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Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge

Abingdon, VA – Tree Cutting & Portable Sawmill

Tired Tuesday

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Tired Tuesday

#1

Tired Tuesday

Bill Earl

Manufacturing processes are full of wonderful examples of engineering problem-solving.

Today we are rolling steel for tire cords. The red-hot billet enters the rod mill at about walking speed, and (because the mass-flow is constant) the speed increases with each reduction of diameter. By the time the final dameter is reached, the thin rod is moving at nearly half the speed of sound.

After exiting the mill, the rod must be cooled over some number of minutes according to a precise temperature profile before being bound into coils. Considering that it is exiting the mill at a speed of several miles per minute, how do we cool the rod without needing a cooling conveyor many miles long?

Re: Tired Tuesday

#2

Re: Tired Tuesday

John Veerkamp

WAG. Contact with a heat sink? Maybe some type of ceramic these days?

Re: Tired Tuesday

#3

Bin there

Lee Schierer McKean, PA

They do it like the harpoon lines used by old time whalers.

Lee

Re: Tired Tuesday

#4

The same way they cool players on

Gary Smyth

the bench in early fall football, by evaporation.

Re: Tired Tuesday

#5

Re: Tired Tuesday

Alex Y

How thin does it get? I would think that if it is very thin, air cooling could be relatively quick, as the surface area/mass increases as diameter decreases. But you are still talking about a rolled rod, not a drawn wire at this stage, right? Water bath?

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#6

 


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#7

Re: Tired Tuesday *LINK*

Bill Earl

Lee's got it. The fast-moving rod is whipped into rings by a device known as a 'laying head'. It is really impressive to watch as the red-hot rings spill from the head onto the cooling conveyor. This allows miles of rod to be cooled on a reasonably sized conveyor. At the end, the rings are collapsed and bound into coils.

The patent link below has some drawings of a laying head and describes its operation.


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Laying Head Patent

Re: Tired Tuesday

#8

Thanks for the explanation

Alex Y

My knowledge of whaling, being even more limited than my knowledge of tire-making, was inadequate to let me decipher the obfuscated answer. ;)

Re: Tired Tuesday

#9

Re: Thanks for the explanation

Lee Schierer McKean, PA

Actually Whalers coiled their harpoon line in large tubs so it would feed out without tangling. The tubs (more like half barrels) kept the line from tangling with the motion of the boat or getting tangled about the occupants. As the end of the line was approached, the whalers would tie it off and the whale would pull the boat (Nantucket Sleigh Ride) until it tired or got loose.

Lee

👍 This page answered my questions

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