range in size from 1 1/2″ – 3 1/2″ O.D. x 24″ to 72″ long. The heat treating is done with the parts in the vertical position, resulting in a product which is straight within 0.005″ T.I.R. Heat treatment requirements are a case depth of 0.120″ minimum, and surface hardness in excess of HRC 62. Cryogenic processing in-between tempering is required to minimize retained austenite and increase camshaft performance. Metlab heat treats the product in one of its two long pit furnaces, which can handle parts up to 16′ long. Metlab can comfortably heat treat up to 48 camshafts in a cycle. If straightening is necessary, this will be accomplished on one of two 100 ton presses located in-house. Normally the product turn-around is within a week or less.
Load of camshafts being removed from Metlab pit furnace after carburizing, prior to oil quenching.
Some camshaft manufactures use induction hardening for hardening the lobes of camshafts – this is for high volume, relatively inexpensive production cams where the performance is not as critical is it is for racing engines. Some camshafts are also nitrided, but again, the case depth is shallower, and this would be for less critical applications.
Carburizing tends to be more expensive than the other two processes, but again, the longevity of the product is much longer. The heat treating process is critical to ensuring a high quality finished product as well as providing longevity to the high performance camshafts. Keeping the parts within case depth, hardness and straightness tolerances are key factors in overall quality control
Metlab was selected because of their commitment to quality, turnaround time, and with deep pit furnaces capability to do long slender parts and maintain straightness. We normally process about a dozen or so cams per heat treat cycle, have the capability to process up to about 36 per load, and have been doing about 50 a month. The parts are shipped to a domestic manufacturer of camshafts who distributes them globally.
Mark Podob
Vice President of Sales
Metlab Heat Treating
Black Oxide is a chemical treatment that is applied to steel parts to create an attractive appearance and provide corrosion resistance. There are many applications throughout the metal working industries that use the process. These range from fire arms to fasteners, machine components, automotive parts, store fixtures and more.
The black oxide process is relatively inexpensive and does not affect part dimensions. There are some alternative processes such as painting, steam treating or powder spray coating. However black oxide is used when the specification calls for the part to have a dark appearance or when reflectivity is not an issue.
To achieve the black oxide finish the parts are cleaned, activated using an acid dip, then blackened in a special chemical bath, followed by an application of a thin protective wax or oil coating. The entire process takes a less than an hour.
Metlab has the capability to blacken parts in weights that range from only a few grams up to 1,000 lbs. The sizes can be as small as ¼ inch and up to seven feet long. Examples include:
Retail: Store displays and fixtures
Automotive: Cans for oil filters
Electrical: wire strippers and cutters
Home / Garden: Tree toppers – jaws and clipping tools
Small gears: very tiny timers and electrical switches
Antique automobiles – fasteners for factory specs
Firearms
Fasteners
Military
 A finished electrical tool part using black oxide treatment. For most applications the turnaround time is usually completed in a week or less with the average being about three business days. Metlab can also accommodate specific packaging requirements such as individually wrapping parts.
Mark Podob
Vice President – Metlab
mpodob@metlabheattreat.com
Nitriding is a surface treatment process that can be applied to a variety of machine components. The process provides a very hard surface while maintaining a “tough” core and tight tolerances can still be achieved. This process is applied at low temperatures so that part distortion is not an issue. Nitriding is often the final step in the manufacturing process of the part.
An alternative process is through hardening. However, this process requires higher cost material and the part must be ground to achieve final dimensions
Examples:
- Gear industry: Can be classified as a case hardening process
- Typical hardness – Rockwell C 55 or greater
- 0. 0.020 inches or deeper
- Gears, shafts, spindles, machine tools
- Rails and Machine Ways (where a wheel or roller rides on the parts)
- Applied to the area of wear
- Coupling industry: used to connect parts for steel mills
- Sliding gear teeth are hardened to minimize wear
- Plastic injection screws, barrels and molds: Nitriding parts up to 22 feet in length
- Wind energy market – Gears and bearings vs. conventional carburizing or through hardening
- Trying to avoid distortion
Some interesting customer examples would include nitriding submarine gears. The US military needed to harden a gear that was so large the submarine had to be built around the part. Metlab used the nitriding process on the gear which weighed 12,000 lbs.
 Large submarine gear is being prepared for Nitriding.
 Three bevel gears which have been Nitrided Another example is the large gear that turns the turret of the Merkava tank, manufactured by an Israeli defense company. Each gear is 96 inches in diameter. Earlier gears were flame hardened, which resulted in some premature failures of the turret gear teeth. With nitriding, there has never been a single failure of the part.
Metlab provides metallurgical consulting to guide customers to the correct process to meet the required specifications. The Metlab facility has nitriding capabilities for parts that are up to 12 feet tall by 14 feet diameter or four feet in diameter by 22 feet long. It also has a small nitriding furnace, three feet in diameter by three feet long, for rush, non-scheduled production. The company services customers primarily in North America and runs the nitride furnaces twice a week, or as needed based on customer demand.
Mark Podob
Vice President – Metlab
Heat Treating – Surface Treatment – Metallurgical Consulting
mpodob@metlabheattreat.com
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