Close call with a sander

[Jason Hallowell]

Earlier today I was working in the shop, and needed to clean off a burr and a little rust from a small piece of steel. I flipped on the benchtop belt/disc combo sander, and quickly touched up the edge on the belt. It took a total of about 3 seconds. As I was turning the machine off, I noticed a burning smell, and then the sander instantly started billowing smoke. I quickly unplugged it and dumped my iced tea into the smoking belt housing (the fire extinguisher was out of reach).

It turns out that even though I connect a shop vac to the dust port when using it, some sawdust had become lodged in the dust chute. The dust chute is all molded plastic, and it looks like the someone at the factory failed to remove the excess piece from one of the moldings, leaving a chunk of plastic sticking up in the middle of the chute for dust to collect against. Lightly sanding the steel only produced a couple sparks, but that was all it took to ignite the clump of sawdust.

The sticker on the sander states that it's perfect for metal-working or woodworking, but neglects to mention that using it for both could be problematic.:p

The machine seems to be ok, and the fire even melted off some of the plastic that caused the blockage. It had me carefully inpecting the dust chutes on all of my tools, and gave me a newfound respect for keeping a dust free shop.

[Dustin Lane]

I worry about this everytime I use a grinder in my shop. No problems yet and hopefully none to come.

Glad everything turned out well, except for your poor iced tea.

[Mike Henderson]

At the school where I take woodworking classes, they stress that over and over: No metal work, such as sanding metal. They've had a couple of fires in their dust collection (nothing serious, thankfully) so they're pretty paranoid about it.

In my shop, I have my grinder outside the shop because of that risk.

Mike

[Don Morris]

Hmmm, you caught my attention. I sharpen my pick axe, axe, shovels, ice chipper, etc. by running them against my belt sander turned on it's side. That doesn't pull the sparks into much of a dust chute, but it is sharpening metal on a "sander". Not quite the same problem. I think I'm OK, what do you think?

[Rod Sheridan]

Yes, sparks from grinding are a bad idea in a wood shop.

My two grinders are on metal benches with sheet metal walls around the sides and back to contain sparks, and they're only used for sharpening wood working tools.

Any other grinding is done in the garage.

Glad to hear that you didn't have a serious fire, and it certainly points out the need for fire extinguishers in a shop.

Regards, Rod.

[Scott T Smith]

My metal working /welding shop, and my woodworking shop are in two totally separate buildings, for that very reason.

It's never a good idea to sand metal on woodworking sanders. If you absolutely have to, take the time to dismantle the sander first and blow out all of the sawdust residue, and use a separate dust collection system.

Another good practice is to not leave the shop area for at least 30 minutes after you've completed doing the metal working, so that you can watch for any smoke or other signs of fire.

[Jacob Reverb]

Another good practice is to not leave the shop area for at least 30 minutes after you've completed doing the metal working, so that you can watch for any smoke or other signs of fire.

I do arc welding and metal grinding in my wood shop and that's my SOP.

Also, no dust collection for me. All it does is aggregate a lot of fuel in one enclosed space.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

This is the first time I've red about such a thing happening with (as you described it) very little spark.

I make a lot of my own stuff so I'm cutting, grinding, sanding, brazing, drilling, and tapping metal almost every day. The only concession I make is I have different belts for metal that I put on my sander.

I will swap blades on my slillsaw from wood and put on an abrasive metal blade and wail away at a chunk of 3/8" thick bar stock or a length of 1/8 or 3/16 steel plate, making sparks for hours. No fires.

I see the sparks and saw dust and am aware of the flammable solvents and what not, yet I have never had a flare up.

In an ideal world, I'd have a different shop for metal working. It is so messy.

[Jason Hallowell]

This is the first time I've red about such a thing happening with (as you described it) very little spark.

I make a lot of my own stuff so I'm cutting, grinding, sanding, brazing, drilling, and tapping metal almost every day. The only concession I make is I have different belts for metal that I put on my sander.

I will swap blades on my slillsaw from wood and put on an abrasive metal blade and wail away at a chunk of 3/8" thick bar stock or a length of 1/8 or 3/16 steel plate, making sparks for hours. No fires.

I see the sparks and saw dust and am aware of the flammable solvents and what not, yet I have never had a flare up.

In an ideal world, I'd have a different shop for metal working. It is so messy.

I've made way more sparks in way dustier conditions many many times with no problems. After much thought about it, I think there may have been a little plexiglass dust mixed in with the wood dust. I'm not sure, but I think the plexi dust may be more flammable, and may have been the culprit. Either way, I'm now a little paranoid about ANY sparks in my shop.

[george wilson]

Never mix wood and metal grinding. For metal,I have a Wilton square wheel grinder with its own dedicated dust collector.

[Mike Goetzke]

Good thing it wasn't that bad. Probably a good thing the plastic stopped the spark from going into your DC system:eek:.

[David DeCristoforo]

Sparks + wood dust + air movement = FIRE!!! No matter what the "directions" say. A buddy of mine was running some lumber through a widebelt machine. There was a bit of metal imbedded in one of the boards and when it hit the belt it sparked. The sparks got sucked into the DC and caught fire. The whole thing went up in smoke. Fire department got it out but not before the DC was totally burned out. The water and smoke damage ruined most of the rest of his machines. Not good. This is why commercial shops have to have sprinkler systems, DC fire suppression systems, etc. And why sanding or grinding metal in a wood shop in not the best idea....

[Jon Amsden]

I know most people don't have funds, but the furniture school I'm at has metal dust collection for the metal working tools and a separate system for the wood working tools. In addition, the dust collectors are hooked up to a common system with the air compressors and ventilation dampers in the building along with spark detection in the ducts...pretty cool stuff to keep the fire department away that and the regular and through cleanings.

[Logan William]

Fire in DC is nothing to joke about, I've seen 1st hand a section of 48" piping that was collapsed by the vacuum of a fire racing through it and burning the oxygen out so quickly it caused such a large pressure differential it collapsed it! The spark detection system in the DC wasn't working correctly which is what allowed it to spread, I believe he said they replaced several hundred feet of 48" main line...which was expensive but nothing compared to what the potential for damage was!

[Jim Summers]

I have posted this one before.

My FIL decided to sharpen an old chisel I had with my belt sander. It has a dust collection bag on it and naturally had some dust in it. Well he sharpened the chisel and we went back into the house. Came out a while later and smelt smoke. Sure enough, the bag on the belt sander was about to go up in flames.

Got it outside and everything was ok. Could have been bad though.