Mentor^® Pro Vacuum Furnace

Mid-sized, economical production furnaces

The Mentor^® Pro, model HFL-3036-2IQ, is a horizontal, front loading, mid-sized, vacuum heat treating and brazing furnace generally designed and developed to accommodate mid-size furnace loads in an efficient and economical manner. It is a high temperature, high vacuum, batch-type furnace with electrical resistance heating elements. The Mentor^® Pro is mounted on a portable platform for easy shipment and maneuverability. Designed for heat treating processes such as hardening, brazing, stress relieving, normalizing, annealing, tempering, sintering, homogenizing, degassing, diffusion bonding, and creep forming.

Features and Benefits

• Designed for easy maintenance and minimal downtime
• Hot zone measuring 18″ H x 18″ W x 36″ D
• Weight capacity of 1,000 pounds
• Energy efficient graphite felt insulation for operating temperatures up to 2400°F
• Temperature uniformity of approximately ±10°F (AMS 2750 Compliant)
• High performance 50 HP internal gas quenching up to 15 PSIG (2-Bar)
• 2-gas backfill (Argon and Nitrogen)
• 2-gas partial pressure (Nitrogen and Argon)
• SolarVac^® Essentials fully automated and programmable industrial controls package
• Backed by fully stocked spare parts warehouse and the best technical support
• Full one year warranty

 Hot Zone

• Hearth: Molybdenum support pins and rails
• Heating Elements: curved, segmented graphite bands
• Insulation: Four layers of 1/2″ thick high purity rayon graphite felt with a Flexshield hot face
• Insulation and heating elements are mounted on a heavy duty (0.105″) stainless steel support structure

 Power Supply

• MSI SCR power supply rated at 90 KVA 400 / 460 volt / 3 phase / 60 Hertz

 Vacuum Chamber

• Carbon steel, double wall, water cooled, horizontal front loading vacuum chamber
• Autoclave locking ring, front door allows the furnace to safely quench at positive pressures up to 2-bar
• Oversized water inlets and outlets assure maximum water flow

Gas Quenching System

• The internal gas quench system provides the lowest resistance, highest efficiency gas flow at positive pressures up to 2-bar.
• A 50 HP motor drives a high-speed turbine fan to recirculate the quench gas straight through the water-to-gas heat exchanger and then into the hot zone at high velocity.
• The tapered graphite gas nozzles are specifically directed at the work load for optimum cooling.

Vacuum Pumping System

• Mechanical Pump: High capacity, 2-stage, rotary piston pump
• Diffusion Pump: Varian HS-10-10″
• Holding Pump: High capacity rotary vane pump
• High Vacuum Valve: 10″ Right angle poppet valve

Control Cabinet and Instrumentation

The SolarVac^® Essentials is a PLC based control system with operator interface, recipe storage, alarm management, and data acquisition functions. Enables the operator to monitor, control, record, and quickly understand the status of the furnace operation. All controls and instrumentation are housed in a suitable NEMA-rated control cabinet.

• HMI Operator Interface: Industrial PC with Intel Atom CPU and Windows 10. Wonderware InTouch supervisory-level HMI software package. 18.5” HD color touchscreen monitor mounted on a robust swing arm.
• Programmable Logic Controller: Allen-Bradley CompactLogix
• Temperature Controller: Eurotherm EPC3004 Single Loop Digital Controller
• Overtemperature Controller: Eurotherm EPC3004 Limit Digital Controller
• Graphic Video Recorder: Eurotherm Model 6100A utilizing a color touchscreen
• Vacuum Instrumentation: Televac with active gauge heads
• Control Thermocouples: Type “S”
• Work Thermocouples: Type “K”

Equipment Options

• All-metal (moly) shielded hot zone for 2400°F operation with power supply rated at 128 KVA
• Gas backfill reservoir
• Hydrogen partial pressure
• RA330 and molybdenum work grids
• Water re-circulation cooling systems
• Workload trucks – manual
• Oil mist separator

Typical Materials Processed in the Mentor^® Pro Vacuum Furnace

• Alloy Steels
• Titanium
• Tantalum
• Inconel
• Nitinol
• Stainless Steel
• Tool Steel
• Precipitation Hardening Stainless Steel (PH)
• AerMet® 100
• Tungsten
• Zirconium
• High Speed Tool Steels
• Copper
• Brass
• Hot Working Tool Steels
• Nickel Based Alloys
• . . . and more

Typical Components Processed in the Mentor^® Pro Vacuum Furnace

• Aircraft parts and equipment
• Power Generation blades and components
• Medical devices
• Additive Manufactured components
• Implants
• Tooling
• Gears
• Braze assemblies
• Plate
• Forgings
• Bar
• Ingots
• Weldments
• Structural components
• Castings
• Sheet
• Tube and pipe
• . . . and more