A-FURNACE - Part 41

In a recent email I was asked about the progress on A-Furnace - the first blast furnace I started building in 2008.  Not much, I was unfortunately able to report.   The furnace is really the centerpiece of my steel mill - it's 100% scratch built (so is B-Furnace) and a fairly exact scale replica of Bethlehem A furnace.  The precipitators are virtually complete,  the stoves very close too, but the furnace itself still needs quite a bit of attention.   I dusted off my roof truss jig for this furnace - the product was a single truss and it's been collecting dust since.  I'm not much further on the soaking pit trusses, with only 1 1/2 complete, and that is a much simpler truss than A-Furnace.  The jig is crude, but works.  The truss is a sandwich of two styrene angles with gusset plates at angle intersections.   The first step is to place the gussets, cut from .020 styrene in place in the jig - there are four different sizes.   Then I glue in the long outer angles - .080 styrene angle, and then fill in the rest using .060 angle.  Once set, I carefully work truss out of jig.  This only gives me a half built truss, and I have to still glue the angles for the opposite sides in place, although this can be done without the jig.

Completed roof truss, note the overhang truss assembly on the left for covering the slag track

Truss number two installed - only two more to go.

Walkway on top of stoves for A-furnace.  Stoves were arranged in an L-pattern.   The hot blast main passes between the row of three stoves on left and the single stove on right, necessitating and more substantial walkway truss support between them.