Festool OF1400 Started a fire

[TheSergeant]

A couple weeks ago I was routing a groove with a brand new 3/4" Whiteside bit in some baltic birch plywood for a childrens bed I was making for my son.  I wasn't using dust collection because I was working outdoors and the groove was so long that I didn't want to deal with the hose.  I was taking multiple passes ~1/4" deep blowing chips away between each pass. 

I finished the last groove and realized the router base was smoking.  I was outdoors so it was tough to spot the flame but I realized it was on fire.  Had I left the router on the table with the amount of dust that was there it could have turned bad fast. 

You can see the ember and the melted lever on the base. 

I've been woodworking for 6 years.  Never had something like this happen.  A little unnerving.  Use that dust collection when you can and stay aware. 

 

[Birdhunter]

I had a fire in my router table dust collection box that houses the router and connects to a big cyclone vac.

I wasn’t doing anything I have not done many times before. I noticed a reddish glow through the hole in the table top and quickly realized I had two small fires in the bottom of the box.

I doused the fires with a water bottle. The smoke smell brought my wife down to the shop. The box was charred, but I’m glad the burning material didn’t get sucked into the dust collector.

 

[Steve1]

Thank you for posting that.

Some of us need occasional reminders on the potential hazards of working with combustible dusts.

 

[butzla]

Thank you for posting that.

Some of us need occasional reminders on the potential hazards of working with combustible dusts.

Ditto!

 

[xedos]

Sarge - you're saying the bit got so hot after you were finished that it ignited the shavings/dust when you put the bit into a pile of them ?  Your dadoes were clean with no burning ?

Birdhunter - what router and bit were you using ?  What speed were you running at ?  Your situation seems quite a bit different from Sarge's.

I'm very surprised you (1.) had an issue with good dust collection; and  (2.)even more surprised that the smoldering nest didn't get sucked into the piping.

 

[Birdhunter]

I was routing 1/4" dados in 3/4" Baltic birch plywood for drawer bottoms. The router is a Porter Cable motor mounted in a lift. The drawer sides were about 18" long. The bit was plywood specific (slightly undersized from 1/4"). The dados were pretty stuffed with chips and had to be cleaned out. I had one of my big cyclones hooked up to the box through a 4" hose and a Fein hooked up to the fence. I don't know the RPM on the PC motor.

There were two small fires, each in a back corner of the box where the chips tend to collect.

The cyclone normally does a good job of sucking up the router debris, but I was building 8 drawers, 32 drawer sides, so there had to be more accumulation in the corners than usual. My lessons from this event are to vacuum out the box more frequently if I am doing a lot of routing and to keep a fire extinguisher close by.

I now have 4 fire extinguishers in my shop and smoke detectors in key shop locations.

 

[peter halle]

The router didn't start a fire - the operation of the router started a fire - and the interaction of the bit and the work piece appears to be the culprit.

Using dust collection may have helped out.  Dado dust collection is not perfect due to the interference of the second shoulder on the cut, but there are improvements.

Peter

 

[Mike Goetzke]

As long as we are talking safety and you are making dados. I had an "issue" over the weekend cutting dados for drawer bottoms. Was using 1/2" BB and cutting 1/4" x 1/4" dados in one pass (done this many times). After second piece I noticed and felt a slight jump at the end of the cut. Somehow my fences weren't 100% aligned. Fixed that and ran a third piece and all was fine. OK - then I go to run first two through a 2nd time and about 1/2 way threw it tossed the drawer out the front. I know to watch for this on two sided cuts and was probably overly confident since I was using ClearCut guides. I feel they slowed the board but didn't stop it (???). Also, I always use push pads on the router table.

Mike

 

[fshanno]

As long as we are talking safety and you are making dados. I had an "issue" over the weekend cutting dados for drawer bottoms. Was using 1/2" BB and cutting 1/4" x 1/4" dados in one pass (done this many times). After second piece I noticed and felt a slight jump at the end of the cut. Somehow my fences weren't 100% aligned. Fixed that and ran a third piece and all was fine. OK - then I go to run first two through a 2nd time and about 1/2 way threw it tossed the drawer out the front. I know to watch for this on two sided cuts and was probably overly confident since I was using ClearCut guides. I feel they slowed the board but didn't stop it (???). Also, I always use push pads on the router table.

Mike

Yea, it was climb cutting on the second pass.  ClearCut guides would help some but you'd be better off without them in a climb cut situation.  Two hefty push blocks that keep your hands far from the blade would be better.

To me the ideal push blocks for the router table are the GRR-Rippers.  With a GRR-Ripper in each hand I'm turned into a virtual power feeder.  Nothing gives me better control and they are so big they keep your hands far away from the bit.  Even if you lose the work piece it's extremely unlike you'd get into the bit.  They have the plate that attaches and allows you to have a lot of pressure against the fence and against the table. 

 

[Jim_in_PA]

Chips are what takes away the heat from the tooling. If the chips are impacted, the cutter will remain toasty hot and if left in contact with "kindling"...a fire can occur. This is a very common risk in the CNC world, not just with hand-helds like the OF1400. The dust collection does play an important role here as has been noted.