140' steel rails in 400 degree oven

[MechanicJoe]

Just joined this forum and am looking for some assistance in metal expansion.

scenario: Age oven with two rails that run through the oven for material movement. The rails in one oven are breaking the red head anchors off, where the other ovens rails are holding true.

Can anyone help me figure out why one may need more expansion room then the other?

Just a Mechanic

 

[hydtools]

Maybe the rail attachment in the oven with rails not breaking the redheads allows for rail expansion without loading the anchors. And it is not a case of different expansion.

Ted

 

[MechanicJoe]

I would lean to that all cut outs are the same size as I made them. 4"x 5/16" flat stock with a 2 1/4" x 2 1/4" x 1/4" angle iron point up for wedge wheels.

It is just not making sense to me is all. The one that is popping the redheads raises on one end by 4" after a 6 hour heat cycle of 400 degrees.

Thanks for the advice

 

[dvd]

Maybe one oven is fixed to the floor and the rails grow at a different rate than the rail support steel, while the other oven grows at a similar rate to the rails. Plenty of different expansion regimes could cause this.