Processes for carbon steel fittings (Setting up a factory)

[MIH]

Hi all,
I'm trying to know details of carbon steel fittings manufacturing processes.

What are the equipments needed for the factory?

Can I convert Iron or steel fittings to carbon steel fittings by adding carbon through heat treatment?

what are the resources for such inquires.

Please help coz I spent long time looking in the internet to know the processes for manufacturing carbon steel fittings.


Thanks a lot.....

[bigfootnampa]

These processes are many and varied. Your query is far too vague to yield usable results. What, exactly, would you like to manufacture? You will need YEARS of experience and education to be professionally qualified even in a few specialty areas of this VAST field! Long time on the internet is only a tiny beginning.

The answer to your question about adding carbon through heat treatment is that, while certainly possible, it is rarely a useful practical process... if carbon steel parts are needed they should be made of an appropriate alloy to begin with.

[ianinsa]

Dear Mih,

What you are asking is anything and everything?
Please take a smigum more time and give as much info as you can on your profile, then return here and try to give as much info as possible as to the what, why and how you envisage doing what you intend to do. Thereafter armed with where you are and what you are trying to achieve I'm sure someone on this forum will be able to assist you in your quest.

Ian

[ThomasPowers]

We don't know if you plan to cast them, drop forge them or make them with a machine shop.

As mentioned can you carburize mild steel ones---possibly though it may end up being more expensive than making them from the proper alloy in the first place---you can use gem quality diamonds to pack carburize items---it's *possible* just not cost effective.

[Borntoolate]

I went to a large forge when I was in, of all places (Saudi Arabia). They primarily made pipe Flanges. Long rods of steel came in. For a 4" 150# flange I want to say the steel rod was something like 4" diameter. These were cut into smaller sections something like 6 inches long. They went by conveyor into a long furnace. Maybe it was 15 or 20 feet long. Going on memory here. They fell out of the furnace, red hot, near the forge where they were placed inside and I think a guy had to activate it with both hands. So then a big die comes down and squishes the hunk of red hot metal into the shape of a flange. I don't recall now but that may have been a 2 or three step process to shape, punch the pipe hole, do final shape and then I believe the holes were drilled. So if you want to build a factory like that... first... Get a lot of money.... Then there are only about a 1000 other things to do afterwards. BUt if you have a lot of money you could probably get started. Unless you are only going to make like one flange per day, by hand, with strikers and such. Good luck getting them certified by anyone like API though...

[MIH]

Thank you all for your input and in fact my back ground is system analyst and I don't know much in mechanical & chemical fields. This is why I came to you coz you're the experts.

I thought I may find someone who works for factories that do the manufacturing of CS fittings or someone who can guide me through.

From my search in the internet, I found fittings making machines (Tee, Elbow, Reducer, etc), but I don't know how the process starts. Do I have to have the raw material mixed with carbon to make the CS fittings (utilizing fittings making machines)? Or get CS ready pipes and cut/fabricate them to make fittings.

The demand of manufacturing CS fittings is very high here and I'm trying to have details before I approach any of the existing manufacturers to have a joint venture with.

can we do part of the process in one factory and complete the remaining processes in another factory for CS fittings?

I'm sure you know a lot guys but maybe I don't know how to drive my question.

Thank you all….

[MIH]

Thank you all for your input and in fact my back ground is system analyst and I don't know much in mechanical & chemical fields. This is why I came to you coz you're the experts. I thought I may find someone who works for factories that do the manufacturing of CS fittings or someone who can guide me through. From my search in the internet, I found fittings making machines (Tee, Elbow, Reducer, etc), but I don't know how the process starts. Do I have to have the raw material mixed with carbon to make the CS fittings (utilizing fittings making machines)? Or get CS ready pipes and cut/fabricate them to make fittings. The demand of manufacturing CS fittings is very high here and I'm trying to have details before I approach any of the existing manufacturers to have a joint venture with. can we do part of the process in one factory and complete the remaining processes in another factory for CS fittings? I'm sure you know a lot guys but maybe I don't know how to drive my question. Thank you all….

[John B]

You don't say where in the world you are, and you don't have any idea of what is involved or where you are starting or finishing. When you start talkingg about mixing Carbon with the raw materis, it is not a cake mix or making concrete type process and is done at manufacture of the raw materials required.

Maybe this will help, or not

Firstly you make or source your raw material, two totally different requirements for each,

If you are making it, there is a very large capital investment required for this processing and sourcing basic materials.

Buying in raw materials that is material in a usable condition, is cheaper, and all you need is storage space and finishing facilities

Turning the raw materials into finished items requires a simple knowledge of working methods and usually requires one of three processes

1) Castings, which can be supplied as raw materials ready to machine or use as is, these castings are made from many different materials ferrous and non ferrous, and there are many types of castings giving diiffering degrees of accuracy to the finished product, These will also require pattermaking facilities of some form

2) Forgings, usually made ready to machine or occasionally use as is forged.

3) Stock, bought in ready for working on to produce a finished item, this can come in the form of castings, forgings, round bar, square bar, flat bar, sheet steel for pressings, plate, different sections and specially made sections, these are then mad into the reqquired components using forming and cutting machinery.

You will also require some heat treating and finishing facilities.

Maybe over simplified, but from my experience, covering most of the basics.

[MattBower]

Define what you mean by "carbon steel." Generally speaking, carbon steel is just steel with very few alloying elements other than carbon. What chemical composition are you looking for?

It will almost certainly be cheaper to buy steel of the alloy you wish to use than to try to manufacture your own.

[pkrankow]

Weldable fittings?

The Tee may be pierced then the hole stretched open and out by some means, but they could also be notched with a tubing notcher and welded.

http://www.medfordto...CFeYRNAodoiRjRg

Phil

[ptree]

Min, I worked for the Henry Vogt Machine Co for 21 years. We were the leading maker for forged steel valves and fittings 2" and under in the world. We also made millions of flanges and also made alloy fittings.

The physical plant produced about 100,000 complete valves and from 4 to 7 million fittings a month. We forged all of the components in a steam drop forge plant. The drop forge was a single story factory of about 1 hectacre space. The machine shop covered about 1 hectacre and was 7 stories tall with machines on all floors. The heat treat, test and assembly shops covered an additional hectacre. We had about 700 machine tools when I started, as as we modernized we lowered the machine count to about 450 tools and about a hectacre single story building for machining heat treat and assembly/test. The forge moved from drop forges to forging presses.

It took 121 years to get to there. If you want to make fitting for local use, and low pressure then much less infrastructure is meeded for the steam class 150 to class 2500 we made. We also certified our products to codes from groups like the API, ASME, ASA, AAR,and ISO This takes careful documentation of the processes and the right testing.

You could probably get much better answers with more info on what you really mean by CS fittings. This could be cast, machined from solid, or forged and machines or drawn from tube.
Good luck.