Ever wonder where the metal from your gun comes from?

[tv1217]

I'm about to nap because I have to be there at 11 tonight. If you happen to find anything that mentions roll spalls, post it up. Think claymore mine except the balls are more like several dozen pounds of dense and jagged metal chunks

 

[Biggredchev]

What are those ladders made out of? Seems like they would eventually heat up and get squishy or even turn molten themselves hauling around molten steel all day.

 

[actaeon277]

What are those ladders made out of? Seems like they would eventually heat up and get squishy or even turn molten themselves hauling around molten steel all day.

Which ladders?

I know, any ladder, railing, or anything, near the liquid steel, better wear gloves.
TRUST ME on that.

Also, the continuous slab before it hits the "cut off" is somewhere around 1,200 deg.
So the crosswalk over it has a railing that is cooled by water. The railing itself is pipe. And water is constantly piped through it.

Near the quench towers in the Coke Plant, you had to be careful with railings.
The quench steam was corrosive, and would rot the railings.
So, before you relied on the railing, you would grab it and yank, as a test.
When I was a new guy, I asked an older guy why some of the chains that crossed to keep you from falling down a ladder hole were different. Some looked like the chain you'd lock up your bicycle with, and some would look like it was made of wire. The older guy told me, the bicycle chain was new, and the wire chain was the SAME, only 1 year older.

 

[actaeon277]

Anything you pour the steel into, such as ladles, tundish boxes, run-offs, etc, are lined with masonry.

Some things are a bit different. A lance in the BOP that gets lowered into the furnace to blow oxygen, is a few big pipes for the oxygen, with a pipe spiraled around the outside of that, for water cooling, with masonry encasing both.

When we take a temperature of the steel, we dip a metal pipe into the steel. The pipe has wire through it, and plugs. We take a cardboard jacket and place it over. The cardboard jacket has a plug in it, an oxygen sensor, and a thermocouple temperature sensor in it. The steel burns through the cardboard at a given rate. Before it burns through, we get the oxygen and temperature reading. The cardboard sleeves and sensors are destroyed in the process. The wires in the cardboard are human hair sized, since it is destroyed in the process.

 

[actaeon277]

Oh. and better wear that aluminized coat and be behind a metal shield when taking the temperature.
Ever drop ice into boiling hot water. It SNAPS.
Well, that's the difference between 70 deg and 212 deg.
Steel is 2,800 to 3,000. More of a difference.
So the steel blows a bit up in a shower of sparks. It can light wood, cardboard, and clothes on fire.

 

[marvin02]

A lance in the BOP that gets lowered into the furnace to blow oxygen, is a few big pipes for the oxygen, with a pipe spiraled around the outside of that, for water cooling, with masonry encasing both.

At Inland the lances had no masonry. One of my jobs was to burn built up slag and steel off the lances without burning the jacket of the lance. Used about a 3 1/2 foot long scarfing torch with a tip that your little finger would almost fit in. This was often a punishment job because it was a hot dirty job in a hot dirty area.

 

[actaeon277]

At Inland the lances had no masonry. One of my jobs was to burn built up slag and steel off the lances without burning the jacket of the lance. Used about a 3 1/2 foot long scarfing torch with a tip that your little finger would almost fit in. This was often a punishment job because it was a hot dirty job in a hot dirty area.

They may have added the masonry now, after you left.
There is still build up to remove.
But the lances are changeable. A furnace has 2 lances. And a lance can be swapped out while the other is in use.
The lance swapped out goes to the ground to cool. And a big *** jackhammer on a tank tread will remove the skull build up.

 

[actaeon277]

 

[actaeon277]

Continuous casting - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[actaeon277]

Blast furnace - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Oh. and better wear that aluminized coat and be behind a metal shield when taking the temperature.
Ever drop ice into boiling hot water. It SNAPS.
Well, that's the difference between 70 deg and 212 deg.
Steel is 2,800 to 3,000. More of a difference.
So the steel blows a bit up in a shower of sparks. It can light wood, cardboard, and clothes on fire.

Yeah, well... I'll have you know that I've been bitten by a mosquito a couple of times while I've been working out on my deck just this spring/summer! So yeah, I can relate to having a dangerous job.

 

[actaeon277]

Yeah, well... I'll have you know that I've been bitten by a mosquito a couple of times while I've been working out on my deck just this spring/summer! So yeah, I can relate to having a dangerous job.

It's all a matter of perspective.
Earlier this summer, I had to work above a furnace in the BOP.
While strolling threw the menu, the device listed the temperature as 170 deg.
I muttered to myself, I need to stop complaining about 110 or 120 deg in the Caster.

 

[indyartisan]

You guys need a raise.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

You guys need a raise.

I know, right? I mean, that mosquito bite itched for a couple of days!

Oh, you probably mean actateon, tv1217 and marvin02, huh? My bad. But yeah, I agree for those guys!

 

[actaeon277]

You guys need a raise.

I would settle for them working me less hours.

 

[actaeon277]

Oh. And MOSTLY, I DON'T sit out in that heat.
I try to sit in my air conditioned shop as much as possible.

But.. they do pay me to fix things. So, sometimes I spend time in the heat.
Couple nights ago, spend 30 minutes changing a transducer.
Then there was working on a positioner, 4.5 hours.
Change a temperature pole, 30-45 minutes.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Oh. And MOSTLY, I DON'T sit out in that heat.
I try to sit in my air conditioned shop as much as possible.

But.. they do pay me to fix things. So, sometimes I spend time in the heat.
Couple nights ago, spend 30 minutes changing a transducer.
Then there was working on a positioner, 4.5 hours.
Change a temperature pole, 30-45 minutes.

A few weeks ago, I almost swallowed a moth that got in my coffee mug. So I've got that going for me.

 

[marvin02]

They may have added the masonry now, after you left.
There is still build up to remove.
But the lances are changeable. A furnace has 2 lances. And a lance can be swapped out while the other is in use.
The lance swapped out goes to the ground to cool. And a big *** jackhammer on a tank tread will remove the skull build up.

Yeah, we had two lances per furnace. We had a 30 foot scaffold on the lance floor that we used to put next to the lance out of service and burn the skulls off. They only used the jackhammer on lances going out for repair. Midnights, in the summer, spending an entire shift burning skulls. I do not miss that.

 

[cobber]

Fascinating! Thanks for the videos and info.

 

[Dean C.]

Nice , I run Melt Control for super alloys (if you know you know don't want to be too obvious) , I freaking love my job. Something about walking in and seeing and hearing the electricy and fire from the furnace really does it for me.