please need help on steel mill!!

Illus

Member
CRed said:
When you hit post reply,above the window is an option to insert a picture(looks like a post card),when you hit that a box will pop up for you to put the URL of the picture you want to post.Just put the URL into it and submit reply.

Chris

That part I've got. I've posted pics before, here and on 2 other VB powered forums, but today, it wouldn't work... Maybe cause I switched to Mozilla or something...
 

bigsteel

Call me Mr.Tinkertrain
hey guys i could really use some blue prints of steel mill buildings.like the bof oh and isnt there a pit where the bof ladle sits to have torpedo cars dump iron into?and one more thing is there a site that has alot of steel mill buildings like blast furnace,rolling mill,coke ovens,ore unloaders and other misc steel mill buildins?tks:wave:
 

Illus

Member
IMG%5D
Read my #19 post, it's called a Hot Metal Hole.

Also if you want great detail, there was a winch system with a 2 inch cable that hooked to the hot metal cars, so the operator could move the train cars forward or backward to pour without calling the train.
IMG%5D
 

bigsteel

Call me Mr.Tinkertrain
im still short on info .PICK UP TH PACE GUYS sign1 im still searchin for bof pics in ho scale but my efforts have been unrewarding:curse: i also need more pics of a rolling mill oh and i forgot instead of having the full walthers rolling mill im cutting it in half and putting the peices side by side to make a 5.25 inc deep background rolling mill leaving more room for the more exciting structures.:wave: so some more replys would be great.!:thumb:
 

Illus

Member
Thanks Ralph! I grabbed that one from the web, but I could actually go around and take some pics of the mills around here, we have quite a few. Actually I live close enough to the Great Lakes mill that if it is cloudy at night and they pour out a slag pot, it lights up my bedroom.:)
 

bigsteel

Call me Mr.Tinkertrain
if any of you guys have pics of ho scale or real life steel mill buildins could you help me out. i stil need pics to scratchbuild a stripper and soaking building,the rolling mill,the powerhouse and blower house and also a bof building interior picture.
 

Illus

Member
It would probably be easier for you to go to Yahoo or Google, click on the images tab and just type in 'steel mill' 'oxygen furnace' and 'rolling mill' and so on... There are tons of mill pics on the web and you can choose which ones will suit your needs... Interior pics are hard to come by, mainly because it's not a good environment for a camera.:)
 

bigsteel

Call me Mr.Tinkertrain
i have tried every pictur resource but none of them give me the right picture ,i just need to find a picture of either a top veiw or a full frontal veiw of a bof array and others like the stripping mill and soakers. and i also have question for you guys ,how does a finished coil get from the mill to the cooling yard then to rail car?
 

doctorwayne

Active Member
Your best source of pictures, in my opinion, will be the two books mentioned earlier in this thread. While I've not seen Dean Freytag's book, I have seen photos of his modelled steel complex, so I'm sure you'll find lots of appropriate modelling pictures in his book. The book that I mentioned was put out by U.S. Steel, and there are lots of photos and diagrams, along with detailed information on the individual procedures involved. The steel industry is usually very much against unauthorised photos of their operations, so they themselves are generally the best source for photos. Depending on where you're located, you might be able to arrange a tour of steel mill operations, if there's one nearby. Barring that, you could try writing to a steel manufacturer, explaining what you're looking for and requesting photos. Be sure to explain your reasons for the request. This will be a hit or miss proposition, but an actual written letter, not an e-mail, will stand a better chance.

Wayne
 

spitfire

Active Member
bigsteel said:
i have tried every pictur resource but none of them give me the right picture ,i just need to find a picture of either a top veiw or a full frontal veiw of a bof array and others like the stripping mill and soakers. and i also have question for you guys ,how does a finished coil get from the mill to the cooling yard then to rail car?

There are hundreds of pictures of steel mills, oxygen furnaces, slag cars, coke ovens, blast furnaces etc etc etc - all you have to do is go to http://images.google.com/ and type in what you're looking for. This is called research, and it's a big part of the hobby. Of course there are absolutely no guarantees that you will find the exact angle of the building(s) that you are looking for, which leads to another part of the hobby - guessing!!! Or maybe that should be making an educated guess based on what you can see in the photo's.

You're getting a lot of incredible information from the folks that have taken the time to share their knowlege on this thread. My advice is that you take a little time to digest it, and read some books on steel mill operation. Research is not one-stop shopping.

Have fun!!

Val
 

Illus

Member
bigsteel said:
i have tried every pictur resource but none of them give me the right picture ,i just need to find a picture of either a top veiw or a full frontal veiw of a bof array and others like the stripping mill and soakers. and i also have question for you guys ,how does a finished coil get from the mill to the cooling yard then to rail car?


If you go back to the #17 post, by me, there is a link to an Aerial map of the Rouge Steel Mill. Once you open the image, right in the middle of the pic are the words Ford Canal Slip. The BOF is directly to the left of the word SLIP. And looks just like the top view of that pic I posted from the river... You can zoom in real close to that image, and move all around the whole mill, there is a powerhouse (the roof was missing in the aerial, it was after the explosion), a Blast, Con-Cast, Electric Arc, and Hot and Cold Mills (rolling mills).

To answer your question about moving coils, Kress carriers move them on palletts, also Valmets, and overhead cranes, conveyors, plus we used a Rhino, it's a huge fork truck with a single fork, designed for lifting coils of steel.
 

doctorwayne

Active Member
Illus said:
To answer your question about moving coils, Kress carriers move them on palletts, also Valmets, and overhead cranes, conveyors, plus we used a Rhino, it's a huge fork truck with a single fork, designed for lifting coils of steel.

Our company uses the big single-fork lifts nowadays, but before that, there was a fleet of Ross straddle-carriers.

Wayne
 

DrGeologist

Canadian Down Under
i have tried every pictur resource but none of them give me the right picture ,i just need to find a picture of either a top veiw or a full frontal veiw of a bof array and others like the stripping mill and soakers. and i also have question for you guys ,how does a finished coil get from the mill to the cooling yard then to rail car?

My favorite resource for finding photos is Welcome to Flickr - Photo Sharing There is a steel group there with albums of high quality, detailed photos of essentially every stage of the steel making process.
 

doctorwayne

Active Member
Haven't been here for a while, but my fingers seem to have healed, so I'll try again. ;)
The reason that it's difficult for most of us to supply photos, especially interior shots, is (as I stated earlier) that most steel companies do not permit cameras inside the plant: if I drove into the plant for afternoon shift, after photographing trains all morning, and had my camera lying on the seat, security had the right to confiscate it, and/or send me home. I have taken a camera into work, mostly to photograph the trains, although I also got some exterior shots of a blast furnace. I am unable to post these because I don't have a scanner. I also took some interior shots of the slabbing mill where I worked. These were passed around (surprising how people who professed to hate working there were so fascinated by the photos :rolleyes: ) but these were eventually "lost" - too bad because they turned out very well. :cry:
Contrary to what many believe, the reason that cameras are prohibited is not to guard "trade secrets". Rather, companies are worried that a violation of safety regulations, (missing safety equipment, dangerous practices, etc.) or environmental rules will be included in the photo: should it fall into the wrong hands, penalties can be severe (and expensive).
Check out the links that various members have provided, or look for the books that were mentioned. I saw the latest edition of Dean Freytag's book at the hobbyshop a couple of weeks ago, for about $70.00. You also might find the book that I mentioned at a used bookstore, probably quite cheap: in 1968 or so, mine cost me over $120.00. :eek:
By the way, I've asked Santa for a scanner. We'll see what happens: I was very good, but I was being naughty at the time. ;):-D

Wayne
 

bigsteel

Call me Mr.Tinkertrain
thanks for the link DR.J,there were some pretty cool pics i found and am printing out now :mrgreen:.

DR.W thanks for the explanation :thumb:,i didn't think a steel mill would mind cameras as AK steel has tours that allow you to see just about every facilities in there mill :confused:,but i guess it wouldn't be that hard for the workers to have a "clean up" day for guests so that no violations are caught on film :eek:.I'm trying to find out when the next tour is so i can get pics and use them for reference to me and post them for anyone else who wants interior shots :thumb:,but heres a question: are the facilities and inner workings pretty much the same to 50 years ago? from the little i have seen it just looks like the old machinery with new electronic controls :confused:.all in all the new machines may look a little bit bigger.
if you ever get a scanner I'm sure everyone would love to see those pics Wayne :thumb:.it would be really cool to get the most accurate interiors since its seldom modeled by a person who never worked there :mrgreen:.

man,all this talk just gets me fired up to start my layout.I'm trying to hold off by building a small layout first...oh well,some good things take longer than others.thanks for the help guys.--josh

P.S dean freytags book happens to be on my christmas list :D you know next to the new rivarossi DCC sound equipped 2-6-6-6 alleghany :thumb:
 

bigsteel

Call me Mr.Tinkertrain
thanks for the offer tom :thumb:,the pics look awesome :mrgreen:.i will need some more pics so any of them canreally come in handy.and when was this taken? the tracks in the foreground still look like there being used :confused:,is it mainline cause bethlehem is closed or so i thought :eek:.thanks.--josh
 
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