Important warning

[Eric.B]

I have grown up around construction and carpentry so I chose it for my trade. During this time I guess I have become too comfortable using such things as simple as an orbital sander. TILL TODAY! My shop is heated with a wood stove some dust settles on it or on the pipe and can give a burnt smell in the shop. Today was no different I was sanding and stopped to have a coffee before getting my kids from school. There was a strange odour in the shop when I left but thought it was dust on the stove.(which I blew down before leaving) When I returned the shop was full of smoke. The stove burnt out and the ceiling was not hot to the touch franticly searching for a source and the cell phone to call the fire dept. I came across my sander smoking bad and the dust bag opened on the end and glowing red embers still falling from the material. This is what it looks like now!





I feel like an idiot now after reading the warning on the base of the sander after the fact:
“Warning collected sanding dust from sanding surface coating(polyurethane, linseed oil ect.) can self- ignite in sander dust bag or else where and cause fire. To reduce the risk, empty bag frequently and strictly follow sander manual and coating manufacture’s instructions."

I do empty the bag and check fairly regular and truthfully I have no clue how much was in the bag. I was sanding oil base paint off of polyester resign. I will not slam the brand of either but wanted to post because it happened and something for all to learn from and others to be reminded of.

[Eric.B]

Pics I see did not work try

http://picasaweb.google.com/toyachta

[Michael Beckman]

To post picasa pictures follow these steps.

1:go to the pictures page on picasa.
2: click link to this photo
3: select size (i usually choose 800)
4:copy the text, paste it into the post. It will need to be editted as the forum uses bbcode and google gives you html.

<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/Stuparman/PSE/photo#5154524117564856562">
<img src="http://lh4.google.com/example/R4iMYAWjGPI/AAAAAAAACkk/example/s800/example.JPG" /></a>5:Delete the red, so just the url remains.
6:Take the pruned url, and surround it with image tags like this:

[*IMG]http://lh4.google.com/example/R4iMYAWjGPI/AAAAAAAACkk/example/s800/example.JPG[/IMG]
7:You will need to remove the red star, the forum unfortunantly does not allow me to show image tags as they look in the editing box.
8: post the image, should work fine.


Sounds complicated but its quite simple once you get used to it.

[PeterSibley]

It's a pity we have to learn about self igniting oils etc in this way .I nearly burned my work shop down on my first use .:o These days all rags go into a steel drum then get burnt .

[Bill R]

http://lh4.google.com/toyachta/Rzt-6zbqEPE/AAAAAAAAATk/Z6elAaua1Sw/s160-c/Toyachta.jpg (http://picasaweb.google.com/toyachta/Toyachta)

ewww. I always remove the dust bag when sanding an oil finish. Messy, but no trapped dust. Rags go in the steel bin outside the shop to dry, then in the bin.

[Fritz Koschmann]

This is a somewhat different warning but important. I had a friend drop by the boatshop a while ago and he set down his handheld radio on my benchtop. After a few minutes we noticed flames on the benchtop next to the radio. Upon inspection we found that the radios charging contacts on the bottom of the radio, located to allow insertion into a charger, had come into contact with some steel wool. The steel wool was burning. I guess I have heard of steel wool burning before but this was an enlightening lesson.

[willmarsh3]

I got the cord caught in the belt sander once. It caused a flame to shoot up for a second. Then it went out. Fortunately I had just cleaned up the dust from the previous sanding.

[paladin]

My dad literally yanked a young engineer out of the cab of his pickup and bounced his knuckles of the idiots teeth.
Radios around stuff like that will get you killed if you set it down. The batteries are usually lithium ion and can create fantastic heat, and THE RADIO CAN EXPLODE if the battery heats up. This idiot came into the area where they were loading large quantities of explosives to deliver to an oil well operation.