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Warning: I used to think a 30-minute preheat on the cupola was enough. Not anymore.
For years at our shop in Akron, we'd fire up the cupola and start charging after half an hour. I argued with the old foreman about it, saying it was a waste of gas. Then we had a run of bad pours, brittle castings that kept failing. A consultant we brought in last fall showed us our preheat temp logs. We were starting 200 degrees Fahrenheit colder than we should have been. Now I insist on a full 90-minute preheat cycle, no exceptions. The metal flow is smoother and our scrap rate dropped by 15%. Has anyone else had to fight this battle with management over furnace time?
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robinp8915d ago
Man, that hits home. We had the same fight with our heat treat oven. The new manager wanted to cut the soak time in half to push more parts through. We ended up with a whole batch of gear blanks that were soft as butter. Had to re-run everything, which wasted way more time and power than just doing it right the first time. Shortcuts in a shop just move the problem down the line.
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wader7115d ago
Sounds like your manager failed the basic math test. Spend two hours doing it right, or spend eight hours fixing your mess. Honestly, some people just see the clock and not the calendar. They never learn until a whole batch goes in the trash. Tbh, it's the oldest story in every shop.
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See this everywhere, people skipping steps to save time and it ALWAYS costs more later.
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