Heat treating A36 MIG welded frame

[ad_bfl]

General question.

I have built my lower axis/frame out of A36 1/4 wall tubing, welded using a MIG. The rails will be mounted to this after I have the ways surfaced by a blanchard grinder.

The Blanchard will only be removing less than .05 inches of material across the ways which are supported by the frame which is VERY strong.

When I built it in this manner I was planning on having it stress relieved before grinding, but a friend of mine who is a mech eng type says that given the strength of the frame and the small amount being removed, the stress relief process is wasted money.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks
Al

[RICHARD ZASTROW]

ad_bfl, we only deal with high precision metal cutting equipment so I don't know how it applies to your machine. We stress relieve & normalize after welding; then complete all but critical machining; final stress relieve then finish machine (bearing bores, ways etc.) grind slide surfaces and other critical areas. This equipment easily holds .0001" tolerances and can be quite expensive. Good luck

[SeaSchell]

If you don't stress relieve especially after welding it will "creep" over time. Maybe not much but who wants to chase things down later.