American Steel Co.’s electric furnace shop
arms and the vault wall. Since the vault is deep I placed the speaker from an ITTD LT1000 Lightning and Thun- der electronic sound unit facing the melting furnace below the transform- ers. This unit makes periodic thunder sounds and flashes an intense white light at the start of the sound to simu- late a thunder clap, which is a pretty good simulation of the noise made by electrodes making and breaking an arc while boring into loose scrap at the start of the melting process. The elec- tronic device driving this unit is posi- tioned under the operating floor be- hind the furnace and is not visible. There is a lighted control room be- hind each furnace with an operator and controls visible. Bins with alloys and various tools are located on the op- erating floor,
including temperature
An overhead view of the furnace and transformer vault (above) shows both furnace pul- pits visible behind the vault. The alloy bin and the thermocouple lance are visible in the upper left corner. Looking at the electric furnace shop from the west end (below) we can see the ladle pre-heater in the foreground, the furnace row, the ladle crane above a string of ingot cars and one of the furnace pulpits on the far right.
duces the look of molten steel ready to tap. There is a red, flickering micro- light under the plastic with wires run- ning out the back of the furnace and under the operating floor to a switch and power source. The furnace in melt- ing mode has scrap in the bottom, visi- ble from the front and also visible around the top, and there is a flashing red and orange light from Miniatronics (No. 100-101-01, Fire and Flame) in it to simulate the melting process, again
with the wires running out the back to a switch and power source.
Electric furnaces are powered through a transformer that provides low-voltage, high amperage current to the electrodes. The transformers are housed in a walled vault next to the furnace, and the current is supplied via heavy cables to the electrode arms. I modeled the transformers in a vault made from Plastruct sheet. The cables are a heavy cord glued to the electrode
probes with cardboard sleeves. The op- erators are also located on this floor. The ladles used to receive the steel are pre-heated in order to maintain the steel temperature when it leaves the furnace. The ladles I used are from Bri- an Wehe (11787 U.S. Highway 150, Ori- on, IL 61273) and are the correct size for teeming ladles. The pre-heating is done by a burner mounted in a move- able cover that comes down over the top of the ladle set on a platform in front of the cover. I modeled this equipment us- ing Plastruct and Evergreen structural shapes, along with ladders, railings, and a fan from my scrap box. A yellow LED provides the simulated burner flame. There are two cranes in the shop, one for scrap and hot metal handling, and
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