So there I am finishing the welding on my axle. Welder on full power and i'm merrily enjoying the evening before going out with mates.

Stop and realise i can smell something.

You know the smell - FIRE!

quickly check the extinguisher is behind me and pick up the old washing up bottle with water in.

start to look around, can't see a thing on fire.

hunt more

still can't see anything

its not that bad, perhaps its just something smouldering - feck, means i can't go out till i find it.

anyway, realise i'm not going to see it so start pottering around whilst still keeping an eye out.

after 10 minutes go outside 'just in case' as once a neighbour lit a BBQ and i was convinced my garage was on fire.

Nope - not the neighbour, look back in the garage and you can see its smokey, in fact more to the left, its wafting towards the strip light.

go look and still can't see anything - starting to worry more.

little more pottering and its getting bad. Start to think about stripping everything out and then i see it.

Blooming rag i've got protecting my AX block is smouldering. its got about a 10" hole in it.

and at the same time a very relieved

10 years and only my third smouldering - never (yet) had a fire although i'm not including the number of times my clothes have been heat improved (aka burnt holes in them)

what caused it tho? did you get lazt with the welder and it set the rag alight?

Lol.
Whilst welding up my R1 cradle i set fire to a whole new pack of wire wool which then lit up a nearby rag. Gets the old ticker going doesn't it.
I never leave the garage for half an hour after i've finished welding just to be on the safe side.

lol, know the feeling.

whilst welding some brackets on the steering rack supports got the same smell, though my dad was welding and doesn't smell a thing i couldn't take the welding goggles off so had a hard time finding the smouldering rag that apparently under the car

In a dopey moment I put some cardboard over some bits & bobs to protect them while I did some angle grinding.

Ended up setting fire to the cardboard!

A warning to us all I think!....


Reminds me of the time I was cutting some steel with the angry grinder....couldn't figure out why my nuts were getting so warm, looked down and my trousers were on fire!!!

Burned a hole right through the overalls, trousers and into my undercrackers...


Couldn't get rid of the smell of burning hair for ages!

hi guys
yep we've all done it used a cutting disc while wearing joggers etc (melted)
we have to have hot tickets to use welding/cutting gear etc on site
and part of the criterior is is stop all hot work 30 mins before wraping up or leaving site really good practice we should all try and use to keep our selves and property safe
also the cheapo fire blankets from b&q etc are our preferred method of masking anything that can be affected by heat or sparks or hot grindings
cheers lesg

[Edited on 22/8/08 by les g]

Can you get Teflon undercrackers?.....I gota get me some of those bad boys!!!

Teflon is no good. You can get nomex underwear for under race suits. That might be worth a go.
We had guys on site last summer that had to wear full chem suits, full face respirators, gauntlets, hard hats etc. 2 of them droped with heat exhaustion / dehydration. I know we have to take these things seriously but how much is too much?
ETA - Just noticed that I've notched up more than 500 pointless and inane ramblings

[Edited on 22/8/08 by Richard Quinn]

quote:

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Originally posted by tegwin
A warning to us all I think!....


Reminds me of the time I was cutting some steel with the angry grinder....couldn't figure out why my nuts were getting so warm, looked down and my trousers were on fire!!!

Burned a hole right through the overalls, trousers and into my undercrackers...


Couldn't get rid of the smell of burning hair for ages!

---

Got smouldering from my hair (and the carpet) whilst welding an exhaust yesterday. Didn't half make me hop around

I've been lucky so far, considering the amount of oily rags I have draped all over the workshop. Only incident was when I was in the middle of welding up my engine mounts. About half way through it came to my attention that there was an orange glow flickering around inside my welding helmet, and that this wasn't normal and merited further investigation. The whole front of my jumper was on fire! Underlined the importance of wearing decent welding gauntlets whenever there's a fire risk - I just patted myself down and got on with the job.

The most extreme garage fire I have managed to start was pretty scary - I had to grind a spanner down to dis-mantle a propshaft , which I did in a hurry on my bench grinder .
I had been turning some magnesium spacers the day before and hadnt cleaned up , and I didnt notice the sparks flying down behind the lathe . The Magnesium swarf went up like a firework and set fire to the plywood lining in the workshop .
By the time I gad run the 30 yards to the house for the 28 yard long hosepipe it was well ablaze - ply lining , shelves , roof lining - the whole lot
I managed to put it out with lots of frantic bucket filling and a bit of panic , but the workshop was ruined - I was a bit tidier after that