Welding a file to mild steel

You need one of these universal winch handles. It comes in different sizes, can be used for left or right handed winches and is calibrated for Metric, Imperial and US Customary measurements. It can also be instantly detached and used for a multitude of other purposes, from inflicting horrible pain to holding burning objects such as short cigarettes or as an emergency hammer. It will not work as a screwdriver, at least not very well.

 

HaHa,my lady of the moment can do all those things,plus,she has warm hands.

 

A wrench socket of the proper size welded to the handle will work I guess.
I made some special shape wrenches this way. I usually grind off the chrome layer of the socket before welding.

 

I remember reading once of a driving ban conviction where the culprit's steering wheel had come adrift and he tried driving home with a pair of vice-grips instead! (They make very good nut crackers too)

 

HaHa,was he driving down the Liffey at the time Padrig?

I wouldn't fancy cracking my nuts with them.

 

To PDW
I was trying to address the concept that perhaps some people have about taking mild steel, heating it, quenching it and ending up with a "case hardened" mild steel material

Further in my post, you will note that I addressed a carburizing processes which you can case harden mild steel, but you can also nitride, boride and evidently Kasenite which I have not heard of before

All of them involve heating the metal, immersing it in one of the above mixtures, so the metal molecularly takes in some carbon into the grain boundaries, then a quenching process.

Generally without a long carefully controlled process, only an extremely thin surface is affected which probably not going to significantly the "rounding of the slot" problem that the OP was trying to solve.


reduce the

 

Ouch

Adelaide actually
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...mpting-control-car-steering-wheel-PLIERS.html

 

HaHa,well you know how the saying goes Nick,

"Where there's a will,there's a way"

I once got a chance of driving a "57 Chevy"hot rod,but I had to sit on a toolbox because the front seat was out of it.Luckily it was on an old airstrip at the back of General motors in Melbourne,and there was plenty of open space.Oh happy days.

 

Case hardening definitely has it's purpose,as does chroming,but like you say,any play or slack,and one damages the other surface.
I have a pal that makes his own carbon,from leather I think.he hardens parts for old black powder rifles and pistols.(sears and springs etc)
Some of the old hardening methods are very interesting.
Kind regards
V

 

That's the danger of the internet, it's full of crap information or correct information taken out of context. You most certainly *can* harden mild steel, there is no question this is so.

What you can't do is harden mild steel by heating to its austenitic point when it goes non-magnetic and then quenching in oil or water. It doesn't have enough carbon for this to work.

You use various commercial case hardening compounds. The technique has been well known for over 150 years, I can do it and have done it many times. Kasenite is (was) a common brand name. I still have a can of it.

I don't give a damn what some random bit of information on the internet says, try consulting a metallurgy or blacksmithing textbook or 2.

PDW

 

It's a fact that mild steel can be case hardened,it is still used for many applications.
Years ago,some cars had their camshafts "Hard chromed"but there were failures because the chroming wasn't thick enough,and the cam followers were wearing through the cam.Some of the despatch riders bikes in ww 2 had chromed bores,and a long stroke,it was nearly impossible to stall them.
Ceramics are used for bores and turbo's now in some engines.