This has peaked my curiosity, Could these parts have been "friction welded"(If I am using the proper term)?
Printable View
This has peaked my curiosity, Could these parts have been "friction welded"(If I am using the proper term)?
welded? thats funny. call s&w and ask. swiss machining will pop these out in about 40 seconds each. fatigue fracture.
But if they welded two halves together, it may save some turning time, but then they'd still have to go back and rechuck the pins to smooth out the weld joints. That would be an extra step. I would have an easier time believing that they're MIM rather than welded. From the pictures posted they look turned to me - makes sense to leave it in one machine rather than move it around to different stations just to produce a structurally inferior product.
What process & wire would be used to weld that small a part?
Is that firing pin MIM? Time to get a quality firing pin
I'm taking your pictures to a materials engineer I work with who does failure analysis. Give me a day or two and l'll have a real answer for you.
I think this is just a simple fatigue fracture...
Firing pins are made on a screw machine. In the AR-15 market, cost is always and usually the first consideration to alternative manufacturing processes. I can't imagine that a two piece welded pin could be manufactured any cheaper than one turned on screw machine.
Military Specifications for the M-4 Carbine.
http://www.ar15.com/content/manuals/m4milspec.pdf
Welded, that's a good one. :sarcastic:
I broke a firing pin a couple of weeks ago running F/A. The break looked similar, but the firing pin was titanium. Someone had given me several titanium pins years ago.