Technical Buffing wheel catches on far. (WV talk for fire)

Any of you guys that buffs parts to a high luster, ever have a wheel catch on fire!?
I don't mean flaming like a bon fire. Just slinging off bits of hot coals.
I have been buffing since the mid '80's, and NEVER had a wheel catch on fire!
Wore several wheels down to almost nothing. Had little (normal) smoke coming off the wheel while buffing. Had to get my motor fixed three different times. (would not start two different times, and stalled out while applying rouge once) but never had any kind of actual fires! Motor gets warm, never hot enough to cause a fire!
I was buffing several pieces of 3/8" 304 stainless rods to make exhaust hangers, and suddenly, little bits of hot coals started slinging off! I shut the motor down, and used my gloved hand to "pinch" all the little coals I could find imbedded in the wheel. Then started buffing again. Suddenly more hot coals started slinging off! I shut the motor down, quickly took a wrench used for wheel changing hanging nearby, ripped the wheel off, ran outside and throwed it in the rain barrel.
Soon as the sun dries it off tomorrow, I'll put the wheel back on and see if anything happens, finishing up these rods, acorn nuts, bolts and washers.

 

WOW!

Dave

 

Probably won't be buffing magnesium I guess!

 

If that wheel was previously used, what material was it used on? If it was anything other than SS 304, that might just be the culprit. Contamination of the stainless by carbon steel isn't a good thing, and if it was aluminum, that's a definite no-no.

 

Holy smokes, never had a fire. How much pressure are you applying?
Dan

 

I have caught my buffing wheel on fire but it was from a stray spark when grinding. never seen one even smoke when buffing.

 

Yeah, more compound. Grease it up a let warm up the part with the friction from the grease.

 

I clean my wheel with a file card once in a while, but I'm just a hack at most things.

Gary

 

That's a new one on me. Same brand wheel you normally use? Did ya have to pay a tariff on it?

 

Motor is still running well so the sparks aren't from the motor?
Good info about the dissimilar metals @alanp561
Good to remember.

 

tiny hot coals?.... keep buffing and report back when you get real flames or your shirt catches on fire.

 

Did that with a whiz-wheel after getting ATF dripped on the front of my shirt. My class was entertained.

 

Ok, update. I put the wheel back on the motor right after wifey took this picture today. Rouged it up real good, and really pressed the work in against the wheel as hard as I could. Trying to see if I could deliberately cause a fire! Could feel the heat through my gloves, had a good bit of smoke. Stopped when I got the piece polished. NO fire, hot coals, nothing! By the time I got the piece I just polished on the table and my gloves off, the wheel had cooled down, to where I could hold my bare hand on it for a little bit.

So I don't know what caused the "hot coals". Seems no one else does.

I am NOT a professional! Sorta self-taught through "trial and error," what didn't work and what did work. Plus what others had told me to try or do.

Makes good sense to "rake" the wheel after polishing different metals. I was never told specifically to clean the wheels after different rouges and metals. I did anyway. I made a "rake" out of barbed wire fence staples. Seems to clean the wheels all right. Cleans up the brass and copper residue left on the wheels.

The lack of rouge comment. I sorta thought I used too much rouge. If I polished a washer, a acorn nut, or a bracket. I rouged up the wheel did the polishing, then inspected if I needed to do some more polishing. If I needed to buff again, I would rouge up the wheel ever time. Wifey bought three big bars of rouge from amazon around July. Right now, I have just about used up the first bar. Every year, I would go to Carlisle, I would buy $50 worth of those big bars of white rouge. Use to get 'em for $8-9 a bar. Now, I think she apid $15 a bar through amazon.

Any more "tips and tricks" I need to know about? Thanks.

 

The only metal I know of that will start a buffing bonnet fire is magnesium.

 

Magnesium VW engine cases are very good entertainment at your next friendly bon fire

 

Don't catch the TOES on fire!!

Larry

 

Another good reason to have a fire extinguisher or two in da garage - just saying

 

If you are doing a big cut with white, that might be your problem. Heavy cuts are done on a tightly sewn wheel with black. After it looks good, clean all that compound off with lacquer thinner. Then get out the soft and loose wheel and the white compound. It’s just for making it shine, not for removing scratches.

 

Thanks. However, in my years of "trial and error," I tried different colors of rouge w/different wheels. In the late '80's and early '90's, some of those "buffing" vendors up there at Carlisle gave tutorials on what color of rouge to use with a certain wheel. When "GOOGLE" came about, there was few videos of the subject. Eastwood even had a seminar. (just saying, their buffing products were way more expensive and smaller in quantity than what the buffing supplier vendors offered)

I tried every and most all suggestions. I found out that white rouge and those tightly sewn "cotton type" wheels cut quicker and had more shine than any other combination. Even minor scratches. So that is what I stuck with. A loose (soft) cotton wheel leaves a slight "haze" and does not cut for some reason.

Now, the above description (experience) is "ME" and the equipment I use. I suppose every person who buffs a piece of stainless or whatever will do it slightly differently than someone else, but achieve the same results.

Like welders. Take three different welders. All three certified, or all three not certified. Using the same welding machine, and using the same material to be welded. Each will set the machine differently, amps, wirefeed, etc. But the work result is the same.

It's perplexing that in all these decades of me buffing, (same procedure over and over) I NEVER had a wheel catch on fire like that before! Just asking to find out what caused it (so I don't do it again) and if someone else had the same thing happen.

Yes, I have had a fire extinguisher nearby since the early '90's. I use a shopvac and vacuum sweeper to clean up the dust and loose lint weekly.

 

Has it been tested/recertified and/ or replaced since then?

 

No. Good Idea! Thanks. However, after checking, there are no places around here locally that offers portable fire extinguisher certification. They are called "fire suppression systems." Several thousands of dollars to install and maintain.

All my extinguishers are showing full and charged.

They are not those small handheld ones you can buy just about anywhere. They are heavy, 2 1/2' tall, 7-8" OD.

Ryan, oughta start a new post/sticky on home garage fire extinguishers. All the "pro-con" arguments about which extinguisher is the better, etc.

 

Here:
https://www.garagejournal.com/

 

I used to do a lot of metal polishing when I first started out. I did a lot of intakes,wheels, etc. One day a guy asks me to do a VW Rhino case.I knew they were magnesium but thought if I was careful it would OK. The job went OK but the shop table had a thin layer of magnesiumdust on it. Somehow a spark ignited the powder on the bench and it all went off in a flash, like an old time camera. Luckly there was nothing close to burn or catch fire. I never did anopther magnesium part.

 

You haven't lived until you have a large lathe chip bin full of steel and aluminum, cutting oil and MAGNESIUM scrap go up in flames and not have a MAGNESIUM rated fire extinguisher nearby!!!

 

You mean “You are lucky to have lived…”

 

At work they had barrels of asbestos for the magnesium fires.

 

A large high school metal shop buffing station…

Hello,

In our high school metal shop class, there was a two station, industrial size buffing wheel location. When the project was finished and before the final presentation, we all used the wheels to make the surface clean and shiny. Everything from hand shaped chisels to floor stick shift levers of all shapes and sizes. When buffed to a nice shine, then coated, it looked like a chrome plating for teenagers.

Our junior high school crafts class had a small two wheel buffing station on a counter. It was for small projects. We would shape the object in metal or plastic, finish it as well as we could with fine sand paper and for the final touch, buff it to a nice shine. Jewelry, hot rod dash knobs and of course, a ball shaped floor shift knob for our older brother’s cars.

We did not wear gloves as it was usually a small buffing job, on small table top buffing wheels. And the teacher had us clamp the projects on a gripping device that allowed us to push the project into the wheels for the final finishes.

Jnaki

But, in high school, the metal shop looked like the industrial building shops that were in our Westside of Long Beach area. The standard green style of color for most machines made the high school shop look like the neighborhood industrial machine shop. We all learned how to use those machines. In our area, the harbor provided plenty of jobs and they were all mechanical to a point. Welding, lathe machining, casting and yes, polishing, were the site locations we all liked in the Metal shop. I could not weld worth a lick, but could put a couple of pieces of metal together.

In our final two years of college, we had a class that was called Art Metal. That shop class was set up with all sorts of industrial machines. Creativity was the key and the buffing wheels were used almost daily. From small cast jewelry that had to be clamped on with a device to allow close buffing, to the larger spun metal shapes that needed a final buff prior to the grading period. Those buffing wheels were in constant use. And, yes we were required to wear gloves for the buffing wheel.

Not only would the gloves keep the hands from getting hurt when a project goes flying away from the grip, but the heat created was also a factor. One of my projects was a spun metal bowl and matching lid that had just come out of an acid dip process with a fancy design engraved in the metal surfaces. The buffing wheel was used to get the surfaces clean and shiny prior to the final grading period. YRMV