Hardness indenter noses into confined spaces

A fixture uses a nose mounted test indenter to reach into confined spaces in order to make hardness tests deep inside tapers such as those on toolholders in machine tools.

Indentec has designed a fixture for making hardness tests deep inside tapers such as those on toolholders in machine tools.

Exploiting the inherent ability of Indentec's nose mounted test indenter to reach into confined spaces, the fixture ensures 100 per cent inspection without any need to section and scrap expensive spindles to check hardnesses at internal points.

It allows tests to be carried out upto 50mm inside tapers with openings as narrow as 20mm diameter.

The spindle is clamped in a vee block mounted on a carrier on the test table of a standard Indentec digital Rockwell testing machine.

Angled to present the tapered internal surface at right angles to the nose mounted indenter, the carrier is guided forward against a scale identifying the chosen test positions.

When each test point is beneath the indenter, a Rockwell hardness test is made.

Any number of tests can be undertaken by simply indexing the carrier from test point to test point against the marked scale.

Indentec says that the very small indentations left by the tests can easily be removed from the heat treated spindle during the finishing process.

(This was Manufacturingtalk's Top Story on 9 November 2002).

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