I do not know why you think the music would be apt for a video about an electric arc furnace in a melt shop. A very dangerous place to work, illness and injuries that debilitated the rest of your life and countless deaths due to accidents and the working conditions that are covered up by unscrupulous management.
Wow, such negativity. I and the others that worked there, first of all, would not see only the downsides you saw. We all loved it and to a man everyone I talk to misses it -- even if we complained about at the time. Second, the music is something I like and I found it an interesting ironic twist in the contrast between it and the scene. Two things are clear to me about you: 1) You are just looking for something to criticize -- that's a character issue; and 2) You've likely never worked in a steel mill and if you did it was for weeks or months before you fled because you couldn't take it. Go find something you're actually interested in and participate POSITIVELY. No one here needs your nanny-state crap. But, thanks for commenting -- it gave me a chance to vent.
@@EntropicRemnants the hell with that guy. I’ve spent many of years long days and nights in one. Spent a year in the rolling mill. Didn’t really care for that. Spent a few in the castors and many years in the furnace crew an some time in the LMF. I agree with u at times we may of complained. But we all missed it at some point if we got out for one reason or another. The crew or crews you worked with in places like that. An we’ve argued that much time together and situations there. Bound to happen. But in the long run wasn’t a damn thing we wouldn’t do for the next person there that would also do for us. It’s like a family like no other place. And some of that is because it can be dangerous a lot more that many many many other jobs. But that’s only when someone’s not being smart about what their doing. Do everything smart and with help if need be. It’s a fairly safe place. I also agree. The guy in the original comment. Either never worked it. Or didn’t make it through the hiring probation period and pussed out. It takes a special breed of people to spend time in one of them places. I myself ended up got out after many years for another job that ended up not working out. I own two businesses now that’s doing great. Thankfully it all happened like it did. Because almost two years ago after 30+ years they closed the doors of the place an cut 300+ people out of jobs without notice. But if I could of went back just here an there here an there for a day or two. Just for the hell of it. I would of just to work another day with them guys. Great people an great friends the only kind one could have working a job together like that
@@EntropicRemnants Meh. Just the negative comments. And forgive me as I am just tuning into your postings, but if you have not yet done part two I strongly encourage you to as a way to historically preserve what you all experienced.
@@ronaldscott781 Hi, Ronald. Should have replied sooner. I was unable to even start part II back then. Maybe I'll still get to it. Thanks for the encouragement.
Gret video. I work in a melt shop on the caster. Love my job. The guys I work with are 2nd to none. Some days I feel like I was born for a steel mill. Different breed of people for sure.
Hey, thanks for checking in. I felt the same way of our crew -- would (and did) trust them with my life. I felt the same way also about being "right" for it. I originally went there to do 6 months of training for automation for a crew that had no experience with PLC's and so forth. Ended up staying 22 years!
I know just what you mean. I’d run into fire for my brothers, and I know they’d do the same for me. I only hope to have a long career. Can’t imagine being anywhere else. Headed in right now. I’ll drain a heat for you brother!
Enjoyed this video and the soundtrack. "Welcome to the machine" by Floyd very fitting for the steel mill. I'm currently a melter up in the pulpit on an EAF, I also worked the Furnace floor and drove the charging crane for 14yrs and still do when required. I think back to when I was first shown around the melt shop after previously working in the Heavy End of an Integrated steel works for 6yrs, Blast furnaces, BOS Plants etc. Thinking to myself this EAF was nothing in comparison to the size of the kit I was working on previous. That soon changed for me when they charged that first basket of scrap an arced down on it, all hell broke loose, the noise, the light show and the sheer power of the thing just amazed me and still does to this day and long may it last... Nice one John Griggs.
LOL...I found myself recognizing all the various stages .....slag-off, reheat, etc... when I was writing this post......then when the crane siren went off to bridge the ladle....I stopped writing and looked up!
I worked at the SDI Roanoke VA plant for 20 years, M/ S come in 2001 stayed until 2008 and had to go ! I miss it everyday, you wouldn't know until you work in a steel mill ! Loved the job, miss the guys I worked with ! 👍✌
+RedHeart64 Ha ha! Yes it was very hot at times... and then very cold sometimes in the winter. It was a place of "extremes" for sure. When I first started there in 1991 I was just awed by the size and scale of steelmaking stuff. I feel you. The boots were heavy leather "metatarsal" boots that I used to describe as "Klingon Battle Boots" because they used some actual metatarsal boot on Star Trek. Basically, they have a steel and/or composite shield in a leather "tongue" that comes up the outside front of the boot up over the laces and combined with the steel toe can prevent you from losing a foot if something falls on it. The "hot work" guys that had to walk on 500+ degree partially cooled slabs had soles which were very heat resistant and didn't conduct it super fast. Only good for a short time, but useful. Most of us just had thick oil-resistant soles with steel shanks in them for strength. I still have mine and use them when I explore old buildings for the photography I do. Here's a blog post of mine with a lot of shots of the guys and a lot of the story of the end of the mill. I was too broken hearted to write part 2 of it, but it stands pretty well on it's own. May still follow up. blog.entropicremnants.com/2013/11/19/end-of-an-era-part-1-steel-mill-portraits---melt-shop.aspx Also, here's more photos on my flickr account in various sets: End of An Era: www.flickr.com/photos/teamgriggs/albums/72157637012132873 The Last Heat: www.flickr.com/photos/teamgriggs/albums/72157637206483695 Those are some of the last shots I did there. If you want to see more, they're in the "Albums" on my flickr site and you can find them. Thanks for your comment!
I can't imagine the power bill in a mill such as that! Lemme come back and say , being a 33 year sawmill man sights like that meant run.... I figured it to be a steel mill of some type and my hat s off to you boys that made the backbone material of this nation. Proud to share days work with ya.
Love sawmills. Even small ones. I watch the "Out of the Woods" channel of a small Tennessee sawmill. You are quite right on the electricity bills -- they were astronomical. However we did get a good rate as long as we were willing to shut down on very hot days when demand was high, or if generating capacity was offline. It made a huge difference in the bill being in such an agreement. Thanks for dropping by and you guys are just as essential to modern life. Keep the boards coming!
In the early-mid 70's,when I was a much younger guy,I had the pleasure of visiting a number of steel mills.From Bethlehem Steel in Pa. where they actually had blast furnaces that changer iron ore pellets into huge chunks of "pig iron",to US Steel that took the pigs,melted them,made steel and formed railroad rails and also plate/roll steel. It is something a person can and will never forget.The sounds,smells and heat of the melt shop. Sadly,those days are far behind us and the United States makes little to no steel or iron anymore. It makes me want to cry. I chreish the memories of riding with my big brother to all the mills,delivering Boiler feed water treatment chemicals for NALCO Chem Co. He still drives for them and will retire soon.
Thank you as well sir.The memories of those iron "pigs" out coolin' in the railyard was amazing. My brother had me roll down the window,on a -10F day and the heat from cooling aron hit my face like a blow drier on HIGH!!!!
Fishkiller 41 if you can believe it my grandfather was on of the men sent to Bethlehem to help start the mill He was one of the top dogs at the biggest steel mill in Canada :) have a good day
I find the whole process of steel making fascinating. Its amazing to watch a piece of metal be processed, whether its forged using huge hammers or put through the hot roll mills and end up as a coil of sheet metal or a length of rail.
It certainly never wore off on me, lol. I'm sure it's been a fascination for many since the beginning of working larger pots of metal in the bronze age. Thanks for dropping by and commenting, John!
I'm not a fan of music in these videos but the music you selected with the massive equipment works. Unless told would never have known the video was pure ametuer. It was great.
Thank you for this excellent video. I think you did a great job and it gives a glimpse of the type of work and the workers who are the backbone of this country.
Well thanks, Mark. It is a very crude video from back when I first started making videos so the praise is quite nice. I know it's crude, but it did serve my purpose. This movie and the other "Throwback" movie on the plate mill were burned on DVD's and surreptitiously distributed to the crews. I was not at that time allowed to film anything so it was done in secret. Later, I was given permission and how that came about is another story I'll tell sometime. It was actually pretty funny: guys would come up to me looking around to see who was watching and say, "Hey, John, you have any more of those DVD's? I want one to show the family what we do." I would reach into the inner pocked of my "greens" (flame retardant clothing) and pull one out and slip it to them. It looked like a drug deal or something! lol!
It's a "band of brothers" phenomena not so different I think from what some military people feel. Hard to understand unless you were there. Thanks for commenting.
What was happening in the firework show that was at about 2:43? Was something being forcefully attached to it or was it just a reaction common in melt shops?
What you're looking at there is 3 phase AC at around 700 volts and over 50,000 amps arcing into the unmelted steel. Much like in some welding and cutting operations some of the steel is heated so fast it flies off the larger piece in a "spark show". Sometimes it's even more dramatic. Really gets crazy is the steel if a little damp when it's put in. Then the explosive expansion of the water causes even more ejecta. If it's too wet, it can literally cause an explosion which will blow molten steel out of the furnace -- very bad that. Thanks for watching!
And right you are. My job was easy by comparison. Steel mill mechanical maintenance has to be able to do it all from the small to the massive. Hats off you.
working in melt shop for 4 years now. operate eaf and aod. stainless. work with maintenance on outages. hell of a way to make a living but it gets in your blood!!!
Luis! Long time no see, brother! I miss it too. People say, "But yeah, wasn't it hot and dirty and all?"... and I say, "Yeah, and I miss that too." lol! Working as a contract engineer now and winding down towards retirement. Where'd you land?
My only experience with DC is seeing one in operation and reading about them. That is one hell of a rectifier to produce the kind of power many of the DC furnaces deal with. AC is better some ways, DC in others. One of the nice things about DC is I think you can control the rectifier voltage/power to really optimize your melt -- basically electrode height above the bath (or depth in the slag) can somewhat be divorced from the power going into the melt. Anyway, that's something I think about but have zero experience with, sorry. Do you have any experience with reliability, etc? Our furnace was built in the 1960's and still had winch driven masts to regulate the power -- slow and subject to various kinds of failures. We toyed with moving to hydraulics but it never got approved. We upgraded the controls on the winches with a new PLC based regulator and it did help -- but it couldn't overcome the limitations of a winch driven mast arm.
@@EntropicRemnants what i noticed about DC difference is there seems to be less sidewall arcing beings the bottom electrode they call it is a series of pins about 3 or 4 feet in diameter in the center of the bottom of the furnace where the DC current travels...we had one experienced DC melter to train the other AC melters ..well you know all the brand new steel mill start ups are a bear to get a smooth operation but that bottom electrode needs some serious temp monitor systems directly to furnace operator..you may have seen bottom wash outs are dangerous as hell on earth..
Hi, Patrick. The rods are not so much changed as added onto. The rods have a male threaded post (with a lot of taper -- think of pipe thread but very exaggerated) on one end, and matching threaded socket on the other end. As they wear down, a new section is added to the top. You originally asked about ladle sand? I'll explain in case anyone else wonders. The sand is put into the nozzle at the bottom of the ladle to fill it and keep molten steel from filling it and possibly "freezing off" in it. This is done so that when they move the ladle to the caster and open up the slide gate they can get a free flow of liquid steel. Sometimes it still needs to be "lanced" to get it to flow, but the sand still minimizes the problem. Hope that explains everything. Thanks for coming by!
@@EntropicRemnants thank you for answering my questions and answering them well thank you very much so the sand melts and stays liquid and the molten steel floats above it to keep the nozzle from freezing the steel solid in the nozzle?
@@patrickdean9797 Actually this "sand" doesn't melt! It's like quartz and chromium sand and things like that (I'm not an expert on the composition of it)-- not ordinary silica sand. The basic idea is that where the molten metal touches the sand, the sand sinters together into a thin sheet. The sand below is unaffected. When the nozzle gate is opened the sand is supposed to run out and the thin, sintered, solid sheet of sand breaks and molten steel can then flow.
@@EntropicRemnants that make alot more sense i like the movie have not watched the whole thing yet, but i will i think it cool that you preserved on film and now in is on the internet for ever that is cool thank you.
Neither of you know anything about me or my character. As a multi skilled maintenance engineer, I spent twenty two years in heavy engineering. Due to company take over and closure, I became redundant. I secured a job in Co-Steel as a maintenance engineer 12 shifts days and nights, working in Rolling mill, Continues casting but mainly attached to the melt shop 100 tonne electric arc furnaces and ladle furnaces, along with charge, and hot metal cranes, until again company takeover and redundancy meant I once again had to move on after thirteen years. I witnessed gas explosions, wet charge explosions, hot metal burns, hot oil and steam burns. As a first aider had to treat crush injuries, broken limbs and a very close friend and workmates death, crushed between a scrap basket and a reinforced concrete wall. I constantly complained about poor safety, but was reminded who paid my wages. Now older and wiser, I have learnt to "say it how I see it" . Don't tell me about nanny state crap.
Well then, Paul, I withdraw my comments, but perhaps you should moderate your attacks if you don't want to be perceived as a troll. I'll leave you to work it out, but there was anger in your post that was unjustified -- and that, though less, is still a character issue. I'll tell you that I believe you must have worked in a MUCH worse run shop than ours. Your firms training and management practices contributed to what might be described as a "shit-show" in terms of the number and severity of accidents. In your anger, you assumed that everywhere is the same as where you were. I can understand that considering the loss of a close friend -- but you should still give a thought to the possibility that everyone's experience is NOT like yours and engage in a discussion rather than just blasting people. Be well, and I hope you come to terms with your experience. Thanks for engaging but you're still going off a bit. I recommend you calm down and meditate a bit on your whole approach on this.
impressive! Is the movement of the cables connecting the electrodes to the transformer caused by magnetism caused by the extremely high currents (at 2:40)?
Harald, you are dead on! That is in fact from the current (50,000 amps and more) causing some brutal magnetic fields. Those cables are composed of multiple heavy stranded cables and water cooling tubes and if you were to wal up to one and lean on it, it would scarcely move at all with your weight. Yet in the video they dance like they're just pieces of string. I never got tired of seeing that. Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for paying attention! :-)
@@EntropicRemnants Thank you very much for your reply. I wasn't sure - to be honest. I photographed several abandoned EAF based steel mills in Germany, but the only active EAF mill I have ever seen was in Czech Republic. I did not notice the movement of the cables there. Your video shows this with great clarity. Thank you for documenting the fascinating world of steel making! A great contribution to the preservation of our history.
Vidicon or nuvicon? ;) Oh man, the light from the arcs! I haven't seen this in a while. I remember the crane going back and forth while we were replacing the rear in your ranger until like 4am prior to hitting Centralia. Great stuff, bro!
+Michael Thompson Not sure but my guess would be Newvicon -- it was a late enough model and the low light capability for a tube-based system wasn't bad. This was probably one of the last of the tube imager units before the CCD's started to take over. Thanks!
very good little film i am glad that you made it one more question how is the electricity delivered through the electrodes is one negative and the other 2 positive how does that work ?
Thanks, Patrick. Our arc furnace was fed with 3-phase AC current. It's a form of AC that delivers higher average power and facilitates high power electric motors -- and you can thank Nikola Tesla and others for that invention. Our furnace ran at about 700 volts at currents that could exceed 50,000 amps. There were 3 electrodes each connected to one phase of the AC. 3-phase AC is interesting. Search on it for more info than I can give here. By the way, your home and most businesses run on single-phase AC. A DC furnace has a single electrode and the ground through the shell of the furnace itself. I have never worked with one and have very little knowledge but you can search out say, "DC electric arc furnace" for more information. Hope that helps to start answering your question.
Hi, is this the old Oregon Steel melt shop by chance? I did not see where it's located in your description.I work at the rolling mill that is still operational at the site. It is really cool talking to our old-timers that used to work in the closed melt shop. I was told by them that the old way they poured cast slabs could not complete with the current continuous casters so they just import all the slabs now.
No, John, but this mill was also owned by Evraz but it was on the East Coast. Your melt shop closed years earlier than the one. We were in fact a continuous casting shop but our gear was old. We found a way to make money off of it, but when Evraz bought us they thought it was too much work and changed our methods and we never made money again! Not a fan of your current employer, lol. Thanks for commenting and I hope your mill keeps going. We lost both the melt shop and plate mill where we are -- everything gone. Not sure I can link here, but here's a link to a blog post I wrote with my feelings about the mill: blog.entropicremnants.com/2013/11/19/end-of-an-era-part-1-steel-mill-portraits---melt-shop.aspx
@@EntropicRemnants Thanks man. No worry I am not a fan of my employer either , none of us are. The only pluses are the job is near me the pay is pretty decent , comparatively, and we can make alot of overtime. That's only because they hire anyone that can pass a drug test and about 85% of our new hires just quit or can't do the work, can't show up. The old guys say it was a great place to work , but it's just a shadow of what Oregon Steel was. I like the actual job I do though, I work in the slab yard cutting slabs. The melt shop used to cast the slabs, now they all come by ship to Vancouver WA then get trucked over to us. Gary Works slabs come over by rail, I think they are the only domestic steel slabs we roll. Even for my crappy employer it is still cool to me being a part of the steel industry....
700 volts, 54 MVA (megawatts), 180 ton heats. Heat times were around 90 minutes with a 30 minute or so turnaround so we could do up to 12 heats per day but delays could drop that to 10 or 11.
@@EntropicRemnants wow, amazing it's that fast! I figured way slower. but I guess if an arc welder can do what it does, this is essentially the same concept on some jacked up steroids. thanks for the info! Just to get that much power from the electric grid is amazing in itself. I'm assuming that if there is some sort of power outage or maintenance shutdown, the cook time would be longer since everything has cooled down a bit.
Spent many of years in one. Time in the castors. Was eventually bumped to the rolling mill due to cutbacks that was had. Spent a year or so up there an headed to the furnace after that. As a 2 operator/helped. Not sure what yall called it. And lmf operator. Every once in a while if we were short Ild jump in one of the scrap cranes also here an there. Just for fun loading some buckets to help give the other guy breaks from being consistent for 12 hours. Never was trained in that. I was just good with the things I did an I guess they knew I would tare things up. I’m no longer there. Currently working for myself. Glad things worked out the way they did. About 2 years after leaving they completely closed the doors of the place after 30+ years and got rid of 300+ people. But them places like that you can never ask to work with a better group of people. Yould be hard pressed to find better people to work with in any other job. It’s definitely a family. We had our moments depending on what was going on arguing an what not. But when it comes down to it. Their wasn’t much eaither of us wouldn’t do the help one another. Just by the nature of the job. An the danger level. Theirs no way one couldn’t become family in a place like that. After being gone. A number of times if I was asked to come back even for a day I probably would of worked another shift just to work another shift with them guys. Some great people.
@@EntropicRemnants anyone who attempts to debate such thing purely haven’t been there. Or been an didnt make it to have that experience. Wish I had put some video together I only have a few up 10-20 second ones one slightly longer of a ladle washout that as you know makes a insane mess. But unfortunately for us early on phones wasn’t an issue after a bunch of years an being bought out. They started getting funny about phones. Definitely enjoyed the video watched it a few times
The boots the people on the "floor" - were they special? I would imagine ordinary work boots would end up burned/melted with bad cases of "hot-foot" from all the hot slag and splatters. I've worked on some pretty massive machine tools in my day (including ones that rode on railroad rails and the operator rode the machine in a cab) but the stuff there... just about dwarfed anything I've seen. Seeing this was fascinating. Was it as hot (to work there) as it looked?
Yes, as was mentioned, leather works surprisingly well. In addition you could get boots with special high-temperature soles. Generally, "meta-tarsal" boots were required which had a spat-like steel or composite shield which ran up your instep from just above the toes.
@@EntropicRemnants When I worked for the mines as a kid, we were required to have boots rather like that - a steel shield built in covering the toes (at the least - maybe much like what you describe) because of the foot-crushing danger posed by equipment. The ones I had were really heavy, but not uncomfortable. My father in law had boots like that too - but they'd been made wrong and the steel shield was wrong for the boot size and installed on the inside. It rubbed his feet raw, but he'd been raised to take whatever they gave him and not complain. (It was a huge relief for him to retire and no longer wear them!) After he retired (and several years after he could have taken them back), he discovered why they caused so much misery. I don't understand that type of thinking - it's one thing to tolerate something because you're not used to it or it needs breaking in, but that goes way beyond what anyone should have to live with. (I've heard similar another time, maybe two or three over the years.) I've got gloves that are made for working with furnaces and so on - they're made out of thick leather of some kind, but they really work. What surprises me is that the fingers, while stiff, aren't too inflexible or clumsy - you just have to get used to them.
The caster doesn't even have a rotating ladle turret the crane actually sits there holding it over the tundish? Lol omg and I thought I worked in a shit hole
Ha ha! One man's shithole is another man's toilet... oh wait, that's the same thing... ;-) There was a ladle stand -- the ladle didn't have to be held by the crane. However, the crane is on standby in case of a breakout in the caster. It will immediately remove a source of molten metal that would just make the breach worse. Our caster was built circa 1966 or so. It was one of the first generation of continuous casters built by Concast. So, it was not of sufficient metallurgical length (meaning slow cast speed of about 20 inches/second) as well as other deficiencies which modern casters don't have. We made the best of it and made money despite the limitations... up until Evraz bought us and ruined the place. That's a long story and too long for here. Thanks for commenting!
Away up north and east of you at the border of the state of Delaware and the state of Pennsylvania right along the Delaware river -- or at least it WAS. It's torn down now, sadly. Hope you have a long and profitable career with Nucor in Longview!
I do not know why you think the music would be apt for a video about an electric arc furnace in a melt shop. A very dangerous place to work, illness and injuries that debilitated the rest of your life and countless deaths due to accidents and the working conditions that are covered up by unscrupulous management.
Wow, such negativity. I and the others that worked there, first of all, would not see only the downsides you saw. We all loved it and to a man everyone I talk to misses it -- even if we complained about at the time.
Second, the music is something I like and I found it an interesting ironic twist in the contrast between it and the scene.
Two things are clear to me about you: 1) You are just looking for something to criticize -- that's a character issue; and 2) You've likely never worked in a steel mill and if you did it was for weeks or months before you fled because you couldn't take it.
Go find something you're actually interested in and participate POSITIVELY. No one here needs your nanny-state crap.
But, thanks for commenting -- it gave me a chance to vent.
@@EntropicRemnants the hell with that guy. I’ve spent many of years long days and nights in one. Spent a year in the rolling mill. Didn’t really care for that. Spent a few in the castors and many years in the furnace crew an some time in the LMF. I agree with u at times we may of complained. But we all missed it at some point if we got out for one reason or another.
The crew or crews you worked with in places like that. An we’ve argued that much time together and situations there. Bound to happen.
But in the long run wasn’t a damn thing we wouldn’t do for the next person there that would also do for us. It’s like a family like no other place. And some of that is because it can be dangerous a lot more that many many many other jobs.
But that’s only when someone’s not being smart about what their doing. Do everything smart and with help if need be. It’s a fairly safe place.
I also agree. The guy in the original comment. Either never worked it. Or didn’t make it through the hiring probation period and pussed out.
It takes a special breed of people to spend time in one of them places.
I myself ended up got out after many years for another job that ended up not working out. I own two businesses now that’s doing great.
Thankfully it all happened like it did. Because almost two years ago after 30+ years they closed the doors of the place an cut 300+ people out of jobs without notice.
But if I could of went back just here an there here an there for a day or two. Just for the hell of it. I would of just to work another day with them guys. Great people an great friends the only kind one could have working a job together like that
I miss it everyday as a melt shop maintenance guy. They shut ours down.
@@EntropicRemnants Meh. Just the negative comments. And forgive me as I am just tuning into your postings, but if you have not yet done part two I strongly encourage you to as a way to historically preserve what you all experienced.
@@ronaldscott781 Hi, Ronald. Should have replied sooner. I was unable to even start part II back then. Maybe I'll still get to it. Thanks for the encouragement.
Gret video. I work in a melt shop on the caster. Love my job. The guys I work with are 2nd to none. Some days I feel like I was born for a steel mill. Different breed of people for sure.
Hey, thanks for checking in. I felt the same way of our crew -- would (and did) trust them with my life. I felt the same way also about being "right" for it.
I originally went there to do 6 months of training for automation for a crew that had no experience with PLC's and so forth. Ended up staying 22 years!
I know just what you mean. I’d run into fire for my brothers, and I know they’d do the same for me. I only hope to have a long career. Can’t imagine being anywhere else. Headed in right now. I’ll drain a heat for you brother!
Enjoyed this video and the soundtrack. "Welcome to the machine" by Floyd very fitting for the steel mill.
I'm currently a melter up in the pulpit on an EAF, I also worked the Furnace floor and drove the charging crane for 14yrs and still do when required. I think back to when I was first shown around the melt shop after previously working in the Heavy End of an Integrated steel works for 6yrs, Blast furnaces, BOS Plants etc. Thinking to myself this EAF was nothing in comparison to the size of the kit I was working on previous. That soon changed for me when they charged that first basket of scrap an arced down on it, all hell broke loose, the noise, the light show and the sheer power of the thing just amazed me and still does to this day and long may it last...
Nice one John Griggs.
42 years at the Knoxville Tennessee Mill. I loved working there nothing like it!!
I was 19 , I still remember the noise, smell, the men.
LOL...I found myself recognizing all the various stages .....slag-off, reheat, etc... when I was writing this post......then when the crane siren went off to bridge the ladle....I stopped writing and looked up!
I worked at the SDI Roanoke VA plant for 20 years, M/ S come in 2001 stayed until 2008 and had to go ! I miss it everyday, you wouldn't know until you work in a steel mill ! Loved the job, miss the guys I worked with ! 👍✌
Tim, you clearly get it! I too miss it so much. Thanks for dropping by and commenting.
+RedHeart64 Ha ha! Yes it was very hot at times... and then very cold sometimes in the winter. It was a place of "extremes" for sure.
When I first started there in 1991 I was just awed by the size and scale of steelmaking stuff. I feel you.
The boots were heavy leather "metatarsal" boots that I used to describe as "Klingon Battle Boots" because they used some actual metatarsal boot on Star Trek. Basically, they have a steel and/or composite shield in a leather "tongue" that comes up the outside front of the boot up over the laces and combined with the steel toe can prevent you from losing a foot if something falls on it.
The "hot work" guys that had to walk on 500+ degree partially cooled slabs had soles which were very heat resistant and didn't conduct it super fast. Only good for a short time, but useful.
Most of us just had thick oil-resistant soles with steel shanks in them for strength. I still have mine and use them when I explore old buildings for the photography I do.
Here's a blog post of mine with a lot of shots of the guys and a lot of the story of the end of the mill. I was too broken hearted to write part 2 of it, but it stands pretty well on it's own. May still follow up.
blog.entropicremnants.com/2013/11/19/end-of-an-era-part-1-steel-mill-portraits---melt-shop.aspx
Also, here's more photos on my flickr account in various sets:
End of An Era: www.flickr.com/photos/teamgriggs/albums/72157637012132873
The Last Heat: www.flickr.com/photos/teamgriggs/albums/72157637206483695
Those are some of the last shots I did there. If you want to see more, they're in the "Albums" on my flickr site and you can find them.
Thanks for your comment!
Great photos...
I can't imagine the power bill in a mill such as that!
Lemme come back and say , being a 33 year sawmill man sights like that meant run....
I figured it to be a steel mill of some type and my hat s off to you boys that made the backbone material of this nation. Proud to share days work with ya.
Love sawmills. Even small ones. I watch the "Out of the Woods" channel of a small Tennessee sawmill. You are quite right on the electricity bills -- they were astronomical. However we did get a good rate as long as we were willing to shut down on very hot days when demand was high, or if generating capacity was offline. It made a huge difference in the bill being in such an agreement.
Thanks for dropping by and you guys are just as essential to modern life. Keep the boards coming!
In the early-mid 70's,when I was a much younger guy,I had the pleasure of visiting a number of steel mills.From Bethlehem Steel in Pa. where they actually had blast furnaces that changer iron ore pellets into huge chunks of "pig iron",to US Steel that took the pigs,melted them,made steel and formed railroad rails and also plate/roll steel.
It is something a person can and will never forget.The sounds,smells and heat of the melt shop.
Sadly,those days are far behind us and the United States makes little to no steel or iron anymore.
It makes me want to cry.
I chreish the memories of riding with my big brother to all the mills,delivering Boiler feed water treatment chemicals for NALCO Chem Co.
He still drives for them and will retire soon.
I'm with you. I think it was Adam Mele from Nalco that served our meltshop. Nalco's a good outfit. Thanks for your comments.
Thank you as well sir.The memories of those iron "pigs" out coolin' in the railyard was amazing.
My brother had me roll down the window,on a -10F day and the heat from cooling aron hit my face like a blow drier on HIGH!!!!
Fishkiller 41 if you can believe it my grandfather was on of the men sent to Bethlehem to help start the mill
He was one of the top dogs at the biggest steel mill in Canada :) have a good day
Fishkiller 41 I'm sorry to hear that
Fishkiller 41 but the memories. Still lives
I find the whole process of steel making fascinating. Its amazing to watch a piece of metal be processed, whether its forged using huge hammers or put through the hot roll mills and end up as a coil of sheet metal or a length of rail.
It certainly never wore off on me, lol. I'm sure it's been a fascination for many since the beginning of working larger pots of metal in the bronze age.
Thanks for dropping by and commenting, John!
I'm not a fan of music in these videos but the music you selected with the massive equipment works. Unless told would never have known the video was pure ametuer. It was great.
Thank you for this excellent video. I think you did a great job and it gives a glimpse of the type of work and the workers who are the backbone of this country.
Well thanks, Mark. It is a very crude video from back when I first started making videos so the praise is quite nice. I know it's crude, but it did serve my purpose. This movie and the other "Throwback" movie on the plate mill were burned on DVD's and surreptitiously distributed to the crews. I was not at that time allowed to film anything so it was done in secret. Later, I was given permission and how that came about is another story I'll tell sometime.
It was actually pretty funny: guys would come up to me looking around to see who was watching and say, "Hey, John, you have any more of those DVD's? I want one to show the family what we do." I would reach into the inner pocked of my "greens" (flame retardant clothing) and pull one out and slip it to them. It looked like a drug deal or something! lol!
Thanks you can never forget the way we worked it's hard and the satisfaction in what we did.its family is steel.
It's a "band of brothers" phenomena not so different I think from what some military people feel. Hard to understand unless you were there. Thanks for commenting.
Worked as a Millwright at an EAF for 3 years, then moved on to the hot strip mill.
Great to hear. Keep 'em rolling and thanks for commenting!
Nucor 10 years....I miss it every day. Nothing like it
Man, I hear you. Appreciate you dropping by and hang in there!
So crude and dangerous. Scary but fascinating. An excellent video and I think the music was fitting.
Steel is such a wonderful material.
An electrical thunderstorm captured in a can..."Second generation local 10 ironworker"
Good man! Love that saying. Thanks for dropping by!
What was happening in the firework show that was at about 2:43? Was something being forcefully attached to it or was it just a reaction common in melt shops?
What you're looking at there is 3 phase AC at around 700 volts and over 50,000 amps arcing into the unmelted steel. Much like in some welding and cutting operations some of the steel is heated so fast it flies off the larger piece in a "spark show". Sometimes it's even more dramatic. Really gets crazy is the steel if a little damp when it's put in. Then the explosive expansion of the water causes even more ejecta. If it's too wet, it can literally cause an explosion which will blow molten steel out of the furnace -- very bad that.
Thanks for watching!
Melt Shop shift mechanic here for ten years. They pay damn good but it is a rough way to get a pay check :)
And right you are. My job was easy by comparison. Steel mill mechanical maintenance has to be able to do it all from the small to the massive. Hats off you.
It's a rough job but like I said it pays good. Those furnace helpers have a bitch of a job also. I'd like to see a pay raise for them.
They've been good to me BTW.
working in melt shop for 4 years now. operate eaf and aod. stainless. work with maintenance on outages. hell of a way to make a living but it gets in your blood!!!
I worked in this mill for 7 years as a meltshop mechanic. It was so great
I miss the mill. Hey John it was great times working in the meltshop.
Luis! Long time no see, brother! I miss it too. People say, "But yeah, wasn't it hot and dirty and all?"... and I say, "Yeah, and I miss that too." lol! Working as a contract engineer now and winding down towards retirement. Where'd you land?
@@EntropicRemnants im in the east coast still, with general dynamics.
Great video
Reminds me of the first job
whats your thoughts with AC EAF compared With DC EAF ? supposedly theres a cost savings but i've seen both types melt a heat within 45 min...
My only experience with DC is seeing one in operation and reading about them. That is one hell of a rectifier to produce the kind of power many of the DC furnaces deal with. AC is better some ways, DC in others.
One of the nice things about DC is I think you can control the rectifier voltage/power to really optimize your melt -- basically electrode height above the bath (or depth in the slag) can somewhat be divorced from the power going into the melt. Anyway, that's something I think about but have zero experience with, sorry.
Do you have any experience with reliability, etc?
Our furnace was built in the 1960's and still had winch driven masts to regulate the power -- slow and subject to various kinds of failures. We toyed with moving to hydraulics but it never got approved. We upgraded the controls on the winches with a new PLC based regulator and it did help -- but it couldn't overcome the limitations of a winch driven mast arm.
@@EntropicRemnants what i noticed about DC difference is there seems to be less sidewall arcing beings the bottom electrode they call it is a series of pins about 3 or 4 feet in diameter in the center of the bottom of the furnace where the DC current travels...we had one experienced DC melter to train the other AC melters ..well you know all the brand new steel mill start ups are a bear to get a smooth operation but that bottom electrode needs some serious temp monitor systems directly to furnace operator..you may have seen bottom wash outs are dangerous as hell on earth..
Excellent film absolutely loved it , next time you add music to a video like this add ,Fire by Aurthr Brown
Indeed! One of my favorite songs from my youth! That is an excellent suggestion and you've got me thinking, lol. Thanks for the comment.
how often do they change the arc rods?(electrodes )
Hi, Patrick. The rods are not so much changed as added onto. The rods have a male threaded post (with a lot of taper -- think of pipe thread but very exaggerated) on one end, and matching threaded socket on the other end. As they wear down, a new section is added to the top.
You originally asked about ladle sand? I'll explain in case anyone else wonders. The sand is put into the nozzle at the bottom of the ladle to fill it and keep molten steel from filling it and possibly "freezing off" in it. This is done so that when they move the ladle to the caster and open up the slide gate they can get a free flow of liquid steel. Sometimes it still needs to be "lanced" to get it to flow, but the sand still minimizes the problem.
Hope that explains everything.
Thanks for coming by!
@@EntropicRemnants thank you for answering my questions and answering them well thank you very much so the sand melts and stays liquid and the molten steel floats above it to keep the nozzle from freezing the steel solid in the nozzle?
@@patrickdean9797 Actually this "sand" doesn't melt! It's like quartz and chromium sand and things like that (I'm not an expert on the composition of it)-- not ordinary silica sand.
The basic idea is that where the molten metal touches the sand, the sand sinters together into a thin sheet. The sand below is unaffected.
When the nozzle gate is opened the sand is supposed to run out and the thin, sintered, solid sheet of sand breaks and molten steel can then flow.
@@EntropicRemnants that make alot more sense i like the movie have not watched the whole thing yet, but i will i think it cool that you preserved on film and now in is on the internet for ever that is cool thank you.
Neither of you know anything about me or my character.
As a multi skilled maintenance engineer, I spent twenty two years in heavy engineering. Due to company take over and closure, I became redundant.
I secured a job in Co-Steel as a maintenance engineer 12 shifts days and nights, working in Rolling mill, Continues casting but mainly attached to the melt shop 100 tonne electric arc furnaces and ladle furnaces, along with charge, and hot metal cranes, until again company takeover and redundancy meant I once again had to move on after thirteen years.
I witnessed gas explosions, wet charge explosions, hot metal burns, hot oil and steam burns.
As a first aider had to treat crush injuries, broken limbs and a very close friend and workmates death, crushed between a scrap basket and a reinforced concrete wall. I constantly complained about poor safety, but was reminded who paid my wages. Now older and wiser, I have learnt to "say it how I see it" .
Don't tell me about nanny state crap.
Well then, Paul, I withdraw my comments, but perhaps you should moderate your attacks if you don't want to be perceived as a troll. I'll leave you to work it out, but there was anger in your post that was unjustified -- and that, though less, is still a character issue.
I'll tell you that I believe you must have worked in a MUCH worse run shop than ours. Your firms training and management practices contributed to what might be described as a "shit-show" in terms of the number and severity of accidents.
In your anger, you assumed that everywhere is the same as where you were. I can understand that considering the loss of a close friend -- but you should still give a thought to the possibility that everyone's experience is NOT like yours and engage in a discussion rather than just blasting people.
Be well, and I hope you come to terms with your experience.
Thanks for engaging but you're still going off a bit. I recommend you calm down and meditate a bit on your whole approach on this.
impressive!
Is the movement of the cables connecting the electrodes to the transformer caused by magnetism caused by the extremely high currents (at 2:40)?
Harald, you are dead on! That is in fact from the current (50,000 amps and more) causing some brutal magnetic fields. Those cables are composed of multiple heavy stranded cables and water cooling tubes and if you were to wal up to one and lean on it, it would scarcely move at all with your weight. Yet in the video they dance like they're just pieces of string. I never got tired of seeing that.
Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for paying attention! :-)
@@EntropicRemnants Thank you very much for your reply. I wasn't sure - to be honest. I photographed several abandoned EAF based steel mills in Germany, but the only active EAF mill I have ever seen was in Czech Republic. I did not notice the movement of the cables there. Your video shows this with great clarity. Thank you for documenting the fascinating world of steel making! A great contribution to the preservation of our history.
Vidicon or nuvicon? ;)
Oh man, the light from the arcs! I haven't seen this in a while.
I remember the crane going back and forth while we were replacing the rear in your ranger until like 4am prior to hitting Centralia.
Great stuff, bro!
+Michael Thompson Not sure but my guess would be Newvicon -- it was a late enough model and the low light capability for a tube-based system wasn't bad. This was probably one of the last of the tube imager units before the CCD's started to take over.
Thanks!
very good little film i am glad that you made it one more question how is the electricity delivered through the electrodes is one negative and the other 2 positive how does that work ?
Thanks, Patrick.
Our arc furnace was fed with 3-phase AC current. It's a form of AC that delivers higher average power and facilitates high power electric motors -- and you can thank Nikola Tesla and others for that invention. Our furnace ran at about 700 volts at currents that could exceed 50,000 amps. There were 3 electrodes each connected to one phase of the AC.
3-phase AC is interesting. Search on it for more info than I can give here. By the way, your home and most businesses run on single-phase AC.
A DC furnace has a single electrode and the ground through the shell of the furnace itself. I have never worked with one and have very little knowledge but you can search out say, "DC electric arc furnace" for more information.
Hope that helps to start answering your question.
This looks like an Electric Arc Furnace
You bet.
jij weet ook alles he
Hi, is this the old Oregon Steel melt shop by chance? I did not see where it's located in your description.I work at the rolling mill that is still operational at the site. It is really cool talking to our old-timers that used to work in the closed melt shop. I was told by them that the old way they poured cast slabs could not complete with the current continuous casters so they just import all the slabs now.
No, John, but this mill was also owned by Evraz but it was on the East Coast. Your melt shop closed years earlier than the one. We were in fact a continuous casting shop but our gear was old. We found a way to make money off of it, but when Evraz bought us they thought it was too much work and changed our methods and we never made money again! Not a fan of your current employer, lol.
Thanks for commenting and I hope your mill keeps going. We lost both the melt shop and plate mill where we are -- everything gone.
Not sure I can link here, but here's a link to a blog post I wrote with my feelings about the mill: blog.entropicremnants.com/2013/11/19/end-of-an-era-part-1-steel-mill-portraits---melt-shop.aspx
@@EntropicRemnants Thanks man. No worry I am not a fan of my employer either , none of us are. The only pluses are the job is near me the pay is pretty decent , comparatively, and we can make alot of overtime. That's only because they hire anyone that can pass a drug test and about 85% of our new hires just quit or can't do the work, can't show up. The old guys say it was a great place to work , but it's just a shadow of what Oregon Steel was. I like the actual job I do though, I work in the slab yard cutting slabs. The melt shop used to cast the slabs, now they all come by ship to Vancouver WA then get trucked over to us. Gary Works slabs come over by rail, I think they are the only domestic steel slabs we roll. Even for my crappy employer it is still cool to me being a part of the steel industry....
Nice. Touch with pink Floyd. And a workings of a steel mill
some details would be nice, like voltage and amps, pot capacity, time to cook a whole pot, etc
700 volts, 54 MVA (megawatts), 180 ton heats. Heat times were around 90 minutes with a 30 minute or so turnaround so we could do up to 12 heats per day but delays could drop that to 10 or 11.
@@EntropicRemnants wow, amazing it's that fast! I figured way slower. but I guess if an arc welder can do what it does, this is essentially the same concept on some jacked up steroids. thanks for the info!
Just to get that much power from the electric grid is amazing in itself.
I'm assuming that if there is some sort of power outage or maintenance shutdown, the cook time would be longer since everything has cooled down a bit.
Spent many of years in one. Time in the castors. Was eventually bumped to the rolling mill due to cutbacks that was had. Spent a year or so up there an headed to the furnace after that. As a 2 operator/helped. Not sure what yall called it. And lmf operator. Every once in a while if we were short Ild jump in one of the scrap cranes also here an there. Just for fun loading some buckets to help give the other guy breaks from being consistent for 12 hours. Never was trained in that. I was just good with the things I did an I guess they knew I would tare things up. I’m no longer there. Currently working for myself. Glad things worked out the way they did. About 2 years after leaving they completely closed the doors of the place after 30+ years and got rid of 300+ people.
But them places like that you can never ask to work with a better group of people. Yould be hard pressed to find better people to work with in any other job. It’s definitely a family. We had our moments depending on what was going on arguing an what not. But when it comes down to it. Their wasn’t much eaither of us wouldn’t do the help one another. Just by the nature of the job. An the danger level. Theirs no way one couldn’t become family in a place like that.
After being gone. A number of times if I was asked to come back even for a day I probably would of worked another shift just to work another shift with them guys. Some great people.
Well said, Boss. Great sentiments which match mine exactly.
Thanks very much for that.
@@EntropicRemnants anyone who attempts to debate such thing purely haven’t been there. Or been an didnt make it to have that experience. Wish I had put some video together I only have a few up 10-20 second ones one slightly longer of a ladle washout that as you know makes a insane mess. But unfortunately for us early on phones wasn’t an issue after a bunch of years an being bought out. They started getting funny about phones. Definitely enjoyed the video watched it a few times
The boots the people on the "floor" - were they special? I would imagine ordinary work boots would end up burned/melted with bad cases of "hot-foot" from all the hot slag and splatters.
I've worked on some pretty massive machine tools in my day (including ones that rode on railroad rails and the operator rode the machine in a cab) but the stuff there... just about dwarfed anything I've seen.
Seeing this was fascinating. Was it as hot (to work there) as it looked?
RedHeart64 leather boots do the job. And spats the cover the boots also made of leather.
Yes, as was mentioned, leather works surprisingly well. In addition you could get boots with special high-temperature soles. Generally, "meta-tarsal" boots were required which had a spat-like steel or composite shield which ran up your instep from just above the toes.
@@EntropicRemnants When I worked for the mines as a kid, we were required to have boots rather like that - a steel shield built in covering the toes (at the least - maybe much like what you describe) because of the foot-crushing danger posed by equipment. The ones I had were really heavy, but not uncomfortable. My father in law had boots like that too - but they'd been made wrong and the steel shield was wrong for the boot size and installed on the inside. It rubbed his feet raw, but he'd been raised to take whatever they gave him and not complain. (It was a huge relief for him to retire and no longer wear them!) After he retired (and several years after he could have taken them back), he discovered why they caused so much misery. I don't understand that type of thinking - it's one thing to tolerate something because you're not used to it or it needs breaking in, but that goes way beyond what anyone should have to live with. (I've heard similar another time, maybe two or three over the years.)
I've got gloves that are made for working with furnaces and so on - they're made out of thick leather of some kind, but they really work. What surprises me is that the fingers, while stiff, aren't too inflexible or clumsy - you just have to get used to them.
The caster doesn't even have a rotating ladle turret the crane actually sits there holding it over the tundish? Lol omg and I thought I worked in a shit hole
Ha ha! One man's shithole is another man's toilet... oh wait, that's the same thing... ;-)
There was a ladle stand -- the ladle didn't have to be held by the crane. However, the crane is on standby in case of a breakout in the caster. It will immediately remove a source of molten metal that would just make the breach worse.
Our caster was built circa 1966 or so. It was one of the first generation of continuous casters built by Concast. So, it was not of sufficient metallurgical length (meaning slow cast speed of about 20 inches/second) as well as other deficiencies which modern casters don't have.
We made the best of it and made money despite the limitations... up until Evraz bought us and ruined the place. That's a long story and too long for here.
Thanks for commenting!
Wheres this mill located? Im looking forward on working at Nucors new plate mill in Longview TX
Away up north and east of you at the border of the state of Delaware and the state of Pennsylvania right along the Delaware river -- or at least it WAS. It's torn down now, sadly.
Hope you have a long and profitable career with Nucor in Longview!