What material for industrial snowblower auger

[SuperUPer]

My boss asked if we could make these snowblower augers so I’m trying to figure out what material they are made of. So far this is what I know: they are the auger ribbons on a huge dual engine Oshkosh snowblower. Each individual section is about 4” wide, 1/2” thick, and 48” long. They are helical in shape, like an auger flight. Appears to be a plasma cut 4” wide arc with about a 26” radius which is then formed to get the auger shape. There are 2 squares burned in each end for carriage bolts. Material has a Rockwell B hardness of 85. Material seams much more “springy” than mild steel- we tried to flatten one in a press to better estimate the geometry of a flat part before forming. It has way more spring-back than mild steel. Not sure if it has some kind of heat treatment?

I got it tested for composition at a local scrap yard, here’s what it said: unfortunately I didn’t see the machine had more than one page of info so I’m missing some…

Si 3.36
P .048
Ti .394
Cr .269
Mn 1.41
Fe 92.91
Ni.304
Cu .78

Local metal supplier suggested T1 but that’s way harder than this stuff. Any ideas? I’m told each part costs almost $900 from Oshkosh and they want me to look into making them or finding someone that can do it cheaper. Flame away gents, tell me how dumb I am

 

[Garwood]

Local metal supplier suggested T1 but that’s way harder than this stuff.

Quantify please. How is it "harder than T1". Did you test hardness?

A514/T1 would be my first choice. Common. Easy to work with. Tough as fuck.

 

[SuperUPer]

Quantify please. How is it "harder than T1". Did you test hardness?

A514/T1 would be my first choice. Common. Easy to work with. Tough as fuck.

You misread. T1 is much harder than my mystery material. T1 looks like about 700 on the Brinell scale. Yes I did test hardness, got average 85 Rockwell B which is 160 Brinell. One thing I want to avoid is making the augers too strong and causing something else to break that’s harder to fix

 

[Milland]

You misread. T1 is much harder than my mystery material. T1 looks like about 700 on the Brinell scale. Yes I did test hardness, got average 85 Rockwell B which is 160 Brinell. One thing I want to avoid is making the augers too strong and causing something else to break that’s harder to fix

You may be confusing two materials - what Garwood is talking about is this:

A514

Benefits of A514/T-1 Steel Plate A514 steel plate’s chemical composition and heat treatment give the material greater toughness and strength compared to non-heat-treated carbon steel plate. These properties enable the material to withstand high levels of wear and make it a durable, long-lasting...

www.leecosteel.com

What you may be thinking of is T1 tool steel:

https://www.astmsteel.com/product/t1-tool-steel-aisi/

It's unfortunate they share the same "T1" name, but they're not the same.

 

[Garwood]

You misread. T1 is much harder than my mystery material. T1 looks like about 700 on the Brinell scale. Yes I did test hardness, got average 85 Rockwell B which is 160 Brinell. One thing I want to avoid is making the augers too strong and causing something else to break that’s harder to fix

A514 is a class of steel with 8 grades with composition variations.

A36, 1040, A514, AR

Pick one. Those are your choices.

 

[SuperUPer]

You may be confusing two materials - what Garwood is talking about is this:

A514

Benefits of A514/T-1 Steel Plate A514 steel plate’s chemical composition and heat treatment give the material greater toughness and strength compared to non-heat-treated carbon steel plate. These properties enable the material to withstand high levels of wear and make it a durable, long-lasting...

www.leecosteel.com

What you may be thinking of is T1 tool steel:

https://www.astmsteel.com/product/t1-tool-steel-aisi/

It's unfortunate they share the same "T1" name, but they're not the same.

You are correct I mistakenly looked up hardness for tool steel. I meant to look at a514, it’s much closer to the hardness I measured. Still a little higher but not much. That’s sounding like a good option

 

[Corn]

I`d definitely use wear resistant steel like Hardox. Wouldn`t consider anything else.

 

[DDoug]

$900 doesn't sound too bad.....

 

[DDoug]

I`d definitely use wear resistant steel like Hardox. Wouldn`t consider anything else.

If it's the wrong material and cracks off....where does it go ?

 

[gbent]

Test the carbon in your sample part by striking an arc on a corner with a low strength filler like 6011. You don't want to run a bead, just melt a little base metal. Use a file to see if the part hardens where you struck the arc. If you can't file it, it has at least .40 carbon.

I'm going to guess your part is closer to A36 than anything else. It could be ASTM A572 Grade 50F. If abrasive wear is a problem, I'd rather have a mild steel section with hard facing on the working edge than an entire hard part.

I'd think there is no way to make your pricing target with anything much more expensive than ASTM A572/A36.

 

[gustafson]

Auger?
Doesn't [shouldn't ] touch the ground
moves snow ice rocks
wear?
Boy would not think really
Only thing what wears on a snowblower is the bottom edge and the chute
Imagine it has to be stiff enough so that 3 foot chunk of curb doesn't bend it out of the way and let it get into the impeller

 

[DDoug]

I've seen the scraper adjusted "up" a little bit so the auger touches the surface for better cleaning.

 

[Milland]

I've seen the scraper adjusted "up" a little bit so the auger touches the surface for better cleaning.

Sure, but that will wear the auger faster, bringing back the idea of using an abrasion-resistant steel for the job. That, or as was mentioned, hard facing.

 

[Karl_T]

My friend and neighbor was supervisor at a place that made augers for twenty years. I know for a fact that they made blower augers for 100 hp size tractors. I was in the plant many times as my son worked there for a few years. There was a LOT of custom bending equipment as they made augers from 1" diameter to six foot diameter.

i am sure he would consult with you for a reasonable fee.

PM me your contact info if you'd like to go this route.

 

[DDoug]

Sure, but that will wear the auger faster, bringing back the idea of using an abrasion-resistant steel for the job. That, or as was mentioned, hard facing.

And I agree completely on the hardfacing.

Most every snowplower around here runs with no ski's, as the customers want the driveway scraped right down hard.
Yes, it wears the edge much faster, but customers want what they want.

Either machine, the wear items are just that, for wearing. Beit the auger or the cutting edge on a snow plow.

 

[RC Mech]

I’m told each part costs almost $900 from Oshkosh and they want me to look into making them or finding someone that can do it cheaper.

Unfortunately you’ve already put thought into this, hopefully paid. As for designing and making these, I’d rather do nearly anything else for that price.

 

[Milland]

Unfortunately you’ve already put thought into this, hopefully paid. As for designing and making these, I’d rather do nearly anything else for that price.

Yup, if it's a decent size (i.e. not a home-grade class), $900 sounds ok to me.

 

[gustafson]

I've seen the scraper adjusted "up" a little bit so the auger touches the surface for better cleaning.

IME the housing does the scraping.

 

[Jatrox]

I worked at an auger company that used AR plate formed into a single coil for high wear applications. All the standard flight was rolled in house from HR coil. It was similar to A36 but it was a special mix for the flight rolling process

 

[hanermo]

I suggest normal augers are made from something close to A36, essentially basic mild steel.
A 900$ price for one is reasonable.
4" == 100 mm x 48" == 1200 mm -- it´s quite long and hard to form, without experience.

IF offered I would suggest about 3-20.000 $++ for a consult to make one, with perhaps jigs needed.
Certainly, for 5-20 units/yr, I would say to forget making them in house.

It´s possible that chinese or other asian kids make them with a big press or former or whatever for less than 1$ in wages.
You are not one of them, liabilities accrue, and You don´t have the press or the experience.

The easiest best choice is probably to ask the nearest major jobshops for approximate quotes.
After their answers it will probably be obvious to your boss while this is not an optimal path.