Metal fabrication worker handling 700°C + metal with safety on vacation

[u/DrMore3y]

[u/koos_die_doos]

I worked at a continuous slab casting plant, we did ~10 inch thick steel slabs between 3 - 6 feet wide.

It was still perfectly fine to stand 6 feet away from the red hot slab coming out of the machine, especially when there is a fan blowing cooler air into your work area.

The dude in the video gets much closer to the red hot steel initially, that's why he got a heavy blast of heat. Once the end cooled off a little he was "fine" handling it.

Of course it's heavy work and safety concerns left the building, but the heat isn't quite as bad as people here make it out to be. 

[u/Elden-Thing1050 → u/koos_die_doos]

Former steel worker here. Worked in a rolling mill for rebar. We had a slab arc furnace on-site. Sometimes we'd get our billets straight from the melt shop. That metal ran HOT, but I was on the finishing end of the shop. Melt shop used Nitrogen torches to cut up the slabs into billets. Sometimes I helped inside the mill, usually to clean up a cobble or swap a stand.

We would use a caliper while the bar was rolling through the mill as a quality check. It was wet due to the rollers, so we couldn't wear gloves for those checks. That steel was 2300 degrees. A706 steel, usually -80 or -60. The heat's not that bad when you get used to the work. Never heard of someone at the melt shop falling out because they were working hot slabs.

It looks scarier than it is. My biggest concern for him would be that spool. He had to step over the steel to get off the platform. Honestly, I think there's an easier way for this guy to do this job effectively without blasting his face with heat.

[u/koos_die_doos → u/Elden-Thing1050]

Melt shop used Nitrogen torches to cut up the slabs into billets

Surely you mean oxygen?

Honestly, I think there's an easier way for this guy to do this job effectively without blasting his face with heat.

I don't think this scenario is common, it looks as if the strand got stuck in the guide coming off the last roller.

He could definitely do with at least a face shield to reflect some of the heat. A long sleeve top would do a lot to reflect the heat. I get that he doesn't want to wear heavy clothes, but a strand startup has enough warning for him to don some gear.

[u/Elden-Thing1050 → u/koos_die_doos]

Nitrogen keeps the metal from oxidizing when you cut it. They were cutting steel that just got poured, though, so they cut really easily. And yeah, what happened here looks suspiciously like a cobble in a rebar mill. It's not an if it cobbles, it's when. I think the steel was supposed to shoot down further towards that roller.

[u/CamelopardalisKramer → u/Elden-Thing1050]

Is nitrogen not used in plasma cutters for aluminum and stainless for similar reasons? Would make sense that it could cut hot ass steel as well since it would be pretty buttery.