Quote:
Originally Posted by madwi
Wow! Nice.
One of my machining gigs was making electrodes for EDM machines. They are made out of graphite and we had a transformer over our four milling machines... about twice a year the graphite dust would build up and BANG! fireball flying  It was right above our computers where we would do the CAD and programming. Knocked me off the chair one time, thought I was ded. Had to check to make sure my shoes were still on. |
Somewhat related, at my last job, we machined titanium beams for the S92 helicopter for Sikorsky. My brother Dave was one of the machinists, and he'd been deburring the titanium, and was covered with titanium dust. Struck a spark with the grinding wheel. Most people aren't aware that titanium dust is highly flammable. He was briefly engulfed with flames.
Dave has this thing for attracting fire. When we did construction together, he set the fringe of his jeans on fire with a roofing torch. While welding a beam over head, he dropped enough sparks to burn through his boxers and do the "help help my pants are on fire" dance. Yesterday, he sends me a text. "I just set myself on fire again. Cutting through rebar with a grinding wheel."
*shakes head* Amazing he's still alive.