re:Hardening rails

Someone has to say the obvious, this time its me:

hardening steel doesn't make it much stiffer; it makes it harder. The
difference is that the the yield point (elastic limit) is increased. For a
given force below the yield point the deflection of hardened and unhardened
steel will be almost the safe.

Hardening the rod will be useful if the balls are loaded enough that the rod
is permanently grooved or dented (stress exceeds elastic limit).

If the rod is just sagging too much between supports, hardening won't help
you.

regards-
Elliot

>Subject: Hardening rails

>I bought some W-1 Water Hardening Drill Rod to use with my
>hand-me-down Thompson Super Ball Bushing linear bearings.

>The write-up said it was usable as-is, which I suppose it is,
>but it isn't as stiff as I was expecting. Can I heat this with
>my little propane torch, then quench it in a bucket or with a
>water hose? I probably won't be able to get the whole thing
>hot at once. Maybe I could put it in the oven at 500deg?

>Thanks for any advice!

>Regards,
> JJ

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