Ever wonder where the metal from your gun comes from?

[actaeon277]

I still keep my distance. A blowout from one of those tires would turn me into a grease stain on the wall at a minimum or blow me into another dimension that sucks even more than this one.

Edit: I'm also in the crane most of the time they come around so unless the damn things learn to fly...

One blew at the Caster.
Guy nearby took all the rocks/pebbles on the ground like a shotgun blast.
I think he lived. But they had to dig the rocks/pebbles out of him.

 

[Gunmetalgray]

Cool thread thanks for sharing! Grew up in the region many yrs ago & remember everyday life revolved around what was happening at the mill. I think everyone had family or knew someone who worked there. Still remember touring Inland steel when in scouts, someone's dad worked there I'm sure. Was winter and recall how awesome we all thought it would be working there cause you'd never be cold with the heat from the steel, lol. Don't recall if we thought that thru to summer time tho, lol. They let us walk the cat walks in what I think was the rolling area?? We thought it was awesome, the glowing orange steel, massive machinery, noise, everything covered in soot, we went home filthy and loved every minute of it.

 

[Dean C.]

"Cold" forging , taken behind 2~ inches of bullet proof glass. We have to put real glass in front of the bulletproof glass to keep it from delaminating due to the heat. 2,000 Ton Hydraulic Press forging a 9,000~# ingot

 

[actaeon277]

"Cold" forging , taken behind 2~ inches of bullet proof glass. We have to put real glass in front of the bulletproof glass to keep it from delaminating due to the heat. 2,000 Ton Hydraulic Press forging a 9,000~# iwaved?

We had a boss put something thru the glass. Trying to get someone's attention.
He kept muttering about bulletproof.
I had to break it to him, 2 layers of glass with space between, THEN the bulletproof on the INSIDE.

 

[actaeon277]

"Cold" forging , taken behind 2~ inches of bullet proof glass. We have to put real glass in front of the bulletproof glass to keep it from delaminating due to the heat. 2,000 Ton Hydraulic Press forging a 9,000~# ingot

Ever watch them change those windows?
HEAVY!

 

[Dean C.]

Ever watch them change those windows?
HEAVY!

That's the truth , like the first time I saw an armored Humvee and realized how heavy the doors were. Rolling through a turned off annealing furnace was also an interesting experience . It's a cool job to say the least, but as you mentioned upthread you always have to respect the metal or it will hurt you.

 

[johntheplinker]

Interesting stuff. Processing steel has always fascinated me, especially how they did it back in the 19th/early 20th centuries. Those old timers were made of some tough stuff!

 

[actaeon277]

U.S. Steel Photograph Collection

If you wanna see old timers.
An archive of photos back to 1900

 

[Ziggidy]

I had the opportunity to work in a drop forging plant many many years ago, i think I was 19. I was a heater guy, took the steel and put it in the heater and then handed it to the hammer guy. Don't remember how many hammers we had but we had one large one that worked very large pieces. They used a special crane for the large one and we used tongs for the small rods.

I made allot of money at a ripe young age of 19; of which I wasted on partying. I lasted 6 months before I quit and went to college.

Helstrom Steel Mill in Illinois went out of business quite a while ago.

 

[actaeon277]

Don't hang out near the steel
Don't add wet stuff if you can avoid it

 

[MRockwell]

Don't hang out near the steel
Don't add wet stuff if you can avoid it

Yikes!
A situation like this happened at the Chrysler Kokomo Casting Plant several years ago. Someone was dumping scrap transmission cases into the blast furnace and Boom! I was told about it from my Dad, who works in the toolroom, so I can't remember details...just that it was not a good thing. If I remember right, the scrap was stored outside and rain water collected in one/some.