safety and fire

[james mcgrew]

fellows if this is off topic you can remove it.

on saturday i was doing a training session with the x3 machine, we were running a file that i had made the mistake of asking a 1/4 inch bit to cut through the material, the bit cut about 10 feet in cut length and snapped, we removed the bit (seemed warm but not hot) and left the vacuum on to hold the material while we went into my office to rework the pass depth on the file.

in just a few minutes one of the guys in the shop said there was a fire, on the way to the fire i still did not know what was burning, i thought first to grab a fire extinguisher (they are located in many places and all corners and entrances as well as passages thru the building) we got real lucky time wise.

while we had removed the bit a small ember had begun to burn, the vacuum gave it wind and direction and no one could see it, about the time someone smelled it it broke throughthe spoil board surface.

i hope all reading this realize size of machine does not matter, they are made up of two things
1) electrical parts
2) parts that create friction

be careful, pay attention. my x3 is a god send and i would be as hard pressed as any to replace it and or pray i do not burn down the building or worse

my hope is this will help the new and old cnc'r

jim mcgrew

[Khalid Khattak]

James.. Once i have a smoldering at some MDF parts I was cutting for my 4th Axis...I hold the vacuum Pipe near the router bit, but this was very dangerous.. If i was not at spot my complete machine had turned into ashes... :(...

One must be attentive at the machine, especially when you are using vacuum system....

[Angus Hines]

Thanks for the heads up Jim glad you and your x3 are fine....

[Guy Mathews]

Jim,

I have set my shopbot on fire twice. The vacuum is a sparks best friend. Glad everyone and everything is okay.

Guy

[james mcgrew]

i posted this on 4 forums and got over 200 emails and responses, thanks to all this was a great lesson and i rebuilt the spoil board today.

jim

[Larry Bratton]

One more..I about burned down my shop when I first got it (5 yrs or so). I was running a large file with a lot of fill removal, got "smart" and left the machine running. Went to the house to eat dinner. In my absence, the Z axis drive decided to punch the bit all the way through the material and was sitting there running in place at 18,000 rpms. Much smoke, not a actual burning blaze but right before it when I caught it. Took me months to get rid of the smell. Last time I did that for sure.

[james mcgrew]

there are a lot of new machine owners both getting and awaiting machines i thought i would bring this to top for them and me!!!

jim mcgrew

[Bob Savage]

An excellent thread. Fire is something you have to be prepared for. That said, any recommendations on a fire extinguisher? I've been recommended the halotron type, but a 5 lb halotron is pricey. What's sufficient? What's optimal?

I'm willing to pay what it takes because even at a few hundred, that's a small insurance policy if something does happen, but if there's something less costly and just as effective for a small shop, I'd like to take that route.

[Michael Schwartz]

I am interested on type of fire extinguisher as well. I am sure there is somebody who could chime in.

[Steve knight]

so if your machine stalls it does not pull the z up? my shopbot does even when it seems fine when it has issues the z pulls up.
so far either my machine pulls up or it goes in some non standard direction and then stops. I have not had it stall in the material yet.

[Bob Savage]

so if your machine stalls it does not pull the z up? my shopbot does even when it seems fine when it has issues the z pulls up.
so far either my machine pulls up or it goes in some non standard direction and then stops. I have not had it stall in the material yet.

Not sure who you're addressing, but Jim's issue occured due to a piece of hot bit being stuck in the material. I don't think Guy mentioned how he's lit it up.

[james mcgrew]

machine did not stall, what happened here and this is another big NO NO is i took another persons machine file and ran it without studying it, in other words the bit went deep and took off, my foolishness was not knowing the tool path strategy, the bit dropped into the material traveled in an s at a high rate of speed and broke "bada bing bada boom" i removed the bit and all looked well, there was no step loss of position.

steve are you saying that your machine can detect a broken bit ?

[Bob Savage]

Ended up getting a 20lb Kidde ABC extinquisher. I may pickup a water refillable extinguisher too because it would be a fun toy to have around the pool during summer.

[james mcgrew]

bob i just got off the phone with joey, looks like there is a cnc in your future!!

jim

[Bob Savage]

bob i just got off the phone with joey, looks like there is a cnc in your future!!

jim

Awesome! The drywall/insulation guys are coming by tomorrow and hopefully, paint this weekend. Then I'll be painting the floor and putting a shop together.

Silly, but I'm sitting here wondering if I shouldn't have just done some panhandling at the freeway offramp and had the lathe attachement put on too. The wife's already asking about a canopy bed. :D