Post by Snake Eyes 88 USMC on Feb 1, 2006 14:00:58 GMT -5
As anybody who knows me is aware that I am the Lead Man on the Melt Deck in a Steel Foundry.
My job is to organize the Deck keep it going and bunch of other management type stuff..But I still Melt which is a great passion of mine.
The Furnace I run is an Induction Melting.
It has a Cabinet which generates huge amounts of power, sends it through Buss bars into some power leads that go into a Water cooled Copper set of Coils.
The power from the coils generates a massive Eddy Current which in turn melts the steel inside the Crucible.
Quick and brief the furnace set up is..
A set of coils layered w/Grout.
A lining of Alumina/Silica sand Refractory.
The metal inside.
Inside the Lining is a "Spider Wire" Ground-Fault.
A stainless set of Rod connected to a wire that runs to a Box which send a current through the Refractory.
If Metal penetrates the lining it will ground out the current from the Spider Wire and shut the Furnace down.
OK now to the good stuff....
As I melt the metal I take raw scrap and Ferro Alloys (Cr,Ni,Si,Mn,Mo etc.) and melt them together the scrap provides the Steel matrix the Ferro Alloys give the Steel it physical and Mechanical properties.
Yesterday as I was Melting a Heat, everything was going hunky dory I was nearing the end of the Melt and was reaching for a Pyrometer to take a Temp. of the Metal.
Out the the very corner of my eye I caught a small wisp of smoke from the Pot.
A small circle is cut into the side of the box the furnace is housed in that lets the Power leads run out from the coils to Buss bars.
I looked in to the small circle and about 1/4 from the bottom of the coils I saw RED!
Oh #########
I thought to myself and started running.
I got about two steps and the Furnace blew.
What had happened was the Ground Fault had failed metal had penetrated the lining, the furnace kept running and eventually melted the coils.. Combing three elements that were never meant to come into contact w/each other..Masive amounts of Electricity, Molten Metal, and Water.
The destructive force of the explosion was somewhat comparable to a Freakin' Hand-Grenade, accompanied w/ two tons of Molten Steel flying through the air.
How I escaped was a miracle.
Some said it looked an Action movie when the hero comes running out of the house that explodes just as he jumps off the stairs and the explosion is never less than a few inches behind him.
The entire Melt Deck is Destroyed.
Both Furnaces the power Cabinet, even the Deck which is made of huge cement slabs has been cracked and ruined.
The worst thing about the whole situation was that my smokes got burned up and I had to spend the rest of the day bumming Virginia Slims from the office Chick that answers the phones
My job is to organize the Deck keep it going and bunch of other management type stuff..But I still Melt which is a great passion of mine.
The Furnace I run is an Induction Melting.
It has a Cabinet which generates huge amounts of power, sends it through Buss bars into some power leads that go into a Water cooled Copper set of Coils.
The power from the coils generates a massive Eddy Current which in turn melts the steel inside the Crucible.
Quick and brief the furnace set up is..
A set of coils layered w/Grout.
A lining of Alumina/Silica sand Refractory.
The metal inside.
Inside the Lining is a "Spider Wire" Ground-Fault.
A stainless set of Rod connected to a wire that runs to a Box which send a current through the Refractory.
If Metal penetrates the lining it will ground out the current from the Spider Wire and shut the Furnace down.
OK now to the good stuff....
As I melt the metal I take raw scrap and Ferro Alloys (Cr,Ni,Si,Mn,Mo etc.) and melt them together the scrap provides the Steel matrix the Ferro Alloys give the Steel it physical and Mechanical properties.
Yesterday as I was Melting a Heat, everything was going hunky dory I was nearing the end of the Melt and was reaching for a Pyrometer to take a Temp. of the Metal.
Out the the very corner of my eye I caught a small wisp of smoke from the Pot.
A small circle is cut into the side of the box the furnace is housed in that lets the Power leads run out from the coils to Buss bars.
I looked in to the small circle and about 1/4 from the bottom of the coils I saw RED!
Oh #########
I thought to myself and started running.I got about two steps and the Furnace blew.
What had happened was the Ground Fault had failed metal had penetrated the lining, the furnace kept running and eventually melted the coils.. Combing three elements that were never meant to come into contact w/each other..Masive amounts of Electricity, Molten Metal, and Water.
The destructive force of the explosion was somewhat comparable to a Freakin' Hand-Grenade, accompanied w/ two tons of Molten Steel flying through the air.
How I escaped was a miracle.
Some said it looked an Action movie when the hero comes running out of the house that explodes just as he jumps off the stairs and the explosion is never less than a few inches behind him.
The entire Melt Deck is Destroyed.
Both Furnaces the power Cabinet, even the Deck which is made of huge cement slabs has been cracked and ruined.
The worst thing about the whole situation was that my smokes got burned up and I had to spend the rest of the day bumming Virginia Slims from the office Chick that answers the phones
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glad to hear your safe man
