Shopsmith Forums

This might be a good time to read your home owners insurance. Some policies limit coverage if it can be shown that a fire was caused by acts such as leaving combustible rags in an uncertified container and on the premises.

JPG wrote:I think a smoke detector might be a good thing in a shop(be prepared for spurious noise when sanding etc.), but in that case other actions could have prevented the fire rather than detecting it.

Sharp bits. Not forcing bit(especially a dull one). Not leaving 'damp' rags to 'dry' in a heap.



A smoke detector is like a motion detector in a barn(verification of presence). Once the livestock has left through the unlocked(open) door, it is too late to stop them.

My shop is a separate building 60' from the house. I will never hear a smoke detector.

If you get a cutting tool hot enough to make the saw dust or chips hot enough to smolder and cause a fire hours later you have a huge problem with either your technique or the sharpness of your tools.

Kind of like the wives tale that plastic dust collector pipe causing a fire due to static electricity.

"Kind of like the wives tale that plastic dust collector pipe causing a fire due to static electricity."
No, but can cause an explosion.

JPG wrote:I think a smoke detector might be a good thing in a shop(be prepared for spurious noise when sanding etc.), but in that case other actions could have prevented the fire rather than detecting it.

Sharp bits. Not forcing bit(especially a dull one). Not leaving 'damp' rags to 'dry' in a heap.



A smoke detector is like a motion detector in a barn(verification of presence). Once the livestock has left through the unlocked(open) door, it is too late to stop them.

I agree! Always store waste In a metal container with an air tight lid.
Also be very careful using a dust collector or shop vac when doing something the generates heat. I was grinding some metal and had the dust collector on. I realized I sucked in some red hot sparks and before I could get the SS off and the shop collector open I had a small fire. Nothing happened. I also lost a favorite over size shop rag that I often used to protect my bench and way tubes when I grind. I was busy grinding when I saw something that look like fire. I quickly realized my shop rag was on fire. Put it out but it had smothered before igniting and it had more holes than Swiss cheese. Lessons learned.

Now I dump my dust collector or shop vac if I did anything that caused sparks or was oil based. I store used rags on air tight metal container. And any rag that was used for oil finish goes into a bucket containing water and is set outside until the next day.

And I am looking for a super size (4ftx4ft) red rag to replace the one I burned.

Ed in Tampa wrote: And I am looking for a super size (4ftx4ft) red rag to replace the one I burned.

Beach Towel?

60 years ago I was taught the habit of tossing the rags used that day in the shop either in a metal trash can or more commonly in a small pile on the concrete floor out in the open away from everything else. That was in the farm shop where in addition to some carpentry type woodwork we did a lot of welding and torch cutting as well as a lot of heavy grinding with several types of grinders. My father was kind of a stickler for that and it did prevent several fires from rags that had caught a stray spark that smoldered for some time.
Don't do that on a wood floor...


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