Steel Mill Roll Shop( picture intense)

[LynnB]

One day my son had asked me to take some pictures of where I worked and what type of job I did. Although I've been laid off now for about 2 weeks I did work this job for quite a while. Basicly what the job entailed was to bring in the rolls from the mill, the purpose of these rolls are to basicly either directly or indirectly squish a thick plate into thinner plate into either rolled coils or single plates depending on the company placing the orders.My job was to run the crane and\or build the rolls, when I say build the rolls it means take the chocks off the rolls after the rolls come in from the mill and get them ready for the grinder to grind down to a finished surface. We then put the chocks back on and back out to the mill.The crane job also entails not only handling the chocks to be put on the roll ends but also to very very carefully place the 30 ton rolls into the grinders and back out when ready to be built back up. Hopefully this helps someone thinking about steel mill modeling.

[Ralph]

Thanks for the inside look Lynn! Modelers of the steel industry may find these shots a terrific reference for interior details!
Ralph

[ngauger]

Nice!!! Really great shots!!!

[LynnB]

Thanks guys, that was me running the crane in the shop that has the rolls in the hole , I was basicly showing how I had to lasoo the ends of the roll lift it up and turn it to the right direction to be put on the floor racks to be built up.

[Trucklover]

Lynn those are some excellent shots!! May i have your permission to save them on my computer for future reference?

[LynnB]

Lynn those are some excellent shots!! May i have your permission to save them on my computer for future reference?

LOL ya no prob.

[Spitfire]

Thanks for the photos Lynn. That is some awesome reference!!

cheers
Val

[Bigsteel]

wow..... :jawdrop: great pics lynn,its kinda rare to see interior shots of a functioning mill.but very nice pics,how much did the rolls weigh?

[LynnB]

wow..... :jawdrop: great pics lynn,its kinda rare to see interior shots of a functioning mill.but very nice pics,how much did the rolls weigh?

the smaller rolls were 20 ton, they were in the one shop the had the chock buggies. The one built roll ( called a plate mill backup ) that was on the car ready to go out to the mill ways over 60 ton and the roll I had in the air with the crane with the loop cable were 30 ton. Funney when I first start trained on the crane and touched something while holding the roll the thing would just start spinning with momentom.

[Bigsteel]

so when they say roll shop it literally means the rollers for the larger mills? i always thought the naming was more complicated than that ,but i guess if you know WHAT the shops really did the names kinda explain themselves.do they let you take pics of anywhere else,or are you contained to areas that they allow you to take pics?--josh

[LynnB]

so when they say roll shop it literally means the rollers for the larger mills? i always thought the naming was more complicated than that ,but i guess if you know WHAT the shops really did the names kinda explain themselves.do they let you take pics of anywhere else,or are you contained to areas that they allow you to take pics?--josh

Well in a way when they say roll shop they mean the service area for the rolls that are used to roll the steel slabs to the correct guage and width. The way it works is like this,and I'll do my best here
1. the order is put into the steel mill by the customer usually either plate or strip , we'll talk plate first
2. the slabs are made up and sent to the cold slab yard
3. slabs are put into the 166" wide preheat furnace from the cold slab yard end
4. slabs go through the furnace and are pushed out onto the roller line when temperature is correct
5. slab goes down the roller line and first goes through whats referred by us in the roll shop as the 2-HI which consist of 2 big rougher rolls , these rolls simply rough the plate down to approximate guage and then slab moves down roller line
6. slab now goes through the 4-HI stand , 4-HI consist of 2 very large rolls called PMBU (plate mill backup) the pmbu are on the top and bottom of the 2 inner rolls called PMWR ( plate mill work roll ) , the pmwrs are the ones that actually touch the hot slabs, the pmbu's job is to push from the bottom and the top pmbu roll onto the pmwr squishing the plate to proper guage, they use pmwr because they leave the squished slab\now plate with a well finished surface.
7. the finished plate is now sent down the roller line through a leveler and then pushed onto a cooling bed and then sent to be stamped and onward to heat treat and or flame cut to be cut into more precise customer requests.

OK that was plate and now strip , strip uses exact same process from 1. - 6 only now the plate being short to start is stretch out by being pushed through the 6-stand , the 6 stand consist of same as a 4-hi stand times 6 so you now have a SMBU ( strip mill back up ) rather than a PMBU pushing on SMWR ( strip mill work roll) to squish the plate only now you have 6 stands each stands has 6 different sizes of smwr's #1 stand being the rougher work horse and #6 stand being the finishing roll. So after the long plate has been stretch out to the proper guage it is now coiled hot at the end of the roller line and sent to cool.
Keep in mind that every roll has a rather its a smbu, pmbu, pmwr ,smwr or rougher all are in sets one on top and one on bottom so here's where the roll shops job comes in we get the sets coming in ( always comes in as a set ) , we strip them which is basicly taking the ends off the rolls and place them in the grinder to be ground down to a nice finish, take them back out of the grinder and put the ends back on and send the "set' back out to the Mill.
And no pictures are not permitted

[Bigsteel]

wow,thanks lynn.very good explanation.and for anyone else wanting to know more about the process lynn just described.heres a link to the habs site of the exact same thing in pictorial at USS homestead works. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?col...mem_8s9f::

so lynn,heres another question.while i was designing my steel mill layout i didnt know if i should use a rolling mill or a forge for my "end" to the steel making process. so what exactly does a forge shop do? i know theres different types but do they make just one specific product? because i know bethlehem steel had like 20 of them all doing different forgings.does it just matter on what i wanted my mill to produce? because i would have liked to have my mill be able to ship slabs and rolls,but also forged cannons ,and other large items like engine cranks,crane parts,etc. OR would it be more appropriate to make it look like the forging is done out of site and the finished forgings are leaving after their final machinings in a large machine shop.--josh

i know i've got alot of questions,but there arent many guys working in a steel mill currently to ask

[LynnB]

wow,thanks lynn.very good explanation.and for anyone else wanting to know more about the process lynn just described.heres a link to the habs site of the exact same thing in pictorial at USS homestead works. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?col...mem_8s9f::

so lynn,heres another question.while i was designing my steel mill layout i didnt know if i should use a rolling mill or a forge for my "end" to the steel making process. so what exactly does a forge shop do? i know theres different types but do they make just one specific product? because i know bethlehem steel had like 20 of them all doing different forgings.does it just matter on what i wanted my mill to produce? because i would have liked to have my mill be able to ship slabs and rolls,but also forged cannons ,and other large items like engine cranks,crane parts,etc. OR would it be more appropriate to make it look like the forging is done out of site and the finished forgings are leaving after their final machinings in a large machine shop.--josh

i know i've got alot of questions,but there arent many guys working in a steel mill currently to ask

Tough question for sure, I'm going to answer like this, most steel mills will only do or make things that are of profit and if they make more money making say slabs and then selling them as slabs well that just what they will do, our steel mill is internationally owned which means a couple things , one is when they make a decision its done the next day, two they have there hands into everything everywhere saying that you will find that most steel mills will eliminate anything that they can't compete in such as our mill use to do rail but no longer does rail , I believe china does the rail now unless someone would like to correct me of course. I would imagine there are some steel mills that do forged items but none come to mind but then again I don't get out much
The link you posted is very informative , the 4-hi is pretty much exactley as I described with the two sets of larger and smaller diameter rolls doing the work.
By the way keep in mind having a steel mill on the layout would be one purpose and it also needs a purpose or customer base to serve.

[Bigsteel]

ok,well. i forgot to mention i model 50's steel mills back in the hayday of quality american production.i know bethlehem steel did forgings but it was one MASSIVE integrated steel mill,of which today very small parts are still operating .i just had no idea how they made the parts or cast them or what.all i know is they did it in big brick buildings .but i've got BF,open hearth,and rolling mill plans out the wazoo from the habs site,so i pretty much got them down pat .--josh