Hardened ground shafts

Our standard range contains a very wide selection of hardened ground shafts (often referred to as a linear motion shafts or precision shafts). THN keeps an extremely large stock of shafts in steel, chrome steel and stainless steel types, and is expanding this selection on a daily basis. The hardened shafts are often used in linear guides, general mechanical engineering (instead of standard ground shafts for long service intervals), as pins for heavy loads and as angle bars for bending machines.

Besides the standard shafts, we also deliver shafts with special/different tolerances (f7, k5 etc). We also offer various types of machining such as axial and radial holes with or without thread, flat sides, key ways and threads.

The standard range includes but is not limited to:

• Solid shafts - metric   (3 t/m 120mm)
• Solid shafts - imperial   (1/4" t/m 3")
• Hollow shafts - metric   (12 t/m 100mm)

These shafts are optionally available with a hard chrome layer.

Stock / Machining

The stock at THN comprises more than 30 tons of hardened and ground shafts that are available in trade lengths varying from around 6 to 8 metres in length. The most common material is CF53 (1.1213), which can be supplied from stock in almost all sizes. Since machining these shafts (and making them the right length) is often more difficult to achieve with conventional machines because of the high surface hardness, we are happy to do this for you.

We have two grinding machines with which we grind the shafts to size for our customers. We can also offer economic and fast shaft machining, which is done partly in-house and partly by reliable and experienced partners.

Production

All shafts delivered by THN are hardened through induction hardening and then (if necessary) straightened. After being checked for hardness, structure and size, the shafts are ground several times by centreless grinding machines until the desired tolerance is reached. Grinding several times means we can guarantee low surface roughness, straightness, parallelness, roundness and tolerance.

Materials

The shafts can be delivered in different materials. The most common are:

Chrome layer properties (optional)

Shafts with a chrome layer have the following advantages:

• High wear resistance
• Low friction coefficient
• Little "stick" effect due to the low adhesion value
• Good rustproof properties on the outside diameter

Technical data of chrome layer:

* Other coatings such as zinc-iron galvanisation or special chrome coatings are available on request.

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