Published on: 2026-07-02
Source: KAMAZ – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
At the foundry plant of PJSC KAMAZ, a whitewashing machine was restored. Thanks to this, the whitewashing of slag pits in the foundry workshop No. 1 of the cast iron casting production became more convenient and 16 times faster.
Previously, the interior of the five-ton steel slag ladle (a special bucket for slag) was painted in several layers by four people using brushes. For convenience, the container had to be turned on its sides using a loader. The full painting process took 16 hours, or two shifts. This distracted smelters and machine operators from their main work. The painted ladles were then filled with slag. However, in the charging yard, during unloading, the slag stuck to the walls, and it had to be knocked out; as a result, ladles often cracked or broke and were sent for disposal. Orders had to be placed with the precision steel casting department.
The foundry workers decided to restore the whitewashing machine in the melting section. According to Pavel Melentyev, deputy production manager for technical matters, the installation had been used at the plant since the 1970s, but due to lack of spare parts, it was written off. In November of last year, the foundry workers began exploring how to reconstruct the machine.“At that time, the equipment required a large number of spare parts. Nowadays, modern components make servicing and using the unit easier. Of course, it was proposed to restore the machine to its original form. But that would have been very costly — we would have had to purchase pumps, tanks, and relays. We sat down with electricians and mechanics, thought it through, crossed out items that could be done without. In the end, the scheme was simplified as much as possible.”, – explainedPavel Melentyev.
The limewashing machine itself consists of a metal frame to which a control cabinet with a push-button panel, a tank, a gearbox, two electric motors, and a nozzle lowering drive are attached. In this scheme, the air supply to the nozzle is direct.
Repair workers, production staff, and the design department of the foundry plant began implementing the planned activities in January 2026 and independently restored the machine in their free time. Only one person is required to start the process. Most often, this is a melter from one of the four melting furnaces and soaking pits. When he presses the “start” button on the control panel, the nozzle lowers into the ladle and begins spraying lime. A 5-6 cm layer is applied evenly along the walls. With this setup, the container can be coated in about an hour. The lime thickness is sufficient to prevent slag from sticking to the walls, so the slag pots (there are 12 units in LC-1) will last much longer.
Please note; This information is raw content obtained directly from the information source. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.