Solar Manufacturing has sold seven Mentor vacuum furnaces over the past 12 months. The Mentor got its start when it was donated to ASM International’s training facility in Materials Park, Ohio, just over a year ago. At the same time that this furnace was engineered and manufactured, a second unit was built for Solar Atmospheres’ facility in Hermitage, Pa. Because of its proven usefulness, Solar Manufacturing decided at that point to offer it to the general marketplace

The Mentor is a horizontal vacuum furnace mounted on a single, portable platform for easy shipment and maneuverability. Its work zone measures 12 inches wide x 12 inches high x 18 inches deep, which allows heat treaters the convenience of running smaller workloads more economically. The hot-zone design incorporates a graphite-foil hot face backed by four layers of 0.5-inch-thick, highly efficient Rayon graphite felt supported in a stainless steel ring structure. It is rated to a maximum operating temperature of 3000°F and is AMS 2750E compliant with a temperature uniformity of +/- 10°F between 800 and 2400°F. The furnace hearth is capable of supporting loads up to 250 pounds at 2150°F.