Blog

From the shop floor

Articles on armour steel, succession and consulting – written from around 20 years in metalworking, not researched from a desk.

Consulting

Why Gut-Feel Costing Ends Up Being the Most Expensive Kind

Most quotes in metalworking are put together between two phone calls, from experience. That works fine for years – until one order quietly crowds out the ones that actually make money.

4 September 20266 min read

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Armour steel

DIN 2303: Q1 to Q4 Is Not a Ladder

Q1 to Q4 looks like a progression – it is actually split in two: material-based and product-based. Read it wrong and you plan the wrong qualification.

4 September 20267 min read

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Armour steel

Bending: The Most Expensive Mistake With Armour Steel

The most expensive bending mistake with armour steel is almost never the press – it is plate orientation and where operators stand.

4 September 20266 min read

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Armour steel

Tolerances: Thickness Is a Floor, Not a Tolerance Band

For armour steel, plate thickness is not a dimension with plus and minus – it is a protective property, and machining cannot substitute for it.

4 September 20266 min read

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Armour steel

Costing: What Is Missing From Armour Steel Post-Costing

In defense work, you are not paid for manufacturing – you are paid for proving it was done right. Cost only the manufacturing, and you cost half.

4 September 20267 min read

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Armour steel

What Sets Armour Steel Apart From S355

In armour steel, protection comes entirely from heat treatment – and the wrong processing step destroys it without leaving a trace.

4 September 20265 min read

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Armour steel

How to Correctly Measure Preheat and Interpass Temperature

Interpass temperature gets measured in almost every shop – and in most of them, at the wrong spot and too early.

4 September 20266 min read

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Succession

The Three Questions Every Buyer Asks

A seller talks about the machinery first. A buyer asks three quite different questions – and the answers shape the purchase price more than any equipment list.

25 March 20266 min read

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