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Post by AtariGuy on Feb 9, 2018 1:22:39 GMT -5
Someone at work here (dont know how it happened yet, will get back to you later with details) started a robot welder on fire. From the looks of it, it was a class C electrical fire.
Just saying, cut the power any way safely possible FIRST before discharging a fire extinguisher.
She burned through a whole ABC extinguisher and it stayed burning because she didnt kill the power first. All the robots in the vicinity have been affected by the extinguisher now. The office bosses are gonna be -pissed- in the morning!
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Post by benji on Feb 9, 2018 1:40:39 GMT -5
How'd it catch on fire?
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Post by benji on Feb 9, 2018 1:40:53 GMT -5
Got pics?
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Post by AtariGuy on Feb 9, 2018 6:58:32 GMT -5
No pics at work, sorry. It looks to have started fire in the wire feed rollers. Not sure what caused it to catch fire. We still have to leave it alone until the safety coordinators can verify it wont pose any harm to anybody investigating or dismantling the unit. They're just showing up now.
(And i'm outta here in less than 5 mins as i have a few appointments to keep yet this morning)
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Post by diynuke on Feb 9, 2018 7:08:46 GMT -5
well liquid metal ignites stuff pretty easy of course but yeah if it is an electrical fire then something went wrong with the wiring.
And i know there is a very rare chance that the isolation in the cable is broken but it does happen
so that could be a possibility
And damn that would be the first reaction KILL POWER xD
where i work a big drill also burnt a small transformator and yeah there they just flipped the switch and stood ready with an fire extinguisher (drill was full of hydraulic fluid. its an machine of over 40years old) so if it did catch flames then they would empty it..
damnn shame for the rest of the machine's
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Post by diynuke on Feb 9, 2018 7:10:36 GMT -5
No pics at work, sorry. It looks to have started fire in the wire feed rollers. Not sure what caused it to catch fire. We still have to leave it alone until the safety coordinators can verify it wont pose any harm to anybody investigating or dismantling the unit. They're just showing up now. (And i'm outta here in less than 5 mins as i have a few appointments to keep yet this morning) Wouldn't that come because of the feed rollers being way too tight? or some kind of blockage to the torch. and even then it aint good that there isn't any thermal protection |
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rdemilt
Scoot Member
Posts: 94 
Location: Sunny Florida
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Post by rdemilt on Feb 9, 2018 7:43:16 GMT -5
Someone at work here (dont know how it happened yet, will get back to you later with details) started a robot welder on fire. From the looks of it, it was a class C electrical fire. Just saying, cut the power any way safely possible FIRST before discharging a fire extinguisher. She burned through a whole ABC extinguisher and it stayed burning because she didnt kill the power first. All the robots in the vicinity have been affected by the extinguisher now. The office bosses are gonna be -pissed- in the morning! Just curious, what is it you do ? what is being made ? I'm always interested in manufacturing. To bad the other welders in the vicinity are damaged. The powder from the ABC extinguished no doubt is everywhere. Very possible the fire would have put itself out if the power was turned off. |
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Post by AtariGuy on Feb 9, 2018 8:46:35 GMT -5
Rdemilt, you're right on both counts, the other robots are down and the shift supervisor who has 17 years of robot background says that a robot OR welder fire will die in quick order if you kill the power source - for robots its one of the many (one has 9) emergency stop buttons within arms reach.
I've been working at a machine shop that makes parts for john deere and kubota since november though i've worked with robot and manual welders off and on over the years.
A little bit of scooter entertainment mixed with robotic welding!
And the little black box on top of the robot arm is the wire drive rollers.
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Post by AtariGuy on Feb 9, 2018 8:49:50 GMT -5
And diynuke, to answer your questions. Theres a... theory... that she kept trying to push the robot through the arc failure (wire blockage) and may have backed up a rats nest of wire in the rollers that finally arced off against the grounded robot arm. But its speculation before actual investigation... so nothing official.
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Post by bluegoatwoods on Feb 9, 2018 8:53:28 GMT -5
It never hurts to be reminded of seemingly obvious things like....cut the power!
I feel fairly confident that I'm not exactly a dummy. Yet in some alarming situation, such as a fire, I could overlook something pretty fundamental like this. Maybe not. But......maybe.
So thinking about it won't hurt anything and might come in handy one day.
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Post by AtariGuy on Feb 9, 2018 9:14:38 GMT -5
It never hurts to be reminded of seemingly obvious things like....cut the power!
I feel fairly confident that I'm not exactly a dummy. Yet in some alarming situation, such as a fire, I could overlook something pretty fundamental like this. Maybe not. But......maybe.
So thinking about it won't hurt anything and might come in handy one day. I find myself pretty level headed in full blown adrenaline situations, but it still helps to drill your brain on what to have on there and when to check it off the "heres what you need to do right now" checklist. Last night was a good reminder on electrical fires - and since it was used - proper operation of a fire extinguishers. The PASS acronym... (is that the right word?) P - pull the pin A - aim for the base of the fire S - squeeze the handle/trigger S - sweep the spray one side of the fire's base to the other And remember, if the fire isn't extinguished within the contents of the canister, you need to evacuate and let the pros handle it. Bonus thought since i'm discussing fires... Liquid (oil) fires should NEVER be sprayed with water. Water will only displace (splash around) the oil and spread the fire. Use a powder suffocating agent (baking soda) or another means of removing oxygen from the fire's equasion (like putting a lid on a burning frying pan). |
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Post by bluegoatwoods on Feb 9, 2018 12:20:52 GMT -5
I dunno.....I always thought that PASS stood for
Pull the pin.
Aim at the base of the fire.
Squeeze the handle and
Scream like a little girl.
I always figured that's what I'd do in a fire anyway.
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Post by bluegoatwoods on Feb 9, 2018 12:32:38 GMT -5
Hey! You know what....as long as we're on a related subject....here's a safety habit I'm determined to develop. (I've only been spotty with it in the past.)
When working on a scooter (any motor vehicle, really) always have a fire extinguisher right within sight and easy reach.Plus baking soda for a gasoline fire that's of any size. Also have some water on hand. Along with the baking soda it could be very handy if a battery blows up and throws a bunch of acid all over one of us.
And a hazard like that is a darned good reason to wear safety glasses, too.
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Post by diynuke on Feb 9, 2018 17:33:59 GMT -5
Well the the good part is of course that nobody got hurt and that it didn't happen when there was nobody around. and you see that allot. the good people that actually know the machine will never really operate it ;P I've been watching this channel : www.youtube.com/user/USCSBand you can see that almost all of it is due to improper training. One vid with a big valve. The valve gear was stuck and you can move the valve itself with a large pipe wrench without the gearbox on it so they decided to remove the gearbox. however the gear box was mounted to the valve body with 4 bolt's which in this case also kept the top part of the valve body on the bottom part. and yeah you guess it.. he turned the valve with the pipe wrench and the top part flew off and thousand's of pounds of gas escape and make a giant vapor cloud and it find's an ignition source. BOOOM 2 guys dead and a load of injuries and an heavily damaged plant... why? they only worked with valves where the gearbox plate was mounted to 2 separate bolts on the valve body.. So yeah improper training.. its almost scary how often these thing's happen because of these thing's |
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Post by diynuke on Feb 9, 2018 17:36:48 GMT -5
Hey! You know what....as long as we're on a related subject....here's a safety habit I'm determined to develop. (I've only been spotty with it in the past.)
When working on a scooter (any motor vehicle, really) always have a fire extinguisher right within sight and easy reach.Plus baking soda for a gasoline fire that's of any size. Also have some water on hand. Along with the baking soda it could be very handy if a battery blows up and throws a bunch of acid all over one of us.
And a hazard like that is a darned good reason to wear safety glasses, too. baking soda for fire's only with the corse stuff i guess? or doesn't it ignite when it gets thrown in an perfect powder mist (Dust explosion.) |
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