Our newly updated design guide, titled the Heat Staking Design Guide: Inserting Metal into Plastic with Induction by Dr. Girish Dahake, is now available for download. Heat staking of threaded metal inserts into plastic (also known as metal-to-plastic insertion) is a common induction heating application, and this design guide will help you get started. With heat staking, the insert is preheated with induction and then pressed into a hole in the plastic part. This is accomplished by positioning the induction coil over the hole and then holding the insert in the coil for a short period of time. When the correct temperature is achieved, the insert is pressed into the plastic.

In the latest induction heating application video from THE LAB at Ambrell, a steel rod is heated for a forging application with an Ambrell EASYHEAT^TM induction heating system and a custom-designed coil. As you'll see in the video, heating the steel bar to 2220 °F (1204 °C) took just 20 seconds. Here is the preheating for forging video:

A client requested complimentary application testing from THE LAB at Ambrell for a preheating for forming application. They had been using a torch, but were interested in switching to induction heating due to the speed and repeatability that it offers. They needed to preheat an area around an elliptical hole in a large steel tube prior to forming. The target temperature for the application was 1800 °F (982 °C).

A manufacturer of power generation equipment approached THE LAB at Ambrell with a shrink fitting application. They had been shrink fitting a magnetic steel gear with an oven, but that oven took over two hours to heat the gear to 550 °F (288 °C). Their hope was that induction could significantly reduce that time, which would increase their productivity and enable more throughput. They sent in their parts to Ambrell and took advantage of complimentary applications testing.