Solar Atmospheres of Western PA recently commissioned their third car bottom air furnace manufactured by Heat Treat Equipment Inc. This large Class 2 air furnace with a maximum operating temperature of 1350°F measures 60-in. wide x 38-in. high x 168-in. deep. The newly installed equipment joins two other HTE car bottom furnaces that are 14-ft. long and 20-ft. long respectively.

Bob Hill President of Solar Atmospheres of Western PA and Michigan states, “The addition of this large air tempering/aging equipment compliments our five (5) state-of-the-art vacuum car bottom furnaces very nicely. Instead of hardening and triple tempering, this 6,000-pound H13 die exclusively in a vacuum environment, Solar can save our customers and our company over 100 hours of valuable and expensive vacuum processing time. After successfully hardening in vacuum at 1850°F +/- 10°F, the fully hardened die was transferred to the air car bottom furnace for the triple temper operation of 1025°F +/- 10°F. These large and uniform car bottom furnaces are a win/win for both the customer and for production - not exclusively for heavy parts but also when treating long components.”

solaratm.com