DIY rocking horse manure

[Dadio]

I spent a ludicrous amount of time today making one piece of rocking horse manure , I'm missing one diff outdrive for a mini Mustang so I copied one on the mill and lath in O1 tool steel , I still need to harden it but I wanted to test fit it first , its an exact copy except instead of using an 8BA screw it's an M2 instead . Genuine one on the left .

[Dadio]

Now heat treated to harden , I was tempted to leave it in oil blued condition to stop it rusting but then I thought no I'm going for authenticity

[silvertriple]

Just out of curiosity, how do you treat the part to harden it?

I have no room to add a lathe somewhere currently, but seeing this make me think about it in my next tool investments (priority at this stage is about an injection press, just because I would be able to do so much things I can't do right now)...

[jwscab]

Heat it to glowing orange, and quench in an oil bath until you can handle it. Then the important part is the temper, hopefully you tempered it, taking it between 700-400 degrees F (depending on how hard you want it) for a part that size, about an hour. You want it tough so I would temper at about 500f.

[Dadio]

Just out of curiosity, how do you treat the part to harden it?

I have no room to add a lathe somewhere currently, but seeing this make me think about it in my next tool investments (priority at this stage is about an injection press, just because I would be able to do so much things I can't do right now)...

Well to start with you buy annealed tool steel , annealing is where it's been heated and allowed to cool slowly , this softens it to a state where it can be worked. Once you have machined the steel it must be heated , I used a blow torch as it's a small component , for each grade of steel there is an exact temperature to heat it to , then for O1 steel you quench it in oil , this cools it rapidly but not too rapidly . I should point out I have to guess temperature based on the colour it glows as I don't have a thermometer that runs up that high but if you get it right then after a few minutes you try running a file over it , if the file digs in its not hardened , if the file just scates it's properly hardened .
I recommend watching a couple of episodes of " forged in fire" it's mostly a knife making competition but it's very informative and quite watchable .
I wish I had a way of doing the final heat treat mentioned above but I don't

[Frankentruck]

I recommend watching a couple of episodes of " forged in fire" it's mostly a knife making competition but it's very informative and quite watchable.

Ben was an excellent addition to the judges several seasons ago.

[jwscab]

If you have a toaster oven you can crank it up as high as it will go and you will get something that works. Just degrease it first

[Dadio]

If you have a toaster oven you can crank it up as high as it will go and you will get something that works. Just degrease it first

No toaster oven but I've got a big soldering iron , its in a vice right now point up with the outdrive on the end , by my IR thermometer it's hovering just under the 400°C mark , it's a very cheap IR thermometer so who knows ?

[jwscab]

Sorry, 400f not Celsius need 250C or so

[jwscab]

But the soldering iron is a great idea!!!! I have to remember that!

Also you might be fine at 400c, just need to look at the tempering chart to see what harness you will end up with

[Dadio]

Nearer 360°C if I'm honest

[Dadio]

All cooled , cleaned and now assembled , should be good enough I hope .

[Dadio]

Just out of curiosity, how do you treat the part to harden it?

I have no room to add a lathe somewhere currently, but seeing this make me think about it in my next tool investments (priority at this stage is about an injection press, just because I would be able to do so much things I can't do right now)...

I have to add that after learning a bit of CAD and 3D printing I find a non CNC lath not so satisfying and I'm constantly looking at weather I could convert it but it's a fairly cheap lath/mill combination machine and probably not worth the effort .

[silvertriple]

Just out of curiosity, how do you treat the part to harden it?

I have no room to add a lathe somewhere currently, but seeing this make me think about it in my next tool investments (priority at this stage is about an injection press, just because I would be able to do so much things I can't do right now)...

I have to add that after learning a bit of CAD and 3D printing I find a non CNC lath not so satisfying and I'm constantly looking at weather I could convert it but it's a fairly cheap lath/mill combination machine and probably not worth the effort .

Well... I have already seen my brother building some machines for his own use, but what he is dealing with is mre 1/1 size (he is currently working out a laser cutting machine)... It is probably simpler and easier (not even counting time, which is definitely cost as well) to buy a machine ready for use...