You have a fantastic layout, Bill. I have to say, the detail on your blast furnace is impressive. It will look even better with some weathering. Looking forward to another update. Keep up the good work.
Very impressive Billy. My father worked for US Steel in the lorain plant. He was a crane operator in the blast furnace and them in the bop shop when they converted it. I have enjoyed watching your progress
You're doing amazing work! Can't wait to see more!
Thank you all for the kind words! It motivates me a lot to hear feedback. I need to get a loop of track complete and have some visitors! The printer is booked solid for a few days printing the dust collectors. I'm working on the remaining CAD work for the skip house. I'm at 95 individual parts at the moment but the actual count is much higher because there are multiple tuyeres, multiple upper deck supports, multiple roof trusses, multiple columns, etc.
You guys might find this amusing. We watched our friends' kid today. He just over a year old and we took him in the basement to watch the trains. I figured most kids like things that move and make noise but he was very suspicious of the whole thing 
it was pretty funny! He watched them go by and he pointed at them but he wasn't over the top excited. Maybe in a few years!
@BillYo414 posted:The skip hoist and downcomer ring are fitted:
I need some adjustment on the downcomer because the alignment is off but at least I know the idea works. The extra wide section of steps would connect the skip house to the catwalk. But I haven't printed the updated skip house floor and I forgot to put the catwalk on. I hope to animate some skip cars going up and down in the long run but I'm pleased with the look so far.
Very, very impressive work, Bill! 
George
You will be your friends’ sitter until their son is 18 and goes to college. Not a bad thing!!
Nah,not a bad thing at all @Mark Boyce he's a good kid. Not that I have any experience with child rearing haha
They're still working their way off the printer but I think I got the design done for the dust collector and the gas washer.
Each one of those has about 10 pieces each that have to be glued together and some of the parts are eight hour long prints. I got a family thing today but hopefully everything will be printed and will fit together and I can post an assembled photo in a few days.
Then it's onto the skip house. I have the basic structure drawn up but I'm trying to add some detail and make it assemble a bit nicer.
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👍🏻👍🏻
I'd need an engineering degree just to build a MODEL of a steel mill.
Amazing what was built over 100 years ago.....
Looks good Bill.
As to the child rearing thing.....it's kinda like building a steel mill, just with the stress meter pinned at 11!
Bob
@RSJB18 posted:I'd need an engineering degree just to build a MODEL of a steel mill.
Looks good Bill.
Ain’t it the truth! 😄
@RSJB18 posted:As to the child rearing thing.....it's kinda like building a steel mill, just with the stress meter pinned at 11!
Bob
You said a mouthful. 
George
@RSJB18 posted:I'd need an engineering degree just to build a MODEL of a steel mill.
Amazing what was built over 100 years ago.....
Looks good Bill.
As to the child rearing thing.....it's kinda like building a steel mill, just with the stress meter pinned at 11!
Bob
Especially amazing that they built a lot of it on the fly without a single digital tool on hand. I've built a lot of stuff out of wood without calculations but there's such a difference between a bike ramp out of 2x4s and a steel mill.
The better half thinks I'm a bit too confident and optimistic about child rearing haha I think we balance each other out.
Anyway, turns out I had a clearance issue on the gas washer. I got a few changes to make and it should be complete.
I'm pretty happy with the dust collector (left) and gas washer (right).
But the legs are under whelming. Beams are correct in this situation but these are really tricky to glue on. They're not straight if you look closely. I'm going to add some more beams that will help me square things up. I only hot glued everything in the photos because I really wanted to see them assembled tonight. The last print finished about an hour ago haha I have to print the pipes that connect these but that shouldn't be tough.
I already started getting the skip house files together. One wall is on the printer right now. I'm pumped to have the end of the blast furnace on sight. The stoves have some tricky components (thin sections and 18 hour prints) but there are a lot less pieces. The current part count is 110 unique pieces. I'm not sure what the total count is.
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Looks great, Bill! I don’t look closely at beams. Mine are never straight and square! 😃
Wow Bill! This just gets better and better each time!
Thanks guys. I finished one wall of the skip house last night, another printed while I was asleep, the third just finished a bit ago, and the last wall is on the printer now. Initial fitment this morning looked pretty darn good! Hopefully I can get the walls assembled this evening. I got bocce league tomorrow night and I'm tied up Thursday so tonight will be the last opportunity I have to assemble the walls.
I'm still tight on cash from the bathroom remodel but I want to get the double loop completed by the end of the year. I'm thinking about just stashing $40 from every paycheck and buying a little at a time.
Keep it that way @Mark Boyce haha if nobody looked closely, I would probably have finished this model by now 
Bill, that’s great, building your model whilst you sleep! 😄
Bocce league! That’s great!!
I work hard @Mark Boyce, all day and all night haha
It's been cool! Just need more practice.
I’ve never played, but no matter how much practice, I still wouldn’t do well. That’s been the result of every game I’ve ied. 😄
Had to go backwards a bit. The dust collector and gas washers got some extra pieces added to the legs to try to make them easier to glue and keep straight. The dust collector also got an alignment tab put inside is so the downcomer mates to it. All those part revisions are in progress of printing. I'm not sure whether or not they would be necessary in real life but I do know that more pieces add to the visual interest up to a certain point.
We have a skip house though:
It still needs the other roof panel but the glue was drying so I omitted it. The interior details need done as well as the doors but this structure has eluded me for some time so it feels good to get something assembled. A lot of the beams that hold the legs together still have to be printed. Those of you familiar with Youngstown Sheet and Tube Campbell Works will probably recognize that the skip houses there heavily influenced my design.
Luckily I don't have much to do today and I just have to can a quart or two of tomatoes tomorrow so I could make pretty good progress this weekend on parts.
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Looking good Bill! I will be very interested to see this when you start the painting process.
Dave
Nice job Bill.
I’m not familiar with the Campbell Works other than the name, but it all looks very impressive!
Youngstown Sheet and Tube Campbell Works the morning of Sept 19,1977 became know as Black Monday in the Greater Youngstown area. That morning the first worker came to work and found the gates lock. The Campbell Works never reopened with this start of all the Mills closing. Back in the time Youngtown was only second to Pittsburgh in Stell production!
Ron
Thank you for the information on the Campbell Works, Ron. It is always sad when these things happen.
Here's a link to one of the many photos that inspired the model: https://ohiomemory.org/digital...7401coll32/id/12052/
Thanks! @luvindemtrains @harley rider @Mark Boyce. Painting has never been my strong point whether it be walls or models. Spray painting my truck to hide the rust for parades and the county fair is probably the best work I have ever done haha We'll see though. I have started experimenting with automotive primer that has solids in it and the results have been promising. I have never weathered anything in my life so I appreciate your support haha
EDIT: It was sad @Mark Boyce but times are changing here. The mills have become a source of pride for a lot of us. I'll refer you to this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt5b11z_qus It's 8 years old but the trajectory is still upward. Downtown looks very different from when that video came out. I could type a novel here about the progress in Youngstown but in short: going downtown was for court or college in the 90s. Now I spend my whole weekend downtown going to hockey games, festivals, shopping, eating, etc etc etc. It's been an unbelievable transformation from the incredible trouble when I was a kid.
Hey, that mill in the first link looks like your model! You are really nailing it. Yes, I don’t spray paint well at all and my OCD makes me hate to weather! 😄 The video tells a lot!!
I have traveled all around Youngstown, but only IN Youngstown once. In ‘77 I was working in Richmond, Virginia. In ‘80 I was back in Butler County Pennsylvania and my work took me somewhere northwest of Youngstown for a week. On the way home I drove through Downtown Youngstown. Then it wasn’t too bad as I recall.
Living in Butler County most of my life, we are right between Pittsburgh and Youngstown. Here in Butler, Cleveland Cliffs took over the former AK, former Armco Steel, but it was always a specialty steel company (rolling mills) until recent years. Now it’s a steel used in power transformers. I only occasionally saw a blast furnace, then only at a distance. I’m looking forward to seeing all you build!
Bill,
As Mark stated, you are nailing the inspiration to your Steel Mill. I was already impressed, but seeing what you have replicated is a product of your talents. Keep up the good work man.
Dave
Bill, this continues to be an amazing undertaking. As I previously suggested, you have an excellent feature story for OGR. I can envision your mill emblazoned on the cover.
Jay
Thank you @Mark Boyce @luvindemtrains @Tranquil Hollow RR. I have quite a bit of momentum now to see this through. I got a little wild last night at a Halloween Party so today has been much slower than I thought it would be but I've still managed to finish assembling some beams and printing some other beams. I'm about to the point where the dust collector and gas washer will be complete.
Today I hit a wall. The double bell system at the top of the furnace is going to push my CAD abilities and printer to the limit. Here's a link to the cut away animation I'm trying to build: https://ogrforum.com/...4#169796616839014154
The pieces are just so darn tiny. I've already thrown out the idea of printing the telescopic tubes. I bought some from McMaster and they should be here Thursday. That's wonderful except I still have to figure out how to attach those tubes to the clevis pieces. The cantilevered beams are in progress and I think I'll be able to print those. It's going to be interesting trying to get this to work. I also bought a thin rod to use as an axle for the joints. I'm trying to avoid bushings and whatnot to keep it simpler.
I guess I got too excited to finish the blast furnace and I overlooked this complicated part. A mudgun and skip buckets are on the to do list as well. I was hoping to have this model finished by the end of the year and I would say it's going to be tight unless I manage to nail this on the second or third try.
On a positive note, I hear some rumors the Big Boys are on the North American continent I've seen 4012 in person and that's the one I bought. I have never owned/ran a model Big Boy. I'm pretty excited to cross this one off the wishlist.
Exciting about the Big Boy!
I’m sure you will come up with something for the assembly at the top of the furnace. If nothing else, do nothing and claim it was taken down for maintenance! 👍🏻
@Mark Boyce posted:If nothing else, do nothing and claim it was taken down for maintenance! 👍🏻
This is a man with experience and wisdom 
haha
@BillYo414 posted:This is a man with experience and wisdom
😆
And just like that, a month has gone by. This isn't an overly exciting update but some people expressed interest in hearing how its going. I'm happy to share 
In short, I fought with my printer for four weeks. My print quality dropped off tremendously. I upgraded wheels, gears, belts, hot end, and finally the extruder. All of that will help and some of it was badly needed but it ended up being a setting that wasn't active 
whoops! This means I'll have to go back and revise the parts that make up the double bell arms at the top of the furnace. I had moved on from them because I couldn't get them to print and I started going over the design for the stoves. I changed the design and everything so now I can hopefully go back to how I had it. The design printed ok but we should be back to normal now. I was even considering building a new printer or upgrading to an SLA/resin printer.
My Big Boy arrived. #4012, first Big Boy I have ever owned and the only one I have seen in person. It looks outstanding pulling a line of coal cars and is a blast to creep through yards because of the smoke and light features. I shot some footage for a video and need to shoot some more. I'm also working on a custom baffle for the boiler. Forum sponsor CT Trains did a custom run of some Aliquippa and Southern gondolas with junk load. Both of them came in as well. I also bought enough track to finish the curve at the north end of the layout. They're outstanding!
Now that the track is approaching its full 37' length, I'm going to need to start thinking about power districts so I'll need to learn how to do that. I don't think one transformer will be able to support up to seven locomotives running. Two of them will be pulling heavy loads up grades.
Last but not least, I set up a train around the Christmas tree this year! That has been exciting. I've been making laps from the couch with the CAB1L in the evenings haha I love it. I'm waiting on my holiday smoke fluid to come in.
So that's the news. Stove printing starts tonight. I'm excited. They look outstanding in CAD. I'll be pleased if the printed parts look half as good!
Your steel mill looks grate.
Bill, awesome progress report.
That blast furnace is amazing! Keep going!
George
Thanks for the update Bill. You have amazing patience in working through that 3D printer.
Jay
Thank you for the update, Bill! Resolving the printer problems will come quicker now that you gained some experience with it.
