Sunday, November 11, 2007

Chain Tool Failure




My chain tool is broken. Its a fatigue failure, the crack started at the top surface of the broken piece and propogated down, taking a chunk of metal with it. I got it second hand from a person in the club. It has no brand name but the "Made in Taiwan" is more than sufficient evidence for me. The chain pushing against that piece caused a lot of stress, besides the sharp inside edges probably also created a stress riser. Poor manufacturing.. ? Seems to me as if this tool was made using powder metellurgy, looking at the inside cleavage and the grains, if so perhaps it was not heat treated enough I think.

2 comments:

Chris said...

I have had a chain tool break before as well. However, it wasn't the end like yours, it was the fork in the middle that gets inserted between the links. I now have a Park model that works great and fits well in my saddle bag.

Ron said...

i think someone before me used it in the wrong fashion? park tools are good, but they're on the pricey side. i guess you get what you pay for.