Oregon-based Stack Metallurgical Services has acquired a Model HFL-5748-2EQ vacuum heat treating furnace from Solar Manufacturing. Solar offers technical consulting and value-added process development.
Solar Atmospheres, an affiliate company, considered Solar an excellent option in order to fulfill the present demands. Hence, for these reasons, Solar has been selected by Stack, though many competitive furnace brands are operated in Stack’s plants.
The work zone of this new vacuum furnace model measures 36” W x 36” H x 48” D. The work load potential and operating temperature of this new model are 5,000 lb and up to 2500oF, respectively. A graphite foil hot face, having four layers of 0.5 in. graphite felt at the back, is included in the energy-efficient hot zone insulation package. Vacuum operation includes a Varian diffusion pump system, a Stokes Roots blower pump and a huge Stokes mechanical pump, in order to achieve 1 x 10-5 Torr. A Solar ConserVac system monitors and controls the diffusion pump heaters for consumption of minimal power. A 150 HP motor is integrated in the external gas cooling system. The heat exchanger is supported by this system for quick cooling of the work load at a gas pressure of 15 psig, in which the work load is enclosed by multiple fixed graphite tapered gas nozzles. Dry SCR power controller and a 3 zone MSI 210 KVA dry type power transformer form the power supply. The furnace is easily controlled and operated by a modern SolarVac 5000 Computerized Instrument Package, which incorporates Wonderware software and an interactive touch screen panel.