On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 10:30:13 -0800, RainLover
wrote:
===Good Morning everyone,
===
===I thought I'd take a break from my sculpture-building activities to
===convey a warning to everyone. The names have not been changed... I'm
===not innocent and need no protecting (although my wife would disagree
===about that last part)
===
===I've been working on a sculpture for the last week. I'm using an 3'
===bronze oval shape to connect two halves of stainless steel. To make
===this oval, I actually have a 'center' piece and a left and right piece
===since I didn't want to cut huge slots through the stainless pieces and
===insert one whole oval.
===
===Okay... agreed none of this has anything to do with my warning, but I
===don't get out much and consider all of you to be my best friend
===(scary, huh?).
===
===So, in order to line up the oval, I used spacers on all three sides of
===the sculpture so they'd all be the same height off the table... 9 1/2"
===to be exact. Now, did you know that spray paint cans are exactly 9
===1/2" when sitting on chunks of 2 x 4's?
===
===Yeah, you THINK you know where this is going, but you'd be WRONG.
===
===I was spacing, taking using MIG and TIG... maybe 4 tacks before I'd
===remove the cans and tack it in place good. No Problems. . . Now, I
===have to say here that I was using the "lift start" feature on the TIG
===since I couldn't get to the foot control... worked like a charm.
===
===Okay, you're getting bored, I'll fast forward. . .
===
===I got everything tacked without a hitch and then started to TIG
===everything. I REMOVED all of the cans to their proper storage room
===and switched the TIG back to remote and High Frequency start.
===
===Now... I should tell there was one can of spray paint still on the
===table, but it was 10' away from where I was TIG welding. I don't know
===if it was touching the sculpture or just very close, but, the instant
===I hit the foot pedal, a wave of HEAT washed over me, it was a very
===disorienting feeling too...
===
===I lifted my hood and checked my left side for flames and was shocked
===to see a fireball 5' high on the far end of my table... black smoke
===billowing. I saw the can and realized what happened... I knocked it
===to the floor and now I had a 4' flame on the table and a new 5' fire
===on the ground about 4 feet away from my motorcycle.
===
===I kicked the can outside and used the extinguisher on the flames.
===
===Let's just say, the studio is still standing, the bike is unharmed and
===I was shaken, but not burned. This could have gone VERY differently
===If I didn't have a 17' ceiling and my 14' door opened... or if the can
===had been closer to ME when it spewed paint.
===
===Yes.. using the cans for spacers was stupid. No one needs to point
===this out to me.
===
===I can only presume the HF ran through the can and blew a hole (and
===sparked) as it jumped to the sculpture.
===
===The can was 10' away and on the backside of the piece... I honestly
===didn't know it was even there. My little story is just a warning to
===everyone...
===
===Glad I'm here to tell it...
===
===James, Port Orchard (near seattle, washington, USA, Earth)
===
===www.jameskelseystudios.com
===
This is eaxcatly the reason I keep all my spray paint and any
flamables stored in my other shed / shop area. I only spray paint out
of the shop or in the shed if its raining, and I too learned not to
use aerosol cans to hold up things even if your not welding around
them. I used a can of DyKem layout dye to prop up a piece of 2 x 2
tubular steel on top of a couple of blocks of wood, so I could stand
back and see how it looked in relationship to the other part (Making a
long length trailer tongue for a utility trailer) and since one end
was moveable by a pivot, and that can of dye was just perfect for what
I needed, I used it. I stepped back to look, and the can popped out
and the the 2 x 2 tounge hit it and punctured it, sending blue dye all
over the place.
Happy to hear you were not hurt and your shop is intact.
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http://www.frugalmachinist.com
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I had no input whatsoever.
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