News

This month we would like to share our special experience commissioning a complete heat treatment furnace with a customer.

Not long ago, we shipped out a heat treatment furnace to our customer. The furnace is composed of several components, including an endothermic gas generator, a feeding machine, a front washing machine, a hardening furnace, an oil-quenching apparatus, a rear washing machine, and a tempering furnace. All of them were put into four 40-foot long containers and one 20-foot long container. Konfu provides not only the machine, but also the technical support for it afterwards. We expediently arranged a trip to the customer once knowing they’ve received the machine.

It’s not easy to travel during the pandemic, not only because of the lack of flight choices and risk of infection, but also because of the strict quarantine regulations of our home country. However, we rolled with the punches and arrived safely at the customer’s factory. Our president James and technician Lin worked with the customers’ technicians to install all parts in sequence. After installation, we also conducted testing to ensure the machine was operating normally.

The heat treatment process starts by pouring screws into a feeding machine. The screws are moved automatically to different stations with the help of a mesh belt. The cutting oil should first be cleaned off the screws with hot water prior to the quenching process. Sometimes, detergent is needed when the parts are extra greasy. But in general, we use hot water to remove contaminants in order to protect the mesh belt. During the quenching process, the screws are heated to around 900 degrees and put in an oil tank to rapidly cool-down. Then a second wash is performed before the tempering process, which is at around 550 degrees. The hardness of the screws is thereby increased and can be adjusted in the quenching and tempering processes.

The deployment continued for around 2 weeks. On the last day, the customer held an inauguration ceremony where everyone prayed for a smooth and safe production. And the customer and James cut the ribbon together, a symbol of a great new start.