Recommendations for die nitriding

[Phys86]

I am looking for some recommendations on who to send a FL sizing die to for nitriding. It's a PTG blank and not hardened. I'm just looking to make the sizing operation smoother/easier.

 

[DDriller]

Nitriding will probably change the size of your die.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

You wont get “A” die done. We have to ship a minimum of 50 even being friends with the owner. Best thing to do is find a shop sending parts out and see if you can slip it in or get somebody to harden it for you in a more traditional way. I bought a heat treat oven used off ebay for prototypes. It would hold about 5 dies and did a fantastic job. Be sure you study the heating profiles of your metal and what to wrap it in.

 

[DaveTooley]

Look around for a local heat treat shop. Make friends and see if they will carburize/case harden it for you. File hard, thin skin is what you want. To deep and you could crack the die when used.

 

[Tucker65]

I've used this place to have a Borden action Nitride treated. They have a minimum charge which was $250 I believe he said it would cover up to like 6 complete actions, or about what ever would fit into a usps medium flat rate box. Turn around time was only a week and they did a great job. I'm sure quite a few of the action manufactures use them and when I talked to Jim Borden about having it done he said he sends his there.

I will definitely use them again with a die blank I need to make and I'll just ask around to see if my buddy's have anything they need done to split the cost. When I sent my action in I also bought a couple of bags of action screws to throw in there since it wasn't going to change the price of their minimum charge.

H&M Blacknitride+™ | The New Standard in Steel Hardening

 

[Tucker65]

Nitriding will probably change the size of your die.

From what I've been told by he guys doing the Nitride and from reading about the process the size doesn't change. It didn't affect the size of the action I sent in other than making the bolt slide through it slicker.

 

[shortgrass]

Visited the PT&G web site and it says the die blanks are made of 4140 chrome moly. Their hardening instructions don't make sense. Nitriding would be a good option it seems, if it can be mixed in with a 'batch' of other CM parts. I've had rifle barrels nitrided, and I was advised by the engineer at the heat treater not to mix 416R and CM barrels in the batch. Seems to me the best solution would be to make the die from 4140HT , or air hardening tool steel to begin with.

 

[Pres100]

Nitriding will probably change the size of your die.

Nitriding is a heat treatment done by immersing the part in a salt bath (at about 650-700* if I recall correctly).
The part will turn black but it is not a coating added to the exterior of the surface. The surface of the metal structure is basically hardened to a depth of about 0.01". I'm sure the process can be varied to degrees of different results
You would want to have the machining done prior to the treatment. The polishing afterwards will improve the feel, but I'm not sure how much smoother it would be than polishing a standard die. The real benefit of the process is the surface hardening. I haven't worn out a standard die yet from reloading brass.

Edit - referring the the SALT BATH Nitriding process

 

[GenePoole]

We had a nitriding furnace at O-I when I worked there. It was on the order of 1000 gallon capacity (guess) with a big door on the front that looked like a giant submarine hatch. The parts were placed on a screen on the bottom, then chamber was evacuated, filled with the nitriding gas, and electricity was applied. There was a small window in the door and you could see an eerie glow around all the parts inside when it was running. I wish I'd paid more attention at the time, but that was just another machine in the 5 acres of shop floor.

 

[L.Sherm]

They have a minimum charge which was $250 I believe he said it would cover up to like 6 complete actions,

There batch price is 400.00 now

 

[Ksracer]

 

[Webster]

I am looking for some recommendations on who to send a FL sizing die to for nitriding. It's a PTG blank and not hardened. I'm just looking to make the sizing operation smoother/easier.

I would think the high temp would distort the dimensions. Hard to machine after hardening? There is nothing wrong with std dies. You don't need to put money into them. Use a light vis petroleum oil for sizing. Very smooth and min effort.

 

[Phys86]

I would think the high temp would distort the dimensions. Hard to machine after hardening? There is nothing wrong with std dies. You don't need to put money into them. Use a light vis petroleum oil for sizing. Very smooth and min effort.

The die is already cut.