Fastenal Company, North America’s largest distributor of industrial and construction materials such as screws, bolts, and fasteners, has purchased a complete UBQ (Universal Batch Quench) furnace line from AFC-Holcroft. The equipment will be installed in one of the customer’s plants in Winona, Minnesota, USA. As is typical for a complete batch furnace production cell, this order consists of a UBQ batch furnace sized 36-48-36, two UBT temper furnaces, a spray/dunk washer, a double-ended transfer car, and a 4500 cfh E-Z series endothermic gas generator. Fastenal requested customization to the stock equipment to meet their specific requirements. This is the first installation of heat treat equipment at Fastenal’s Winona location. The equipment is expected to be delivered and installed in the 3rd quarter 2014.

Additionally, Specialty Steel Treating, a commercial heat treater with locations in Michigan and Connecticut, is adding a new AFC-Holcroft UBQ (Universal Batch Quench) integral quench furnace to their Fraser, Michigan, USA operation. The UBQ batch furnace, size 36-48-36, is equipped with a top cool chamber, which offers additional cooling capacity for a variety of processes. The new furnace will be serviced by a new, double-ended UBTC (Universal Batch Transfer Car), which will be delivered in the same timeframe; both pieces will be integrated with furnace equipment already in production. As a supplier of both standard and custom equipment, AFC-Holcroft customized their standard equipment designs to meet several specific requests from Specialty Steel Treating. The new UBQ furnace will meet all of the requirements established in AMS2750E for a Class 2, Instrument Type C furnace system. At Specialty Steel Treating’s request, both nitrogen and endothermic gas will be delivered to the top cool system on the UBQ. The rail spacing was also adjusted on both the UBQ and the UBTC to accommodate the customer’s existing tray designs.