saftey and fire

[Jimwill52]

Fire Safety

Thanks for sharing your fire stories, I'm glad they weren't really destructive fires. I have seen many shop fires that were much worse, most fires that activate the sprinkler system have already done lots of damage and usually put folks out of business for a while. "Clean agent" fire extinguishers are the safest and cleanest for sensitive equipment. Halon was one of the best but is classified as 'ozone' depleting and was taken off the market. There are several replacements that work great including DuPont FE 35 and Halotron-1. These work by actually altering the chemical process of the fire and work very quickly before much damage is done. You can buy clean agent systems to put over your CAMaster and other equipment... they are kind of pricey. A small extinguisher would be around $150 and up to a grand. A little goes a long way... IF you catch it early enough. I don't know anything about 'Badger Fire", it's just an example I found quickly.

http://www.badgerfire.com/utcfs/ws-6...N_HALOTRON.pdf

[james mcgrew]

BUMP !!!!!!

[staffnon]

I posted this back on 2-16-2017


check out this site http://www.macthefireguy.com

They have fire suppression systems for RV and OTR (over the Road truck). That have systems for engine compartments, electrical panels, and other spaces.

If they can withstand the stress and movements on a vehicle then they can probably stand the movement and motion of the CNC's

Some of this systems are the size of a rattle can of paint.

Think outside the box on fire suppression for your CNC.

I guess I need this disclaimer for the PC police.

I do not profit from this info.

[Sawdustmedic]

phenolic top and fire?

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

Newbie question, does the phenolic top burn as quickly as the mdf?
Thanks Bill

[Gary Campbell]

Bill...
I don't believe that the phenolic burns, or at least wont contribute to the fire. That said, everything on top of it will, and will be fanned by the spindle/router cooling fans and multiplied exponentially with vacuum hold down.

All damaging CNC fires have one thing in common. The operator was ONLY gone for a short period of time.

Your machine does not have to be large, it does not have to have vacuum, it simply has to have an MIA operator.

Reminder: https://youtu.be/D2xoxPlDnW4

[Michael Mezalick]

Phenolic burns as long as there is flame put to it.. Still a great need to be careful.

~M

[Pscdouglas]

All damaging CNC fires have one thing in common. The operator was ONLY gone for a short period of time.

Your machine does not have to be large, it does not have to have vacuum, it simply has to have an MIA operator.

THIS!! I clench the trench every time i have to go back to the office (a mere 100yds in our commercial building) while the machine is running, knowing it only takes a minute to get a really dramatic accident on the table.

[Todd W]

I'm not sure I'd want to trigger a dry chem fire extinguisher every time there is a little smoke, but would it be reasonable to hook a power disconnect up to a smoke detector? Say for those times the phone rings or nature calls and you don't remember to hit pause.

Is there anything like this available which can interrupt 2 hot wires? http://www.instructables.com/id/Prev...tector-Discon/
Maybe that with a DPDT ?

[james mcgrew]

The fire you see in the first post I was in 21k sq ft shop and less than 35 feet away. we had gone to the office to rework the file,

I ran a file for a person checking out a camaster to buy without checking it, and I have never done that since)