Can I weld to Induction Hardened Rod

ken31049 · Dec 8, 2011

A customer brought me some material to make him a cylinder shaft with and after inspecting it I found it to be Induction hardened rod. I have machined some before and I have also welded to it after turning off the hardened surface but in this case there isn't enough material to turn off so I will be welding straight to the hardened surface. Does anyone have any sugestions?

307startup · Dec 8, 2011

ken31049 said:
A customer brought me some material to make him a cylinder shaft with and after inspecting it I found it to be Induction hardened rod. I have machined some before and I have also welded to it after turning off the hardened surface but in this case there isn't enough material to turn off so I will be welding straight to the hardened surface. Does anyone have any sugestions?

Yes.

Anneal the entire area that you will be welding to and turn off any chrome plating that might contaminate your weld.

If you don't anneal it before you weld, it will eventually crack around the HAZ...the hardness is typically .050-.100" thick. The material will be 1045 low-carbon steel.

Only takes a OA torch, get it cherry red everywhere you'll be welding, let it cool, then go to town with your hot-metal pump.

ken31049 · Dec 8, 2011

Cool. Thank you very much. That had been suggested but the guy really wasn't convincing.

307startup · Dec 8, 2011

ken31049 said:
Cool. Thank you very much. That had been suggested but the guy really wasn't convincing.

You are welcome, that's what this forum is for.

I've built/rebuilt many a hydraulic component in my day, the only thing I hated was the damn cylinder tubing would crack if you put too much pressure on it with the chuck jaws...course you wouldn't know it was too much til you were cutting a thread on the other end and heard a loud PING while you were part way through the cut :angry:

HuFlungDung · Dec 8, 2011

It really takes very little heat to 'spoil' the temper of something as finicky as C1045. We typically preheat until the blue oxides appear in the joint area and then weld right away, no intermediate cool down required. Avoid tacking or starting welds on cold medium carbon steel as a root crack can initiate right underneath your top weld.

magneticanomaly · Dec 8, 2011

Hu has got it.

Have to weld it while it is hot (over 400 deg F) , or the cold metal under your weld will quench the HAZ and you can start a crack right then and there. Preheat until your freshly ground bevel turns blue.

Grinding off the chrome sounds like a good idea, bit if you bevel the parts properly, you will never be welding over intact chrome plate, and there will not be enough chrome dissolving in the weld from one edge of your last pass to hurt anything.

jdj · Dec 9, 2011

I am sure the method/process is very important, but is there a particular type of Tig rod that you would use? Particularly in a case where you DON'T want to anneal much if any of the hardened part? Say welding mild steel to HSS?

Jeff

gbent · Dec 9, 2011

jdj said:
I am sure the method/process is very important, but is there a particular type of Tig rod that you would use? Particularly in a case where you DON'T want to anneal much if any of the hardened part? Say welding mild steel to HSS?

Jeff

309 Stainless Steel is the current standard rod for welding dissimilar metals. Also many welding rod suppliers make a special rod for welding dissimilar or high carbon metals. The special rods will often have a strength about half again better than 309.

For quick tools like boring bars or slotter tools, I usually weld the HSS with mig using whatever wire is installed, usually ER70 or ER80.

adama · Dec 9, 2011

316 tig filler also works well as a universal filler too in a pinch. Both create a far more ductile weld than a steel filler hence lessening the dissimilar shrinkages - alloys causing cracking to form.

gwilson · Dec 9, 2011

I know from knife making that you must not weld a rod to a fully hardened ball bearing,or it will blow up. Bearing balls of large size are welded to steel rods to hold on to while you heat the ball up and hammer it out into a long,flat bar suitable for making knife blades from.

I only used a ball once (1 3/8" dia.) to make knife blades,but the ball was a rough forged,not yet hardened ball.

BTW,ball bearing steel (52-100) decarbs badly if not kept from air when hardening after grinding a blade out of it.

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