HOW TO TEMPER A SCREWDRIVER BIT

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Our market is simply overwhelmed with low-quality Chinese tools. And the point here is not even in the manufacturer, but rather in the resellers who massively carry cheap Chinese screwdrivers, passing them off as a brand. There is also an excellent, high-quality Chinese instrument, but it is rather difficult to find.

We will not argue much about what and how, but we will try to improve the quality of a screwdriver or screwdriver with interchangeable bits.
I will harden the bits. Quenching aims to increase the strength of steel, to change the properties of the metal, making it harder, but more brittle.

How to temper metal with your own hands

The hardening process is extremely simple and does not require special knowledge or special work techniques from you. But you will have to be especially careful when working with hot metal and a gas burner.
So, what is needed for hardening?

- The bits themselves first.
- Heater. Ideally, use an induction heater, but if you don’t have one, you can use a gas burner like me.
- Engine oil. Any one is suitable, it’s better to even use the used one, since it is thinner.

We proceed to hardening the metal. To hold the bat over the burner, it is necessary to make a fixture for holding. I will do this from ordinary steel wire by wrapping several turns around the bit.

In principle, you can simply hold the pliers by the thick end of the bit so that only part of the bit that interacts with screws and screws is tempered.
We ignite the gas burner. We bring the bat and begin to heat the metal.

We warm to a bright pinkish color. Until Bel is not recommended to heat, although on such a burner you are unlikely to succeed.
As soon as everything has warmed up, quickly dip in oil, for 5-6 seconds. Then take out.
You can use another process: 4 seconds in oil, and then sharply in cold water, they say the effect is better, but, again, I have not tried it.

That's all. The process is completed. All that remains is to wipe the bit from the oil and start using it.

In appearance, it became darker.

I want to add that not all bits are quenched. I don’t know what is mixed in them, but there are instances, the hardening of which does not just not affect, but even destroys them, and they become like plasticine after heat treatment.
I would also like to add that this method does not lie at all with factory hardening, so you do not need to wait for the same hardness of the metal. Since even metal is not the same as the factory one. But the effect of increasing hardness, and hence the operating time, is still there.