Day 24

Morning
Jim asked for my drawings for the stirring coil panels this morning, so those got a little touch up and I gave him a set. Ladd was back at the maintenance meeting as well. After a slow start, Tony and I got the water tubing torn off 7 and began replacing it. He also got the north bosh working after replacing a few fuses.

Afternoon
Because of a meeting with Phil about the business plan, we didn't head back across the street in the afternoon. I polished up a few more drawings before the meeting, then I listened for a half hour. After that, I tried to get some data on the Hastings vacuum gauges that are being used in the welders. I couldn't find anything from Hastings about the electrical output. Getting that information will give me a better idea of what it will take from a PLC side to get trending going.

Day 23

Morning
After getting ready to put the north gun on 7, Tony and I came back over to look at 2 and 3 arc. There was a missing bit in a line of logic that was in an old TI program, but not in the new SLC program. Jim found and replaced it. After making the update to the network, we went back across the street. I got the north gun in place while Tony put the base on the south-east gun. I started to clean a gun for 7EBW.

Afternoon
There was a meeting at Engineering about the Old Bliss Press upgrade. I didn't know much about it, but it's still a ways out from being done. After that, Tony looked into what it would take to get 7 pumping by the weekend. After a talk with Ray, we grabbed some hose for the two south guns that will get put in tomorrow.

Day 22

Morning
After looking over a few things for the EB upgrade, there was a meeting to throw ideas about a side-fed arc furnace. Puopolo had some previous knowledge of this topic, so he was sharing with Tony, Chris, and Dean. After that meeting, we headed to the EB side and worked on the guns more. I finished cleaning "mine" off using soap and water on the insulator and a wire brush on the remainder.

Afternoon
Reassembly of the gun. Putting new O-rings in and putting the gun back together. Curtis ran it through a pump down station and it held a good vacuum. Tony tore down the third gun, we cleaned it, and then reassembled it. The first gun is now mounted on S7, but some of the bases need to be worked on before the rest of them are good to go.

Day 21

Morning
The HPM press was having some type of issues, but Tony wasn't back from Alaska yet, so I walked out there to find Jeff and Tobin already looking at it. Once Jeff got into the program, it was clear that a button on the panel-mate was stuck. Jim popped it and presto. Tony was in the office when I got back. We went over to the EB side and started to tear down some guns. I got one apart by lunch.

Afternoon
Tony let me go to a pre-shutdown meeting for EBW4. They're putting in new equipment that will take about two weeks starting this weekend. There's a lot to be done with all the panels, cages, and blowers. After that, we went back over to the guns. I got "my gun" looking pretty sharp so far. I still need to wash an insulator and a ring before it can get reassembled.

Day 20

Morning
Tony was out all day on his way up to Alaska. I started the day by working on drawings for the stirring coils and S8. My goal was to get prints done so I could be ready to go with approvals next week. I made it through all of them including the panel, the schematics, and the two for S8 now that it's done.

Afternoon
I read all the documentation that Tony had on the upgrade for the EB welders. I found some ISA's for the Logix 1100 as well. It looks like the new Logix will talk, via ethernet, to the VIM module, which is connected directly to DeltaV. Reading some of that stuff made the setup for 13 and 14 more clear. I'm not sure what the next step will be, but Tony probably does.

Day 19

Morning
I worked on the updates for the stirring coil drawings more. Started and nearly completed the terminal drawing. Added in all the components with detailed labels for building the strip. Dean was having the liner changed on a die block for the HPM press so we got to watch that being changed out. Not very eventful, but that's a good thing.

Afternoon
I went across the street to see when the next shutdown for S8 would be, and everything came together. The electricians were just finishing putting the buttons in, and the operator was pumping down, so I hauled back over to get the laptop. We got the program on and working once we tied the grounds of the two input modules together. Now the buttons have a nice little 1/4 second debounce and center the beam perfectly. That project should be finished.

Day 18

Morning
Made some updates to the drawing sets that I've been working on. Tony showed me the Rosemont system and drawings in the control room, then we traced the outputs for the stirring coils for #9 and #10. I started looking up drawing numbers and finding old prints to see what needs to be updated and what the old drawings are. I found a mistake on the labeling for #13 ARC.

Afternoon
More updates to drawings. Went and spent some time looking at the crucible cleaner. The settings for the flow limiters were messed up, so they took the time to reset them. Afterwords, Tony showed me the feeds for #9 and #10 that are up above EBW 6. The units themselves are nasty, but it's fun to climb up to them.

Day 17

Morning
Spent some time digging through Oracle for the PO on the E3's for 13 and 14 ARC. No luck. Drove over to S8 to have a look at the panel to ensure that the IO I used in the updates are actually open. When I got back I updated the drawings to reflect all the changes. Took a printout over to Jim for his guys to use. Also got a picture of the stirring coils so that I can finish that drawing. I worked on those for a little while.

Afternoon
Took the afternoon off for my birthday.

Day 16

Morning
I started the day by checking on S8. The operator said that the sticks were more responsive (faster to move), but it was fine. After the maintanence meeting I took a look at the recycle wash station with Tony and worked on some CAD drawings. Phil had a small brainstorm in Dean's office before lunch.

Afternoon
I went over to the stock room to look for S8 push buttons. The price was too similar to North Coast, so I drove down there and picked up three new ones. We took them over to Jim. Tony was looking at some alarm/shutdown ladders from VAR 4 I think (one of the old medium furnaces). I updated the S8 program to use the input from push buttons. I need to load that onto S8 and check to ensure the inputs arn't being used by some junk.

Day 15

Morning
There was the big quartly review this morning. Wally and Matt gave presentations to Phil, and other high ups about the projects that had been completed in the last three months as well as safety records, inventory, etc. After that I sat in on a few meetings like the guys from Industrial systems making the automated unloader.

Afternoon
We went over to S8 and loaded my program. At first I had to make a few changes and fix a bug or two. Most of the issues came from the previous author of the ladders. After a few adjustments and examinations, we determined that the PLC is only operating between ±5 volts (±16384 in a register). Once those changes were in place it ran great. No going off the screen, no roll over. We made some adjustments to the Kepco's so I'll need to go and ask the operators what they think on Monday.

Day 14

Morning
I continued to update the drawings of the backpanel. Jim was back, so we asked him about S8. We may not even install the push buttons just because it will be a hassle, and they'll be torn out during the remodel. We also met a contractor about recycling helium gas used for backfill. Took a peak inside of VAR 11's stirring coil panel.

Afternoon
Took some more time to work on the CAD drawing. Tony gave me a little tour of the alloy prep room, then we went to a meeting about the automated system. The prep makes much more sense after seeing the line of powders and pellets getting pressed into a cup. They are going to try to recalibrate auto mode for the scales.

Day 13

Morning
Most of the morning was spent working on the CAD drawing of the backpanel. I found a few more vendor supplied drawings, but a lot of them needed to be replicated by me. I drew a shunt and a few other small parts. After throwing the parts list on there, it was about lunch time. There was also a saftey meeting.

Afternoon
Tony didn't get a chance to work on S7, so we got to help Greg clean out the gun on EB7. Actually cleaning a gun gives a better understanding of how the unit works. I also walked over to the electric shop to look for push buttons for S8. Hopefully Jim feels better and makes it to work on Thursday.

Day 12

Morning
The morning was spent running from thing to thing. We went over a new transformer that will go up on the roof in December. There were a few things that needed to be checked over on EB7, and Chris wanted to change some WI in Delta V and Rosemont. Once those were updated, we went over the stirring coil setup.

Afternoon
We went out and took a few photos of VAR 13's coil box, then came back to the office and started labeling all of them. From that, I started to make a CAD drawing of the backpanel. We can use that for the electritians to make the stirring coils follow a standard. My parts list got updated as I found items online, especially Allen Bradley stuff.

Day 11

Morning
There was a small breakfast meet and greet down at the visitor center for Mecop's. The president's and vp's were there along with all six of the Mecop students. Each had a short description of their projects as well as what they were planning to do with their summer earnings. After that, Tony and I went over to S8 to look at the PLC program in action. The computer wouldn't communicate with Allen-Bradley, so we went over to the PLC lab to get a different setup.

Afternoon
We went back across the street, but this time the program pulled up. The counters and logic was working just as I thought it would. When we got back I reviewed the changes that I had made, then I wrote an even simpler version of the controller code. It should run a lot smoother, with no crazy roll over kinks. The big issue will be wiring a new button to the panel. It may not happen now.

Day 10

Morning
The morning was filled with meetings. After showing Tony the VAR 13 doc, we went to the maintenance meeting and then a meeting for medium arc furnace regular maintenance. After those meetings, I went and snagged some more pictures for the flow switch document and made some updates.

Afternoon
Tony liked the changes that I made to the document, so that is almost done. We need to try out the procedure on a weekend before we move forward. We had our first equipment overview today. It was the presses. I'd already seen the HPM in practice, but it was nice to learn more about the inside. I also got to see the Bliss presses and the pump rooms as a side trip.

Day 9

Morning
After the maintenance meeting, we had a small meeting with Jim, Ladd, and Dean about stirring coil standardization. I talked to Tony about the work that I had done on S8 and the pump procedure for VAR 13 yesterday. He agreed with my choice of an alarm at minimum flow, and shutdown just below one pump flow. We had the monthly engineering meeting at 11. It was mostly a discussion of the budget. The engineering staff went to lunch at Humpty's Dump afterword.

Afternoon
Worked on my two projects more in the afternoon. Borrowed the camera from Dean and took pictures of the cooling setup above 13. Edited the procedure document to include those and the changes that Tony and I discussed. I grabbed the shop laptop and edited the S8 program as well. Added some control for gun 1, but I'm not sure it will work as I expect.

Day 8

Morning
Tony was out all day at hazmat training, so I was running solo. I got Dean to help me grab the template for procedure documents. I started work on editing one for the power supply cooling on 13 arc. I found that the original plan won't work with the high manufacture recommended minimum. I tried to come up with my best alternative, but Tony will have the final say.

Afternoon
I came back and grabbed the shop laptop and started in on S8's program. I found that the part that preforms the joystick movement is not hard to read, but it is very confusing design wise. The movement is done in a very convoluted way that may be cleaned up later. I also may have found why the gun wraps around the side.

Day 7

Morning
Got in touch with the vendor of the power supply for VAR 13 after a little phone tag. He gave us the specs for the minimum flow rate. They were a little higher than Tony thought they would be. That may be a problem, or at least require another solution than the ones that we discussed earlier in the day.

Day 6

Morning
Spent some time down at EB7 looking at the program. The operator was having some troubles with a leak rate test. Tony just hooked his laptop in and was able to modify the program on the fly with RS5000. It was cool to see the nicest welder and watch a program fix on a live machine.

Afternoon
Spent the afternoon following Tony as he showed me the vacuum pumps, power supplies, cooling, and controls for VAR 11-14. The big furnaces have very large banks of componenets, so it took a while to go through all of the different pieces. Very interesting stuff that I won't get at school. We also went up on the roof and took a look at the transformers.

Day 5

Morning
Went across the street to S8 and started taking down notes. We looked at the panel with the Kepco and the PLC box to determine which inputs and outputs were controlling the guns. The real problem was that some wires were labeled with "lateral" and "radial", but then they change to "x" and "y" on the other side of the room. I should have all of the correct labels, but it can be unnerving.

Afternoon
Got to work in AutoCAD drawing up all the wires. Found that I hadn't forgot all of the time I'd spent working with CAD. I used some old drawings as a starter to draw a clean diagram for the wiring of the inputs and outputs. These should come in handy later when I have to read the program.

Day 4

Morning
Watched the vendors work on the HPM press. They found a big leak in time that they were trying to fix, but the program was a touch more complicated than they thought, so it took them a bit longer. They also had some ideas for an automatic offload system to save the operator from stopping everything to walk down and do it by hand.

Afternoon
Met with some vendors (one from Germany) about a new screw vacuum pump for 13 ARC.

Day 3

Morning
Went over and took a look at the powder-met area. We went over there to meet with a pair of contractors that are going to be looking at the HPM press. They want to shave some time off of each cycle so that they can produce more billets. These guys had been from the timber industry they kept saying, and they seemed to be comfortable with what they were doing.

Afternoon
I continued to read over the work instructions. They get very repitious when you get into the 50's range, but some of the information was completely new to me, so it was worth wild.