|
Posted by Michael Koblic on June 30, 2009, 2:39 am
Please log in for more thread options
I was grinding lathe bits today on my new grinding and sharpening mobile
platform. I had it parked in the garage doorway, facing west, so the light
would be better and the dust would blow out.
At one point I noticed a wisp of smoke coming out somwhere behind one of the
grinders. Now I may be overcautious but I consider smoke and grinders an
inherently undesirable combination.
I was puzzled: There was hardly any sparking, the bits were cool enough to
hold bare hand. No strange noises. I looked and there on the brand new top
was a burn - a linear scar, about 2 inches long, about 1/8" deep, about 1/4"
wide with deeply charred edges. What could have caused this?
I moved my head and it became clear: The sunlight hit the grinder shield
which has a lens in the middle. The lens was focussing the sunlight onto my
bench top and burning it, judging by the length of the scar for a quite a
while (for a sundialist it is tempting to calculate the exact time by
measuring the length of scar exactly and estimating the amount of Earth's
rotation from it but I am too lazy). Everytime I came to grind my head got
in the way of the sunlight and the bright focus of light would disappear,
leaving only the wisp of smoke as evidence of anything wrong. The burning
would start again when I left the station to do things elsewhere.
I am sure that there are lessons here somewhere...In my defense I should say
that we are not used to sunshine around here.
--
Michael Koblic
Campbell River, BC
|
|
Posted by Buerste on June 30, 2009, 3:10 am
Please log in for more thread options
>I was grinding lathe bits today on my new grinding and sharpening mobile
>platform. I had it parked in the garage doorway, facing west, so the light
>would be better and the dust would blow out.
>
> At one point I noticed a wisp of smoke coming out somwhere behind one of
> the grinders. Now I may be overcautious but I consider smoke and grinders
> an inherently undesirable combination.
>
> I was puzzled: There was hardly any sparking, the bits were cool enough to
> hold bare hand. No strange noises. I looked and there on the brand new top
> was a burn - a linear scar, about 2 inches long, about 1/8" deep, about
> 1/4" wide with deeply charred edges. What could have caused this?
>
> I moved my head and it became clear: The sunlight hit the grinder shield
> which has a lens in the middle. The lens was focussing the sunlight onto
> my bench top and burning it, judging by the length of the scar for a quite
> a while (for a sundialist it is tempting to calculate the exact time by
> measuring the length of scar exactly and estimating the amount of Earth's
> rotation from it but I am too lazy). Everytime I came to grind my head got
> in the way of the sunlight and the bright focus of light would disappear,
> leaving only the wisp of smoke as evidence of anything wrong. The burning
> would start again when I left the station to do things elsewhere.
>
> I am sure that there are lessons here somewhere...In my defense I should
> say that we are not used to sunshine around here.
>
> --
> Michael Koblic
> Campbell River, BC
>
>
>
I was in the back of the shop one afternoon working on some small parts for
a machine and was called up front to receiving to inspect some incoming
material. As I walked into the early afternoon sunshine, I noticed the
first pallet of unloaded boxes burst into flames. As I turned to shout for
fire extinguishers, cars in the parking lot started exploding one after the
other, all in a row. The work crew and I started to freak out until one of
the guys, known for having a cool head under pressure, shouted for me to
remove my magnifying visor that was tilted up on my head. It seems it was
at just the right angle for the sunlight to turn it into a "Death Ray". We
now have signs to reminding people not to wear their magnifying visors
outside.
|
|
Posted by Maxwell Lol on July 17, 2009, 7:22 am
Please log in for more thread options
>As I turned to shout for
> fire extinguishers, cars in the parking lot started exploding one after the
> other, all in a row.
If you say so.....
|
|
Posted by Grumpy on June 30, 2009, 3:39 am
Please log in for more thread options Sunshine in Campbell River! Now that is unusual!
Anywhere west of the Rockies, the sun is defined as a glowing spot on the
clouds!
>I was grinding lathe bits today on my new grinding and sharpening mobile
>platform. I had it parked in the garage doorway, facing west, so the light
>would be better and the dust would blow out.
>
> At one point I noticed a wisp of smoke coming out somwhere behind one of
> the grinders. Now I may be overcautious but I consider smoke and grinders
> an inherently undesirable combination.
>
> I was puzzled: There was hardly any sparking, the bits were cool enough to
> hold bare hand. No strange noises. I looked and there on the brand new top
> was a burn - a linear scar, about 2 inches long, about 1/8" deep, about
> 1/4" wide with deeply charred edges. What could have caused this?
>
> I moved my head and it became clear: The sunlight hit the grinder shield
> which has a lens in the middle. The lens was focussing the sunlight onto
> my bench top and burning it, judging by the length of the scar for a quite
> a while (for a sundialist it is tempting to calculate the exact time by
> measuring the length of scar exactly and estimating the amount of Earth's
> rotation from it but I am too lazy). Everytime I came to grind my head got
> in the way of the sunlight and the bright focus of light would disappear,
> leaving only the wisp of smoke as evidence of anything wrong. The burning
> would start again when I left the station to do things elsewhere.
>
> I am sure that there are lessons here somewhere...In my defense I should
> say that we are not used to sunshine around here.
>
> --
> Michael Koblic
> Campbell River, BC
>
>
>
|
|
Posted by David Billington on June 30, 2009, 4:58 am
Please log in for more thread options Michael Koblic wrote:
> I was grinding lathe bits today on my new grinding and sharpening mobile
> platform. I had it parked in the garage doorway, facing west, so the light
> would be better and the dust would blow out.
>
> At one point I noticed a wisp of smoke coming out somwhere behind one of the
> grinders. Now I may be overcautious but I consider smoke and grinders an
> inherently undesirable combination.
>
> I was puzzled: There was hardly any sparking, the bits were cool enough to
> hold bare hand. No strange noises. I looked and there on the brand new top
> was a burn - a linear scar, about 2 inches long, about 1/8" deep, about 1/4"
> wide with deeply charred edges. What could have caused this?
>
> I moved my head and it became clear: The sunlight hit the grinder shield
> which has a lens in the middle. The lens was focussing the sunlight onto my
> bench top and burning it, judging by the length of the scar for a quite a
> while (for a sundialist it is tempting to calculate the exact time by
> measuring the length of scar exactly and estimating the amount of Earth's
> rotation from it but I am too lazy). Everytime I came to grind my head got
> in the way of the sunlight and the bright focus of light would disappear,
> leaving only the wisp of smoke as evidence of anything wrong. The burning
> would start again when I left the station to do things elsewhere.
>
> I am sure that there are lessons here somewhere...In my defense I should say
> that we are not used to sunshine around here.
>
>
Not that unusual an occurrence. A friend is a fire scene investigator
and has said that about 4 or 5 fires a year, in the UK, are attributed
to an object focusing sunlight and setting something on fire.
|
| Similar Threads | Posted | | Unusual 1/4-18 tap | January 11, 2008, 10:28 pm |
| An unusual sighting | October 8, 2006, 10:33 am |
| Unusual press | May 22, 2007, 10:44 am |
| Unusual Clamping Issue | March 8, 2007, 9:44 am |
| Re: A now unusual type of metalworking... | February 23, 2010, 9:04 pm |
| Unusual ways of carrying cargo | October 20, 2006, 10:48 am |
| Some Very Unusual Bicycles - Examples of Metalcrafting (Mostly) | October 16, 2007, 12:03 pm |
| Unusual metal machining process? | June 1, 2008, 3:50 am |
| OT unusual hobby (vaporized metal content) | July 22, 2009, 2:45 pm |
| almost no curious escapes apart from the unusual sentence were proceeding onto the grateful corridor | August 12, 2007, 8:35 pm |
|
|
Yahoo! 
Google 
Windows Live 
del.icio.us 
digg 
Netscape 
XML Sitemap
>platform. I had it parked in the garage doorway, facing west, so the light
>would be better and the dust would blow out.
>
> At one point I noticed a wisp of smoke coming out somwhere behind one of
> the grinders. Now I may be overcautious but I consider smoke and grinders
> an inherently undesirable combination.
>
> I was puzzled: There was hardly any sparking, the bits were cool enough to
> hold bare hand. No strange noises. I looked and there on the brand new top
> was a burn - a linear scar, about 2 inches long, about 1/8" deep, about
> 1/4" wide with deeply charred edges. What could have caused this?
>
> I moved my head and it became clear: The sunlight hit the grinder shield
> which has a lens in the middle. The lens was focussing the sunlight onto
> my bench top and burning it, judging by the length of the scar for a quite
> a while (for a sundialist it is tempting to calculate the exact time by
> measuring the length of scar exactly and estimating the amount of Earth's
> rotation from it but I am too lazy). Everytime I came to grind my head got
> in the way of the sunlight and the bright focus of light would disappear,
> leaving only the wisp of smoke as evidence of anything wrong. The burning
> would start again when I left the station to do things elsewhere.
>
> I am sure that there are lessons here somewhere...In my defense I should
> say that we are not used to sunshine around here.
>
> --
> Michael Koblic
> Campbell River, BC
>
>
>