Unattended machine use....

[Digitalwoodshop]

As some know I use my CW machine unattended 90% of the time listening to it on a wireless intercom in the shop next door and even sometimes at the house during meals...

I do have a Battery Smoke detector above my machine and someday I will wire one of the electric versions and use the alarm relay to trip the cover circuit and shut down the machine.....

I am posting a picture from the Engraver Forum of Sawmill Creek. Nature called and the Engraver left the machine running making Snow Flake Acrylic Ornaments. When he returned this is what greeted him in the Garage....

There is a CNC Fire posted in the Sawmill Creek CNC forum too....

Lets all be safe out there.....

AL

[jgowrie]

Jeez,

I have my CW running right now while I try and learn some software tricks ... way to ruin my fun, Al. ;)

Seriously, this is good you posted this. While it's chances of actually happening are probably very slim, the chance is still there and I guess the temptation to get something else done while the machine is working is pretty big..

I've got some cleaning up of fuzzies to do from last nights carve so I guess I'll stay outside and keep my CW company. ( I have been going out every 15 minutes to check on it so I haven't completely ignored it ! )

[van]

Becoming a new grandfather, you find out about all the new gadgets that they have to watch your kids. They have a new monitor that you can hook up to watch your children in the crib and listen to them. It's wireless and comes with a 5" TV monitor for about $85-100. The brand is either Summer Time or Summerville. They found it at Target. I would imagine that it's at any baby store outlet. Something to check in to.

Steve

[Chief]

jgowrie et al,

Sears used to sell a smoke detector that operated with a remote receiver. If I had a fire in my cellar, it screeched both in the cellar and in my bedroom. I don't know if they still sell it but it shouldn't be too hard to find somebody who does.

Chief

[Chief]

Becoming a new grandfather, you find out about all the new gadgets that they have to watch your kids. They have a new monitor that you can hook up to watch your children in the crib and listen to them. It's wireless and comes with a 5" TV monitor for about $85-100. The brand is either Summer Time or Summerville. They found it at Target. I would imagine that it's at any baby store outlet. Something to check in to.

Steve


Van,

That's a good idea except for one thing....... nobody is going to sit there and watch the monitor. When I first joined the fire dept 43 years ago, it took 5 minutes for a fire to reach 2,000 degrees. The last figure I read (and that was quite a few years ago), it now takes approximately 22 seconds to reach 2,000 degrees. Relying on a video monitor is risky and, compared to a smoke detector, expensive.

Chief

[Digitalwoodshop]

Great Ideas.... I think at minimum everyone should have a smoke detector above the CW...

I have video cables between the 2 shops for future cameras and the wireless intercom works good.

The point of the picture was to plant that fire awareness in everyones mind. I was 10 feet away from the machine when the flex burning set off the smoke detector. I had my back turned working on the deck.

The CNC fire was due to the operator using someone else's cut file and the cut was too aggressive.

AL

[jab73180]

AL was it limited to just the machine or did it spread to part or all of his shop too.

[Digitalwoodshop]

Just the machine was damaged.

AL

[Frederick_P]

My hobby used to be my 426 Hemi Cuda bracket car. One day I discovered that spontaneous combustion of oily rags in a garbage can was a real thing. It gutted my garage, destroyed the Cuda and all the spare parts and tools.

That's why I took up wood working as my new hobby.

[Digitalwoodshop]

I had a wadded up polyurethane rag get hot on me while sitting on the refinishing table out on my deck... That opened my eyes... I had gone to lunch and came back and grabbed the rag to wipe the next board and burned my fingers....

Fire Danger is real...

AL

[Chief]

The recommendation for oily rags is to place in a metal container flooded with water. Who needs that mess? The spontaneous combustion is caused by the inability of the oily rag to release the heat build-up. The solution: I throw oily rags on the floor, usually on top of a piece of paper towel or a scrap piece of wood. When the rag stiffens, it's usually safe to toss in the trash. I don't. I pile them up to one side with nothing combustible nearby and they go out trash day.

As an aside: Smoke detectors first appeared on the scene in the early 70s. From then until I retired a few years ago, I never experienced or heard of a single fatality in a dwelling protected by operating detectors. And to be honest, I can't recall one injury in a building protected. I can't count the number of fatalities caused by missing smoke detectors or detectors with the batteries removed. I think the detector manufacturers stayed with the 9 volt batteries when other devices were moving to AA or AAA batteries for their devices so that there was no other use for a 9 volt except for smoke detectors.

Chief