Wow, I'm on fire today!

D

Dr.Fiero

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And uh, not in a good "busy" way.

Guess this goes out as more of a reminder/warning.
I was grinding down a wrench to make it thinner (read: lotsa sparks) on my upright belt sander. After a bit, my smoke detector goes off. Ok - lotsa sparks, no big deal. Stop to investigate.
There's flames coming out of the sander underneath it! Eek! I'm on fire! (still not busy!).

Rip the machine apart (very quickly I might add), and scoop out what is a glowing ball of gunk of metal dust, plastic, sawdust, and who knows what else.
The dust chute for the vac has a couple of large holes melted in it (plastic part obviously) that are still smoldering at this point.
Take the burning bits outside (good thing we're in the middle of a 80-100mm downpour?) and snuff them out.

Well, it would seem that all the times I *had* been cleaning it out, it really wasn't getting it all! It wasn't until I took it ALL apart, that I found a bunch of hidden pockets. That's where the crud had collected, then the sparks from the wrench were all that it took to finally say 'enough'.

So - if you use your stuff for more than just metal - remember to clean it out. REALLY clean it out! Every now and then anyhow. :D
 
I've had that happen before. I forgot to clean it out after sanding wood and then worked on steel. Melted a hole in the guard.
 
Same thing can happen with Random orbital sanders fitted with dust bags.....don't ask me how I know! :panic:
 
Try a fire of rust and aluminum. That's right, THERMITE! Luckily I was just starting to sand the aluminum and the fire lasted only a couple of seconds, just long enough for me to realize I could not put the fire out and to vow to keep the sander a lot cleaner.

Bill
 
Be VERY careful to not mix steel sparks with wood dust. I have a dedicated Delta vacuum on my metal belt grinder,and do not use it for wood ever. You could burn your whole shop down if you ever got a fire going in a dust collector. It would become a jet engine on fire.
 
A good lesson for everybody. To not use a wood sander for metal. or vise versa. Your lucky you had a smoke detector. Can you imagine if you had waked away with a fire in there. There goes the shop or God forbid the house and with you an family in it.

Reminds me of a garage fire a guy in town had a few years ago. He had his antique pick-up in his attached garage and he was using a cutting torch on the leaf spring bracket and hit the gas tank...daaaa....the whole house went up in smoke.. He got 3rd degree burns but no one died. I wonder how many have a fire extinguisher in the shop...or how many do you have? Have a first aid kit? Wear Safety glasses? I have a pole barn and have hay in it. I have 3 Big fire extinguishers not the little $10.00 ones you throw away. I need to clean the barn as I don't have animals anymore accept mice. lol. My shop is in the pole barn, but when I built the barn I had them build me a separate work shop inside it. So the hay is away from the shop, but it could be an issue if I wasn't careful.
Thanks Dr. for sharing that story as it will probably save one of us from doing the same thing. It's a learning experience we all need to think about.
 
I have a 1/2 hour rule. Anytime I use something that makes sparks indoors(welder, torch, grinder or sander) I make sure I stay in the building for a half hour. My shop isn't always the cleanest place, there will be used shop towels hiding under stuff and that's where any little spark/spatter seems to find them. I've had to explain this rule to the little woman several times when she calls me on the intercom to see when I'm coming in for dinner.

My neighbour burned down his pole barn with all his farm equipment in it a couple of years ago. He had drained hydraulic fluid from a combine before welding on it. He'd drained it into a rubbermaid tub and slid it up against the wall. Some weld spatter got to it and smoldered for a while before setting the tub of oil on fire. He had quit for the night and was in the house when he saw the glow. The tub melted and flaming oil spread out thru the whole shed. By the time our volunteer fire department showed up everthing was destroyed. It took the insurance company almost 10 months to complete it's investigation. In the mean time he had to borrow/rent equipment to farm with.
 
Friend of mine burned a barn down with grinder sparks which found a spray gun full of thinners, it wasn't his barn, so much anguish ensued!
 
For what it's worth,my journeyman,Jon,has a shop about 200 feet or more from his house. He has a small forge there. Some insurance company wanted a HUGE amount of money to insure his house because of that forge. I'm not sure how he resolved that problem. If the forge had burned(it was iron!) there is no way the fire could have affected the house. It's just crazy.

Having a dust collector can also cause you EL MUCHO problems with getting fire insurance. Be warned!!!!!
 
OldMachinist said:
I have a 1/2 hour rule.

My neighbour burned down his pole barn with all his farm equipment in it .... It took the insurance company almost 10 months to complete it's investigation
Click to expand...


I have the same rule; and it usually is an hour!

So did the insurance company finally settle? I've always wondered if simple stupidity was insurable! If so, I've got lots to insure! Heh heh
 
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