Basic Color Case Hardening set up for beginers

[xtriggerman]

I wanted a set up to do small receivers up to Rem rolling block size as a max and this was the cheapest way to do it. First I bought a used pottery kiln off Ebay for about 280 if I remember right.

Now what makes a pottery kiln no good for the intended purpose is they general have a pretty cheap temp regulator. You need a Kiln that will hold 1500 Degrees F within a few degrees. That's where this unit comes in.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Plug-Play-PID-Temperature-Controller-Box-Kiln-Probe-Pottery-Glass-Annealing-/111131612124?hash=item19dff5d3dc

Now comes the tinkering of putting the new controller in the old control panel. I kept the original analog temp gauge just to have a match to the digital add on one.

This is what it looks like under the lid.

Next up was to make a crucible to contain the part and the carbon mix. I had to size it carefully so it would fit inside the small kiln without being to close to the heat coils. heating slow and evenly is part of the equation.

here it was specifically sized to fit the long griped stevens

An aerator pipe was fabricated to bubble the water for at least an hour prior to a quench. High oxygen content is needed for good colors. The coiled bottom has a series of tiny holes drill for fine air release.

Here, the bucket is a industrial laundry detergent unit that will hold my 15 gallons of Distilled water from Walmart. The crucible frame holds the container solidly and you can see the window screening that catches the part.

Here you can see the crucible lift fork that can lift the container out of the kiln and the trap door hook screw driver I made up to yank the trap door open over the water. Quenching must be very close to the water and instantaneous.  If the trap door hesitates to open in one swift motion, Its spoiled, and needs to be repacked and heated again. Ask me how I know  

The second receiver I did was this Marlin 47 pump 22. The quench warped the bolt enough to where I had to refit it but it worked out nice in the end.

That used to be a fire damage gun that got new wood. The forend I made from an old butt stock scrap

 

 

 

 

[Whisper]

Man, that's some nice work.  Thank you for sharing this.

[MacGyver]

This is one of these things that even if you have the knowledge, money, and experience to know how to do it right - it still takes a lot of time, patience - and probably not a little luck to get good results.

I appreciate anytime I see someone go to this level of detail to get something right.

[gregintenn]

Thank you for taking the time to post this. I had a vague idea how it was done, but your post clears it up. Very interesting.

[ncrobb]

Nice work.  I’ve always been intrigued with CCH.  

[Capbyrd]

This is amazing.  Please continue to post results as you do more.   I love seeing it.