I-ROBOT
Active member
WOW
That is a catastophic failure for sure!! It could be rebuilt but that cracked tube would have to be cut out and replaced. I'm not sure I would trust a repair weld there.
I always thought forks were small enough that it would make sense to heat-treat them but Chris didn't think the expense would be justified.
If I was building segmented welded forks now, I would not sell them without being quenched and tempered. There's no other way to make 4130 last in a light-weight application. There's just too many different microstructures and stress raisers going on in that design not to do heat treating. There are vibratory stress relief machines but I don't know how effective they would be for a small fab like a fork.
I have no clue what that ring (?) is that's around the top of the short tubes. Never saw anything like it before.
Let me know if you find out.
Scott
That is a catastophic failure for sure!! It could be rebuilt but that cracked tube would have to be cut out and replaced. I'm not sure I would trust a repair weld there.
I always thought forks were small enough that it would make sense to heat-treat them but Chris didn't think the expense would be justified.
If I was building segmented welded forks now, I would not sell them without being quenched and tempered. There's no other way to make 4130 last in a light-weight application. There's just too many different microstructures and stress raisers going on in that design not to do heat treating. There are vibratory stress relief machines but I don't know how effective they would be for a small fab like a fork.
I have no clue what that ring (?) is that's around the top of the short tubes. Never saw anything like it before.
Let me know if you find out.
Scott