Bent Pinion Bar

[tomsutton529]

I have a bit of pinion bar that is part of a track for the pedestal on a balancing machine. Rumor has it a job fell off the machine and bent the track..

The bar is about 1 - 1.5M long with a bend in the first few inches. I would say off the top of my head its about 20mm wide and 15mm high..

What is the best way to sort it out. I was thinking some heat and smash it straight with a hammer.. I have just read about metal becoming brittle once heated so is heat not the right way to go.

Thats the sort of machine it goes on only bigger. (thats a 2T by the looks of it and the one im working on tomorrow is a 7T), the pedestal with the wheel goes from one end to the other on a track to vary for the size of job.

 

[Dee J]

Some understanding of the material and it's properties is needed. If it is a steel of some sort then a small distortion may press out cold, but at risk of cracks. Serious distortion would need heat to correct, but may need further heat treatment to restore the correct wear and toughness characteristics...

 

[tomsutton529]

Material: Hard
Properties: None owned at the moment

I think its some sort of steel, we don't have a press in the shop.. the bend isn't too bad, probably 10 to 15 degrees. Wear and toughness shouldn't be a major issue (unless its going to turn to jelly) as the track is supported and only carry the pedestal, its bad practice to move the pedestal with a big job on them.

 

[Bill Edwards]

If it's believed to be some kind of steel then I think the safest way would be to heat it until a dull red and bend it, then allow to cool slowly. This won't make it brittle and won't crack it in the process.
Quenching it is a big no.

It should be quite soft though after this heat treatment, to harden it would be more work.

 

[tomsutton529]

Had a an attempt today but gave up and just moved the bend to the other end of the frame where I am going to say that it acts as a stop for the pedestal.