The ladle cracked mid-pour on me last shift | Foundry Workers

Grace Price · 2026-04-28T20:15:03.069435+00:00

I was pulling a 300lb pour at the plant in Toledo and the ladle split right at the bottom seam. Molten iron spilled onto the floor, we had to hit the emergency stop and lost the whole batch. Has anyone else had a ladle fail like that out of nowhere?

ninabutler5mo ago

That 300lb batch loss must have stung bad.

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piperr583mo ago

Well that's one way to heat up a slow Tuesday.

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shanegibson5mo ago

Oh man, that's rough! I actually read a report from a foundry safety bulletin a few months back that said older ladles with that bottom seam design are more prone to cracking if the preheat wasn't even across the whole shell. They found that rapid thermal cycling can weaken the weld over time without any warning signs. You might want to have your maintenance crew check the seam on the other ladles too, just in case.

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