Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

If flames come out of the surface grinder, should I stop using it?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • If flames come out of the surface grinder, should I stop using it?

    So I'm grinding spacers for the bevel gears in the transmission today. While I'm assembling the pinion, I hear the surface grinder shut off. I thought that was a little odd, but I didn't think much about it.

    I finish assembling it and checking the preload torque. It's all good, so I move on to the wheel gear.

    About then I smell something bad, like wires burning and it's a little hazy on the other side of the shop. I run over to the grinder and there are flames shooting out of the motor starter. I pulled the plug and put out the fire and luckily there wasn't much damage. Just the starter.

    After I took it off it was still hot an hour later. Hopefully I can find another one tommorrow.

    So now I'm not only a machinist/fabricater/ mechanic/ truck driver, I'm a machine repairman/electrician too.

    So how was your day?
    Cognizant Dissident

  • #2
    Re: If flames come out of the surface grinder, should I stop using it?

    We would have gotten video.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: If flames come out of the surface grinder, should I stop using it?

      My father was at a buddies house fixing a ding in his 65 fastback mustang. They went to check on the grill in the backyard. Meanwhile, a vent duct in the garage short-circuited and burned the house down, taking the car with it. They heard the nitrous bottle relief valve release from the street.

      We built up another another fastback, supercharged it, now the first mustang is just a distant sad story.

      The firefighter said to him while they were in the street watching the house burn "you don't seem to upset for someone who lost their classic Mustang" to which he replied, "at least my house didn't burn down... "

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: If flames come out of the surface grinder, should I stop using it?



        Hey my cheapy grinder got the cord caught in one side of it one day.... and ground through... Look down and hear the ensuing racket and smell the smoke out of the motor... Yanked the plug... repaired the cord and now I have the noisy'ist 8" grinder you've ever heard... but it still works...

        Keith

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: If flames come out of the surface grinder, should I stop using it?

          Originally posted by Freiburger
          We would have gotten video.
          That's why you're the professionals

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: If flames come out of the surface grinder, should I stop using it?

            I'm still using my dremel despite the fact it caught on fire, just needs a little kick start to get going...
            Central TEXAS Sleeper
            USAF Physicist

            ROA# 9790

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: If flames come out of the surface grinder, should I stop using it?

              We used to have an old semi trailer behind the shop we used for storage. I cleaned everything out so then had no need for the trailer. Looked for someone to buy the trailer but all the tires were dry rotted and flat along with the wheels sunk into the ground several inches. Could not find a buyer.
              So a scrap guy comes along and offers me money for it. Says he'll chop it up and haul every piece away. I was thinking BS but agreed to let him have at it.
              So he goes to work on it.
              Then one day I'm test driving a car and notice a thick column of black smoke filling the sky. I'm thinking, wow, something is really burning. Then I'm thinking, wow, thats pretty close to the shop. Then it dawns on me that maybe it's the trailer.
              then I'm thinking, Oh sh*&! Don't be the trailer. Don't be the trailer. Then as I get closer, I find that it IS the trailer.
              Theres an of duty police officer blocking people from pulling into the driveway and I have to tell him I'm the shop owner as I hear sirens from several fire trucks coming up the street.
              I get into the parking lot and rush back to see wtf was happening. The scrap guys wife was with him and asked me if I had a garden hose. LMAO, I said you can't put out an inferno with a garden hose. The scrap guy comes out of my shop with a 5 gallon bucket of water to throw on the fire. Then realizes what a mess he has created, he just decides to throw the whole bucket at the fire.
              The fire dept arrives and quickly extinguishes the fire.
              The fire investigator asks me what happened and I tell him the story of the guy cutting up the trailer to haul it off.
              In the process of cutting up the trailer, he had set some insulation on fire and it quickly went up in flames.
              On the plus side, it got so hot, the trailer pretty much collapsed to the ground, making it an easier job to cut up and haul off.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: If flames come out of the surface grinder, should I stop using it?

                I have a Dremel Like that too, It must be the same Model.
                I have a Sabersaw that the Jaw Lock keeps falling off and Maring everything that I cut. I can even tell right about when it is going to happen now and know when to stop to tighten it. Unless I have a bout 1 inch left then it just lets go and screws everyting up really good. Maybe I ought to breakdown and get a new one. YYYEEEAAAHHH RRRRIIIIGGGHHHHTTT.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: If flames come out of the surface grinder, should I stop using it?

                  Sometimes it does not have a happy ending. Back about 1993 or so, a local guy had a speed shop in a barn. The motor on the parts washer overheated, caught the fluid on fire, and burned the barn to the ground. A number of cars were lost, including a 10-second 77 Trans Am and a Chrysler of some sort. The guy is a close friend of our family, and I went with my dad to help clean up. I was about 12 or so at the time. It was a really hot fire, it melted the aluminum parts right off the engine of the Chrysler. The driveshaft in the Trans Am exploded. The neighbors were saying that they heard gunshots. That was all the nitrous bottles exploding. The guy had no insurance (they don't sell reasonable insurance for old barns), and it took him a long time to get his feet back on the ground. He has one of the better trans shops in the area now.
                  The official Bangshift garage door guru. Just about anything can be built using garage door parts, trust me.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: If flames come out of the surface grinder, should I stop using it?

                    Remind me to bring my firesuit the next time I hang out in you guys' shops. ;D
                    BS'er formally known as Rebeldryver

                    Resident Instigator

                    sigpic

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: If flames come out of the surface grinder, should I stop using it?

                      Originally posted by Freiburger
                      We would have gotten video.
                      Your'e right. I could have let it burn for a while before it got out of control.

                      I'll try to be a good Car Junkie and keep my camera around.
                      Cognizant Dissident

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: If flames come out of the surface grinder, should I stop using it?

                        I went out to work in the shop tonight and found I ran out of co2 for the beer meister, took every fiber of my being to not burn the place down myself!

                        anybody know if I can pressurize a keg witha nitrous bottle?
                        Reading , Pa
                        Good Guys rodders rep.
                        "putting the seat down is women's work" Archie Bunker.
                        Ban low performance drivers not high performance cars .

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: If flames come out of the surface grinder, should I stop using it?

                          Originally posted by ls7gto
                          I went out to work in the shop tonight and found I ran out of co2 for the beer meister, took every fiber of my being to not burn the place down myself!

                          anybody know if I can pressurize a keg witha nitrous bottle?
                          what every good beer drinker should have a back up .where is the hand pump keg tap?

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: If flames come out of the surface grinder, should I stop using it?

                            Originally posted by fabricatordave
                            Originally posted by ls7gto
                            I went out to work in the shop tonight and found I ran out of co2 for the beer meister, took every fiber of my being to not burn the place down myself!

                            anybody know if I can pressurize a keg witha nitrous bottle?
                            what every good beer drinker should have a back up .where is the hand pump keg tap?
                            man ,that sounds like work. plus I have 7 full reflling bottles , and Im not selling much NOS this time of the year!
                            Reading , Pa
                            Good Guys rodders rep.
                            "putting the seat down is women's work" Archie Bunker.
                            Ban low performance drivers not high performance cars .

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: If flames come out of the surface grinder, should I stop using it?

                              it. should post further toward the front, maybe some traffic will bring an answer

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X