You do not have to be a metallurgist or engineer to accurately order steel. But you don’t want to order steel plates and end up with dishes. Take some time to ensure your language will be understood by the vendor. I’m not speaking about dialects, but try to avoid esoteric terms that may just be what you use at your company. Avoid jargon. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the terms the vendor uses. […]
Part one of three – I thought we would sneak into 2021 by looking at a steel shaft that is often misunderstood; Chromed Steel Shafts (Rods). Chromed steel shafts are referred to as “Rods”, or “Cylinder Rods”. Not all are used for Cylinder applications. The manufacturing and automation industry is a prolific user of this type of product. The default term Rod, is simply “jargon of the trade”. The base metal may be mild steel […]
The term “wear plate” doesn’t give you much by way of steel specification. Nor do the terms “Overlay Plate or Clad-Plate” Wear Plate, Abrasion Resistant (AR) plate, is primarily used in heavy industrial maintenance applications. (Note that “AR” may also refer to As Rolled plate, but that is not the context we are using here). If a job is banging, clanging, screeching, or in any way loud and offensive it most likely is tearing up […]
Recently, I thought I’d check the internet to see what was posted relative to bending steel. It is a very broad subject, like asking “What is the price of a car?” Very difficult to answer without lots of clarification, clarification not only relative to the nature of the steel, the hardness, the bend, the bend radius, the equipment, the operator, and so on. Will you be cold bending, or applying heat? Quickly run through the […]
In our earlier blogs we discussed magnetism and the Voodoo that surrounds it. This is just a little more on that mystery condition. Magnetism in steel is right up there with the loveliest things you would rather not encounter; Poison Ivy, Root Canal, Oil Canning on a steel plate, and filing your taxes. We are speaking of steel that picks up magnetism, i.e. will attract another piece of steel. This is different from whether or […]
Endurance limit is another way of saying fatigue strength. It may be expressed in “Cycles to failure” as opposed to “PSI”. One of the most difficult questions to answer is a question relating to endurance limit. When someone asks about endurance limit, they are trying to find out how long a finished part will last in an application involving constant/repetitive motion or vibration. Failure may be anything from a small crack to an abrupt and […]
Measurement science is its own language. These few notes barely scratch the surface. If you are new to this, or will just be peripherally involved, perhaps as a sales support person, it is suggested that you learn decimal equivalents down to the sixteenths, and key metric sizes, such as 5mm, 10mm, 20mm, 50mm, etc. It will make your life a lot easier. 15/16″ is fifteen sixteenths. Not fifteen sixteens. .010″ is ten thousandths, .003″ is […]
When steel flat products are thin, they are typically referred to as sheet and strip; as opposed to flats and plate. There are specific delineations separating the two types, however in general use distinction of the terms is pretty loose. It is customary to describe flats and plate, or strip and sheet, from the smallest dimension through to the largest dimension. Thuse, 1/4″ x 48″ x 240″ would be how a quarter inch thick piece […]
You may have noticed every activity, workplace, social group, college, etc. seems to have its own language. One sure way to expose yourself as “new to the program” is to not use the approved language customary to the endeavor you are undertaking. In those cases, the dialog/language might be said to be “esoteric” (known by a certain group) to the group or business. I remembered vividly the first time I had to call a steel […]
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