04-02-2015, 11:12 AM
(04-02-2015, 05:59 AM)PixMan Wrote: The ratchet part is stressed in shear by the pawl. You want tensile strength. 4140 is 95Ksi.
You know Ken, all this time my concern was that the ratchet might crack in half at the voids someday. The possibility of the pawl shearing off teeth never even entered my mind!
Thanks for pointing that out. I think for now though, I'm just going to get a slug of 4140 cold worked in the annealed state and see how that goes. Surely that will be stronger than what is on the (yes, it's an import) press right now. The pawl and pin seem to be good and solid. Perhaps sometime down the road if/when I can acquire a nice carbide insert cutter of some sort for my mill I can revisit this and make another ratchet from PH material as a test run of the cutter. Although cutting the internal key way in hardened material would be another problem for me.
I think Greg nailed it though. No matter what I use, I probably won't be around long enough to wear it out.
Willie