Annealing brass tube

[waltr]

Hello all,

I need to anneal some K&S hard brass tube to do some intricate bending.Once the bending is done,I would like to put it back to it's normal state.

Is it heat and quench to anneal brass too? To what temp and how long.

I know Beryllium is 1450*than quench.

Bringing it back,what temp and how long? Air cool or oven?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[dave roach]

Waltr

The way I do it is to use a propane torch and get the tubing red hot and let it cool on it's own this will

anneal it so you can work with it. To hard it get it red hot and quench it in oil.

Dave Roach

 

[waltr]

Dave,

Thank you very much.

That will work great.

Well, off to get the torch

 

[Eric Bourlet]

Waltr

The way I do it is to use a propane torch and get the tubing red hot and let it cool on it's own this will

anneal it so you can work with it. To hard it get it red hot and quench it in oil.

Dave Roach

Found this on a clock making site

"Brass is non-ferrous and cannot be hardened by heat treatment in the same way that carbon steel can. It will however harden by mechanical pressure and this is usually known as "workhardening". When brass is received in the soft state, such as in castings or soft sheet, it is often required to harden it before it is suitable for our work and this we do by hammering or rolling it.

Conversely there are occasions when hard brass needs to be softened, perhaps so that if can be bent or riveted, and here heat treatment is used to anneal the brass. The metal is heated to a dull red heat and allowed to cool and this treatment will be found to soften the metal completely. In some books it is suggested that the brass should be quenched in water after heating but this is purely a matter of convenience in handling; rapid quenching will have no effect on the annealing process."

 

[Jim Allen]

Waltr,

Hard walled seamless drawn brass tubing; copper alloy #C2600; ASTM-B135; or cartridge brass; CAN NOT be hardened after annealing. It is hardened during the drawing process to a 1/2 to 3/4 hard condition. Annealing can be done at temperatures between 800 & 1400 deg F. No water quench is necessary.

Ferrous alloys can be hardened because of the presence of carbon. Those without carbon can be case hardened by adding carbon. Copper alloys can be precipitation hardened only if they contain beryllium. There are several grades of high nickel (18%), cobalt steels that can also be precipitation hardened.

Jim

 

[waltr]

Waltr,

Hard walled seamless drawn brass tubing; copper alloy #C2600; ASTM-B135; or cartridge brass; CAN NOT be hardened after annealing. It is hardened during the drawing process to a 1/2 to 3/4 hard condition. Annealing can be done at temperatures between 800 & 1400 deg F. No water quench is necessary.

Ferrous alloys can be hardened because of the presence of carbon. Those without carbon can be case hardened by adding carbon. Copper alloys can be precipitation hardened only if they contain beryllium. There are several grades of high nickel (18%), cobalt steels that can also be precipitation hardened.

Jim

Well,that answers my next and all of my questions.

I annealed the tube and tried to re-harden it with not much luck.

At least I only annealed where I had to bend.

The job did come out awesome anyway.

Thanks Jim

 

[Jim Allen]

Waltr,

Rigid wall brass tubing can be bent as is, without annealing, by using a product called cerrobend. This alloy melts at 158 deg F. & is available from McMaster-Carr; catalog # 112; page 3414. Fashion a funnel from heavy aluminum foil; melt the cerro bend in a small container sitting in boiling water; pour into whatever size tubing with the end plugged; let it harden; make 90 deg bends without any crinkle or crushing. Heat the tubing in boiling water & the cerrobend will run out leaving no residue. Since the product can be used again & again, one purchase lasts for a life time.

Jim

 

[LawlessMan]

If you'd rather avoid the expense of buying the cerro-bend, also called cerro-tru, or cerro-low (different melting temps) And if you can stand a slight distortion in the brass tubing, Use weed-whacker line inside the tubing. I use .105 diameter line in the standard 1/8" tubing, and get almost no flattening or distortion, even though I bend the tubing into a 1/2" diameter horseshoe. That trimmer line is almost indestructible! To pull it out, I put the bent area back on the "die" and hold onto the trimmer line with vise-grips. (Better have the "die" in a vise attached to a heavy bench). A little light oil or grease can be used to make the insertion and removal process a little easier. Make sure you cut the trimmer line on a diagonal, with a sharp X-acto blade, not wire cutters. I use the X-acto knife to bevel the i.d. of the tubing to make inserting the line a little smoother.

 

[waltr]

Jim,

I now have a block of cerrobend 156* on the shelf thanks to MMC.

Now it's 'in stock" for next time.

Fred,

I haven't tried the weedwacker line.That could work too.

I did anneal the 5/32 K&B brass tube at the bends.It came out with really nice and even radius bends.

All of the bends are supported,so I don't think I'll have any problems(I hope).

Thanks for all the help and great info.

 

[RickT]

It's a bit late, but.

I place a peice of tape on one end of the tube.

Fill it with fine salt or powdered graphite.

Flick the tube to get it to settle, keep topping it up.

When it is full place another piece of tape on the other end.

Bend the Tube.

The salt just pours out when you are finished or if it is stuck, dissolve it in some warm water.

Rick.

 

[cuda66]

It's a bit late, but.

I place a peice of tape on one end of the tube.

Fill it with fine salt or powdered graphite.

Flick the tube to get it to settle, keep topping it up.

When it is full place another piece of tape on the other end.

Bend the Tube.

The salt just pours out when you are finished or if it is stuck, dissolve it in some warm water.

Rick.

Hi Same idea as i have tape on 1 end.

i fill with sand , make sure i packed good.

then oher end and bend easy .

works good for me.

Joe