cast steel

[TechnicAl]

Oh yes

Mind you there were some emotional days

One day this guy decided to do a 9.9 Swallow Dive into 50 tonnes of molten steel at 1600 oc (give or take a degree or two).

We were really upset as it increased the Calcium content over and above the specified limit

The Ca bit is true,,,,,,,,,,the melt had to be scrapped

Incidentally for some strange reason he had been secretly stashing his wages in a hole behind the clocking in * machine. Thousands of pounds

Why was it never called the clocking out machine.

 

[Welderpaul]

Never knew they used electrodes to melt the scrap....wouldnt have fancied picking up the lecky bill up off the mat once a month for that place.
Must have made the lights go dim when they fired that up.

One way to go i suppose. Couldnt you have chucked a bit more of everything else in other than Ca to put the mix right?

 

[Seano]

Not in the same league as you Al, but after my apprenticeship I spent some time working in the billet rolling mill at CIC in Consett where I originate from, saw some things there that I've never seen anywhere else in the world, and I've been all over it as well....good days at CIC.

 

[TechnicAl]

Never knew they used electrodes to melt the scrap....wouldnt have fancied picking up the lecky bill up off the mat once a month for that place.
Must have made the lights go dim when they fired that up.

One way to go i suppose. Couldnt you have chucked a bit more of everything else in other than Ca to put the mix right?

The melting pot was already full. They chucked a chain in and allowed it to solidify. They then buried the lot out of respect. Some coffin.

Apparently it happened a few times over the years.

 

[TechnicAl]

Not in the same league as you Al, but after my apprenticeship I spent some time working in the billet rolling mill at CIC in Consett where I originate from, saw some things there that I've never seen anywhere else in the world, and I've been all over it as well....good days at CIC.

CIC......what does that stand for?

 

[TechnicAl]

Never knew they used electrodes to melt the scrap....wouldnt have fancied picking up the lecky bill up off the mat once a month for that place.
Must have made the lights go dim when they fired that up.

QUOTE]

Electrodes?

they were massive carbon rods. Im trying to remember the size of them, possibly 3 feet diametr and 6 feet long and they connected together so that they were 18 feet long.
The noise was deafening...........literally

 

[hotrodder]

This sort of deal? http://www.graftech.com/PRODUCTS/Graphite-Electrodes/What-is-a-Graphite-Electrode-.aspx

We were really upset as it increased the Calcium content over and above the specified limit

Nearly choked trying to stiffle a laugh when i read that line

ETA good old youtube... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijWwfcw0FOo

 

[Drains]

The melting pot was already full. They chucked a chain in and allowed it to solidify. They then buried the lot out of respect. Some coffin.

Apparently it happened a few times over the years.

What was the chain for? In case he was actually The Terminator and wanted to pull himself out?

 

[TechnicAl]

What was the chain for? In case he was actually The Terminator and wanted to pull himself out?

So the crane could pull the solid lump out of the furnace. They couldnt pick it up otherwise. I dont know why they didnt cast it. I think it was an "out of respect" action but I dont know for sure.

 

[TechnicAl]

This sort of deal? http://www.graftech.com/PRODUCTS/Graphite-Electrodes/What-is-a-Graphite-Electrode-.aspx

Nearly choked trying to stiffle a laugh when i read that line

ETA good old youtube... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijWwfcw0FOo

Them furnaces were scary. i didnt work in such a place but occasionally passed through, dark, hot, noisy........just like anyones hell

I was once on a high level gantry, daydreaming when this klaxon went off and 100 tonnes of molten stainless passed beneath me in a crucible. By the time it had passed I was shaking and so was the gantry. The floor was diamond pattern and it was hot...not red hot but hot.

My sons all work in the steelworks and one of their best friends was killed earlier this year. Crushed between two overhead cranes. It fills me up he was only 27 and it could so easily have been one of my boys......still very dangeorus places.

 

[pedrobedro]

Electrodes?

they were massive carbon rods. Im trying to remember the size of them, possibly 3 feet diametr and 6 feet long and they connected together so that they were 18 feet long.
The noise was deafening...........literally

The ones where I worked were small foundries and cast ingots in various sizes up to 2' square. The furnace had 3 trodes and they were about 18" diameter carbon rods with a thread in the top for putting new pieces in when they wore down. We had one slip through the clamp once and the furnace tipped automatically into the pit with no vessel there to catch it. The bottom of the pit was wet and it blew the roof off above the furnace with shrapnel and concrete flying everywhere, lucky no-one was injured. It was over 30 years ago when I worked in foundries though so lots of things will have changed.

 

[TechnicAl]

water and molten steel dont mix
1ml of water makes 1400 or 1700 mls of steam (I cant remember the number......someone will). Whatever its **** loads.

At Scunthorpe they poured some molten iron out of a blast furnace into a container that had some water in it. It blew the molten metal back out and covered a lot of men. They eventually got them in hospital in Sheffield. Quite a few died, in agony. That was a good few years ago, maybe 30.

 

[TechnicAl]

http://rediron-steve.blogspot.com/2010/11/remembering-1975-scunthorpe-blast.html

 

[Welderpaul]

A sobering read.

I've been on the casting floor at Templeborough, the scale of the place is amazing, even though it doesnt work anymore and they have knocked 75% of it down.

 

[Seano]

CIC......what does that stand for?

Consett Iron Company......Here

 

[Drains]

I couldn't resist.

This shows what was happening at Scunthorpe when the accident happened, but without an accident - from Bethlehem Steel in the US, now defunct. The view is from the outside - you can't see the furnace in operation. FYO, there is a more detailed write-up on the Scunny accident here - http://h2g2.com/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A53502473 - and it was mostly down to tuyere cooling water leaks in combination with use of torpedoes (as in the vid)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN-vBlGoHBk

This is what happens when you charge a pot with wet scrap
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzR4FmgvJXQ&feature=related

A spot of wire making - 6.35mm at 100 metres per second.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXPwSCtdTOI&feature=related

When rolling goes wrong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTLATicx7YA

 

[Shox Dr]

water and molten steel dont mix

I learnt the hard way about that.

I used to melt lead to make catapult ammo using a .458 round ball shot maker. It used to get really hot so you needed to cool it down every so often.

The latent heat would dry it out. One time it didn't. I started to fill, the lead boiled the water off, and a 50p sized dollop missed my eye by thousands of an inch. I was scarred for yrs after.

God only knows what those poor guys went though

 

[TechnicAl]

The "wire making" is actually Rolled Rod..........rolled into round section from square billet.....its coiled at the end and then cooled on the conveyor......If its Rod for MIG wire the conveyor is covered to prevent it cooling too quickly. The composition makes it prone to formation of martensite particularly at the edges which cool quicker than the central mass where the coils overlap.
In some mills something as innocuous as a door left open and a chilly breeze can be enough to cool it too quickly

 

[Drains]

I knew that Al, but was being lazy and inaccurate (I knew it cos it said it in the video, but I wasn't paying proper attention). But for clarity - if it was wire, it would have been drawn? - like in this Indian health and safety nightmare vid - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax6uKaPnYIk

 

[Welderpaul]

Anyone found one yet that shows mig wire being made?