msrJack said:
Well Mic,
Looks like you opened up the door for a new thread. "What's wrong with the Mid-States Video".
I am not insulted at all about your comment because you have done nothing to back it up.
I don't know what your background and expertise is with regards to the PM Refining Biz, but I believe our 30 years as an industry leader as Mid-States, not to mention our history going back to the former Simmons Refining Co. of Chicago for 30 more years prior to that gives us a touch of credibility. Can't wait to hear about your qualifications. Please enlighten us all.
I have rewritten this 3 times now,to make very sure I choose my words carefully.
Mr Brown,
you should not be insulted,what was said was not meant to insult you.If the shoe were on the other foot,I would not be insulted,but I would want to know what it was that "concerned" someone,so I could see if I needed to address a potential problem.I do not need to show,nor describe,my "qualifications" to you,nor do I need to "enlighten" you.The company you work for may have been doing this for a combined 60+ years but that certainly does not mean that you have.Now.....the
ONLY reason I am going to mention what concerned me in the videos are because of what 4metals,and Harold have posted.Their posts were mature(as usual)and clearly thought out(as usual) and did not imply sarcasm.
Harold has stated before that he is only human and still capable of making a mistake.I am in no way better than him,or anyone else on this forum,I am human and
very capable of making mistakes.
And for the record,I did in fact state that what I witnessed "concerned" me,and stated in the last post that what I witnessed looked "funny".I never stated or insinuated that there were deceptive pratices being performed,nor that a customer,or client had been,or was,being taken advantage of,or that there was a scam going on.Now all of that being said.......let me go back and watch them again so I can point out some things that concerned me.
Video #1 :
:22 As the melting dishes are being loaded into the furnace,the worker grips the outsides of the dish utilizing both hands on the tongs.
The dish could easily rotate between the fingers,causing material to spill or could break or crack under the pressure of the bars being placed on the sides.
The tongs should grip one side of the dish,like the worker does when he removes it.
:35 When initially breaking the flux off,the worker pounds it by hand against some sort of slab.
The button could easily be secured with one hand,and tapped with a chipping hammer in the other hand,like he/she does afterwards.
:57 Lead is clearly oozing out from the bottom of the cupels while the cupels are still being moved from one location to another.A piece of molten lead could easily fall into another cupel,which is what appears to have happened at 1:05 to two PM buttons.
Video #2:
Nothing major,but....they are using a plain lipped crucible,not a pouring crucible,or a crucible with a pour groove,therefore the gold appears to fall,with a little turbulance,about 6" before landing in the mold.Again,maybe nothing major,but could cause bb's to splatter out,and considering the scale in video #1 measured to the ten thousandths place,this would make a difference.
Then the worker has to "scrape" the inside of the crucible to get the rest of the material to come out.
Video #3:
:40 This may be an optical illusion,but I swear it looks as though the material has not fully melted.There is one point where the "pour" is split into 2 seperate streams,as though a solid piece of jewelry(or something) is splitting the stream in the crucible into two streams just before it exits the crucible.The pour appears to be quite lumpy to me,or maybe the worker is dumping it out too fast.
Now before you question my computer,I have a dell precision 650 server,with a 19" dell ultrasharp flatscreen lcd monitor,and I use a radeon 1 gig video card and a dvi hookup,just the way it came from Nasa.So no it is not a problem with my computer,and no it is not my eyes either.
So there it is.I am sure some of my concerns are either not a problem,or not relevant,but they are to me.Which is what matters to me.
Mr.Brown I am sure you understand that I am entitled to post my observations.I meant/mean no harm,but occasionally I blurt out what I am thinking without reservation.
However as Harold said
" Things you found questionable may be easily explained, and prove educational, not only for you, but others." and educating others is my primary reason for being on the forum,so it would be hypocritical for me not to post my observations.
Thank you 4metals and Harold.If you two were not the way you are,I would not have bothered to go through all of the trouble to rewatch the video's and list my concerns.
Harold_V said:
Grainsofgold made his last appearance on the board January 29, 2011, @ 12:46 pm.
On the user panel,it shows that was when his last post was.I made the mistake of assuming.I am sorry,I know better than that.
On that note,I am taking the wife out for breakfast,see you guys later.
