Fire :(

[Spooky]

Underside of the PAD controller, check the wires to make sure they aren't damaged

[Tom]

It's an horrible feeling isn't it
C02 fire extinguisher for me too

[TimBobTastic]

That must have been frightening..

I have a powder extinguisher, in hands reach of the machine.. but after reading this thread will be ordering myself a CO2 one in the next day or so...

It goes to show the importance of being alert... it is easy to get lulled into a false sense of security..

[Daven]

What is scary is how quick the extinguisher emptied - it put the fire out but had it been larger I would have been in trouble. I have a garden hose just feet away from the workshop and the electrics are all MCB/RCD - it actually tripped the workshop fuse panel and the house RCD because the wires to the lamp shorted!

I have seen pictures of lasers with the bed full of debris, I've always kept min as clean as possible and this is a good reason why! You could have a nice simmering flame under the bed...

Cheers
Dave

[llamalasers]

I keep it as clean as possible, between each job brush debris to the side and then empty every night.


I got one of these extinguishers from Amazon..

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00486BGQY

The one I received was not branded Draper and I got a £5 refund from the seller when I pointed this out, however it is a proper CE standard CO2 extinguisher so comes recommended at a great price and good seller.

[llamalasers]

Underside of the PAD controller, check the wires to make sure they aren't damaged

Thanks, this is a good point since the pad is not in a separate enclosure like my last machine.
Will check in a mo.


(edit)Looks okay

[Spooky]

Looks fine just remember carbon smoke deposits are conductive, make sure it hasn't gotten anywhere else

[PhillyDee]

Snap. My lid looks similar on my LS1290.

Finished the job, left for a while, like you, was setting up another job on my PC remotely. Heard weird clicking noises, went over, entrie inside of the machine was black with soot and it was half way through a fire on a 600x680mm sheet of acrylic. Quick blast on the CO2 extinguisher and it was out. Had to wipe the entire inside of the machine off, replace the lens, replace the red dot pointer and associated cabling as that was all melted. Whole machine was almost red hot. Couldn't touch the head and H Channel the X is on it was that hot. Took about 3-4 hours to be back up and running, including jet washing the blade table, and full realignment.

Scary. Job I have ran thousands of time, and run at least 10 times per week.

[llamalasers]

Wow!

Really hammers it home reading others experiences of similar problems.. I was very lucky that the business end of the laser had moved back to near datum before the fire took hold. The machine did get very hot, but nothing appears melted apart from the lid and light fittings. It creaked and groaned for an hour after as the metal was cooling down but I have to say on the whole it recovered very well.

Yet another testament to how solid these machines really are!

[Tom]

The only things you can are check and triple check the drawings
Keep every thing clean and take all the rubbish from under the bed
Don't cut things too close together (thing touching or 1mm apart to save material)
Take all material from the machine when not running
Never leave the machine unattended

The latter is probably were people come unstuck (as the magic box dose it by itself)
I have cleaned and fix machines that have been extinguished co2/powder/water and foam
And the easiest by far is co2

Tom