Safety Color Code & Signs • Piping systems containing flammable

material.
USE OF PAINT
• Waste containers for highly combustible
All maintenance shops and work areas should be material.
marked with the correct colors to identify • A hazardous area or a safe aisle within a
hazards, exits, safe walkways, and first-aid hazardous area.
stations. • Coverings and guards for guy wire.
• Lower pulley blocks and cranes.
Red color markings should be used to identify • Pillars, posts, or columns that are
the following equipment or locations: physical or shop hazards.
• Fire alarm boxes (pull boxes). • Fixtures suspended from ceilings or walls
• Fire blanket boxes. that extend into normal operating areas.
• Fire extinguishing containers. • Corner markings for storage piles.
• Fire extinguishers unless painting is • Exposed and unguarded edges of
unnecessary. For large areas and when platforms, pits, and wells.
the extinguisher is not readily visible to Green color markings normally on a white color
the area occupants, use red on the background should be used for the following
housing wall or support above the equipment or locations:
extinguisher to show its location.
• Fire hose location • First-aid equipment
• Fire sirens • Stretchers
• Fire pumps • First-aid dispensaries
• Sprinkler piping • Safety starting buttons on machinery.
• Fire reporting telephone stations • Safety instruction signs.
• Fire buckets
Black and white are the basic colors for
• Store all idle tools in a safe, dry place.
designating housekeeping and interior traffic
• Provide visitors to the work area
markings.
required personnel protection
equipment. • Locations and width of aisles in
• An exception may be made to comply nonhazardous areas.
with local laws or when current facilities • Dead ends of aisles or passageways.
provide green exit signs. • Directional signs.
• Emergency stop buttons for electrical • Locations of refuse cans.
machinery. • White corners of rooms or passageways.
• Clear floor area around first-aid,
Yellow color markings should be used to identify
firefighting, and their emergency
the following equipment or locations:
equipment.
• Industrial areas where particular caution
Blue color markings are used on the outside of
is needed, such as handrails, guardrails,
switch boxes electrical controls that are the
bottom edge of overhead doors, or top
starting point or power source for hazardous
and bottom treads of stairways.
electrical machinery or equipment.
• Fire hydrant barrels
• Caution signs
Orange markings are used to designate DIRECTIONAL SIGNS
dangerous parts of machines or energized
Directional signs should be used in sufficient
equipment, including electrical conduits, which
numbers to indicate the way to stairways, fire
may cut, crush, shock, or injure.
escapes, exits, and other locations. Many other
Ensure that the wording of any sign safety media are available for use in military
maintenance shops.
• Is concise and easy to read.
• Contains enough information to be
easily understood.
Properties, Identification & Heat Treatment of
• Is designed for the message to be carried
Metals
in a picture when appropriate.
• Is a positive rather than a negative METAL CLASSIFICATION
statement when appropriate.
• Is bilingual with the second language Ferrous metals include cast iron, steel, and the
common to the local personnel when various steel alloys, the only difference between
appropriate. iron and steel is the carbon content.

Below are the five types of signs and their Nonferrous metals include a great many metals
predominant color. that are used mainly for metal plating or as
alloying elements, such as tin, zinc, silver, and
• Danger signs: RED. gold.
• Caution signs: YELLOW. Following is a brief explanation of the
mechanical properties and how they relate to
• Safety instruction signs: GREEN.
each other.
• Directional signs: BLACK.
• Tensile strength - is the ability of a metal
• Informational signs: A variety of colors may be to resist being pulled apart by opposing
used, except for red, yellow, or magenta forces acting in a straight line. It is
(purple). expressed as the number of pounds of
force required to pull apart a bar of the
DANGER SIGNS
material 1 inch wide and 1 inch thick.
Danger signs should only be used when • Shear strength - is the ability of a metal
immediate hazard exists. There will be no to resist being fractured by opposing
variations in the type or design of signs posted to forces not acting in a straight line. Shear
warn of specific danger. All personnel will be strength can be controlled by varying the
instructed that danger signs indicate immediate hardness of the metal.
danger and that special precautions are • Compressive strength - is the ability of a
necessary. metal to withstand pressures acting on a
given plane.
CAUTION SIGNS • Elasticity - is the ability of metal to
Caution signs should be used only to warn return to its original size and shape after
against potential hazards or to caution against being stretched or pulled out of shape.
unsafe practices. All personnel will be instructed • Ductility - is the ability of a metal to be
that a caution sign indicates a possible hazard drawn or stretched permanently
against which proper precautions will be taken. without rupture or fracture. Metals that
 lack ductility will crack or break before The last two, and sometimes three, numbers
bending. give the carbon content in hundredths of 1
• Malleability - is the ability of a metal to percent (0.01 percent).
be hammered, rolled, or pressed into
SAE 5130 indicates a chromium steel alloy,
various shapes without rupture or
containing 1% of chromium and 0.30% of carbon.
fracture.
• Toughness - is the ability of a metal to SAE 1045 Type of steel (carbon). Percent of alloy
resist fracture plus the ability to resist (none). Carbon content (0.45-percent carbon).
failure after the damage has begun.
• Hardness - is the ability of a metal to SAE 2330 Type of steel (nickel). Percent of alloy
resist penetration and wear by another (3-percent nickel). Carbon content (0.30-percent
metal or material. carbon).
• Corrosion resistance - is the resistance SAE 71650 Type of steel (tungsten). Percent of
to eating or wearing away by air, alloy (16-percent tungsten). Carbon content
moisture, or other agents. (0.50-percent carbon).
• Heat and electrical conductivity - are
the ease with which a metal conducts or SAE 50100 Type of steel (chromium). Percent of
transfers heat or electricity. alloy (less than l-percent chromium). Carbon
• Brittleness - is the tendency of a content (1-percent carbon).
material to fracture or break with little AA Code
or no deformation, bending, or twisting.
A system similar to the SAE classifications for
Numerical Codes steel and alloys has been developed by the
The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Aluminum Association (AA) for wrought
system is based on the use of four-or five-digit aluminum and aluminum alloys.
numbers. The Aluminum Association is the industry’s
• 1xxx Carbon Steel leading voice in Washington, DC. It provides
• 2xxx Nickel steels global standards, industry statistics and expert
• 3xxx Nickel-chromium steels knowledge to member companies and policy
• 4xxx Molybdenum steels makers nationwide. Highly engaged in public
• 5xxx Chromium steels policy and technical forums, the Association is
• 6xxx Chromium-vanadium steels committed to advancing aluminum as the
• 7xxx Tungsten steels sustainable metal of choice around the world.
• 8xxx Nickel-chromium-molybdenum The first number indicates the type of alloy. For
steels example, 2 is copper, 3 is manganese, 4 is
• 9xxx Silicon-manganese steels silicone, and so forth. The second number
The first number indicates the type of alloy indicates the control that has been used. The last
used. two numbers usually indicate an assigned
composition.
The second, and sometimes the third, number
gives the amount of the main alloy in whole Thus, AA-2024 means: 2 - Type of alloy (copper).
percentage numbers. O - Control of impurities. 24 - Exact composition
(AA number 24).
Major Alloying Elements Wrought iron

• 1XXX Aluminum at least 99% Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low
pure carbon content (less than 0.08%)
• 2XXX Copper
Steel
• 3XXX Manganese
• 4XXX Silicon Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon or other
• 5XXX Magnesium alloying elements. When the alloying element is
• 6XXX Magnesium and Silicon carbon, the steel is referred to as carbon steel.
• 7XXX Zinc
• 8XXX Other Elements Types of Steel
• 9XXX Unused Series Carbon Steels only contain trace amounts of
elements besides carbon and iron. This group is
the most common, accounting for 90% of steel
Grain Structure production. Carbon Steel is divided into three
subgroups depending on the amount of carbon
Grain is a small region of metal, having a given
in the metal:
and continuous crystal lattice orientation.
• Low Carbon Steels/Mild Steels
Etching is the process of using strong acid to cut
(up to 0.3% carbon)
into the unprotected parts of a metal surface.
• Medium Carbon Steels (0.3–
0.6% carbon)
• High Carbon Steels (more than
Methods of Marking
0.6% carbon)
Stenciling
Alloy Steels contain alloying elements like nickel,
Stenciling produces an image or pattern by copper, chromium, and/or aluminum. These
applying pigment to a surface over an additional elements are used to influence the
intermediate object with designed gaps in it metal’s strength, ductility, corrosion resistance,
which create the pattern or image by only and machinability.
allowing the pigment to reach some parts of the
Stainless Steels contain 10–20% chromium as
surface.
their alloying element and are valued for their
Stamping high corrosion resistance. These steels are
commonly used in medical equipment, piping,
Stamping (also known as pressing) is the process cutting tools, and food processing equipment.
of placing flat sheet metal in either blank or coil
form into a stamping press where a tool and die Tool Steels make excellent cutting and drilling
surface forms the metal into a net shape. equipment as they contain tungsten,
molybdenum, cobalt, and vanadium to increase
Ferrous Metals heat resistance and durability.
Cast iron

Cast iron is a group of iron-carbon alloys with a

carbon content more than 2%.
 Non-ferrous Heat treatment of Metals

Aluminum is remarkable for its low density and Heating

its ability to resist corrosion through the
It is the first step in a heat-treating process.
phenomenon of passivation. Aluminum and its
Many alloys change structure when they are
alloys are vital to the aerospace industry and
heated to specific temperatures.
important in transportation and building
industries, such as building facades and window Soaking
frames. The oxides and sulfates are the most
useful compounds of aluminum. After the metal is heated to the proper
temperature, it is held at that temperature until
Magnesium - Magnesium is the third-most- the desired internal structural changes take
commonly-used structural metal, following iron place.
and aluminum. Magnesium is used in super
strong, lightweight materials and alloy. Cooling

Copper – It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal After the soaking stage is complete, the metal
with very high thermal and electrical must be cooled in a prescribed manner. Different
conductivity. It is one of the most important media such as brine, water, oil or forced air
constituents of silver and karat gold solders used control the rate of cooling.
in the jewelry industry, modifying the color,
hardness, and melting point of the resulting
alloys. Lathes

Brass - It is an alloy of copper and zinc, in Lathe machine

proportions which can be varied to achieve A lathe is a machine tool that rotates a workpiece
varying mechanical and electrical properties. about an axis of rotation to perform various
Bronze - It is an alloy consisting primarily of operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling,
copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and drilling, deformation, facing and turning, with
often with the addition of other metals. tools that are applied to the workpiece to create
an object with symmetry about that axis.
Lead - It is a heavy metal that is denser than most
common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, Types of lathes
and also has a relatively low melting point. Engine lathe is a type of machinery, shaped
Tin - It is a silvery metal that characteristically has horizontally, and it is often used to cut metal.
a faint yellow hue. It is soft enough to be cut The metal is turned, and the machine uses
without much force. special cutting tools to create the desired shape.

Nickel - It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a Turret Lathe is a type of metalworking lathe
slight golden tinge. Nickel belongs to the that's characterized by the use of
transition metals and is hard and brittle. interchangeable cutting tools.

Special Lathe It is used for special purpose such

as heavy-duty production of identical parts. This
lathe so performed specific function that cannot
be performed by standard lathe.
Lathe Components Lead Screw - serves for the feed rod, used to
move the carriage automatically during thread
cutting.

Feed rod/shaft - a power transmission

mechanism with a keyway, the reversing pinion
gears on it can be meshed with the mating bevel
gear to move the carriage.

Some important safety precautions to follow

when using lathes are:

• Correct dress is important,

Lathe bed - The main part of the machine, often remove rings and watches, roll
made of cast iron, used to support, and install sleeves above elbows.
other parts of the lathe, such as headstock, • Always stop the lathe before
tailstock and carriage rail, and ensure their making adjustments.
relative position, has high rigidity and strength, • Do not change spindle speeds
there are four parallel guide rails used for the until the lathe comes to a
correct movement of the carriage (tool rest) and complete stop
tailstock relative to the headstock. • Handle sharp cutters, centers,
and drills with care.
Headstock - attaches to the left side of the bed. • Remove chuck keys and
It houses the headstock spindle, the bearings, wrenches before operating.
the gears, and the belts used to drive the spindle. • Always wear protective eye
Chuck - bolted on the spindle and used to hold protection.
the workpiece or bar stock, there are different • Handle heavy chucks with care
types, like 3-jaw (self-centering) or 4-jaw and protect the lathe ways with
(independent), and chucks for clamping a block of wood when installing
noncylindrical parts. a chuck.
• Know where the emergency
Compound Rest – it is mounted to the cross stop is before operating the
slide, pivots around the tool post. lathe.
• Use pliers or a brush to remove
Tool Post - It’s bolted on the carriage, to hold the
chips and swarf, never your
cutters at the correct position with the tool
hands.
holder.
• Never lean on the lathe. Never
Tailstock - It can be located on the right side or lay tools directly on the lathe
inner position of the lathe, used for centering the ways. If a separate table is not
piece when a long part is tied on the chuck. It available, use a wide board with
provides good support to damp the vibration. a cleat on each side to lay on the
ways.
Carriage - moves in the outer ways, used to
• Keep tools overhang as short as
mount most the turning cutting tools and make
possible.
them move vertically, horizontally, or obliquely.
• Never attempt to measure work
while it is turning.
• Never file lathe work unless the
file has a handle.
• File left-handed if possible.
• Protect the lathe ways when
grinding or filing.
• Use two hands when sanding
the workpiece
• Do not wrap sand paper or
emery cloth around the
workpiece.