SECO/VACUUM News

US Defense Contractor Purchases Vacuum Retort Furnace

US military firearms manufacturer located in the Western US will replace their outdated existing vacuum stress relieving furnace with a new vacuum retort furnace from SECO/VACUUM.

Stress Relieving Furnace Upgrades

The manufacturer’s existing furnace still works, but it had long passed its expected service life and was exhibiting production inefficiencies, so an upgrade was in order to keep up with production demands.

The new SECO/VACUUM vacuum retort furnace will be used to stress relieve firearms components. At 1400°F (760°C), relatively low-temperature for heat treating, the stress relieving process is used to prevent subsequent part distortion while enhancing the quality of the firearms. The medium size furnace will have a horizontal retort with work zone dimensions of 24 x 24x 36 inches (~610 x 610 x 915 mm) and Turbo Cooling.

Shorter Cycle Means Higher Throughput

Switching from the vertical configuration of the old furnace to the new horizontally configured furnace will shorten loading times. Additionally, the turbo-cooling option they selected offers a cooling cycle improvement from 3.5 hours down to just 1.5 hours. Improved loading paired with shorter cooling will bring total heat treat cycle times down by as much as 2.5 hours.

“Their old furnace was showing its age. Once we showed them the control system advancements, the cycle time improvements, and the more competitive lead time we could offer, the upgrade really made sense from both a quality control and production pace standpoint,” said Piotr Zawistowski, Managing Director for SECO/VACUUM, USA.