I was doing some playing with laser cutting paper, and was a bit nervous about the paper catching on fire, while I was keeping an eye on it, and an eye on the fire blanket hanging on my wall, I was staring at a can of compressed air and was thinking “why can’t I turn that upside down, and spray THAT on a fire, it should put it out and not harm the glowforge”
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Wouldn’t air just fan the flames? Perhaps I speak from ignorance.
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Upside down canned air sprays out super cold liquid propellant - it can discolor things and cause frost bite. (this is a common trick among fabricators for quick cooling hot glue)
A refillable type CO2 extinguisher costs a little more but wouldn’t harm electronics.
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Is the propellant flammable?
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Extremely. Do not spray “canned air” on a fire! It’s not air! Depending on the brand, it could be a mix of hydrocarbons, difluoroethane, or dimethyl ether. This would be a TERRIBLE IDEA.
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Ok, @Deleted, does this change your mind? I sure hope so. Not only would it not put out the fire, bu also it would flare up, and possibly burn you and a lot more than your GF.
I have a feeling you knew this all along.
I was thinking the result might be similar to hairspray. Much better is the pull lever kind that has no pressure and can refill.
Filled with water a fine spray will stop almost any likely fire and in extreme cases I spray before cutting as the point of cut will not be bothered by the wet, it will inhibit any scorching nearby.
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My cat uses that on me, when I misbehave.
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Canned air is not a good choice for extinguishing a fire, upside down or not, small fire or full blown blaze of glory. Spend a couple hundred dollars and get yourself a true halon fire extinguisher, puts out fires quickly, without and mess, so there’s no cleaning up anything other than the materials that burned.
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Halon is the extinguishing agent of choose for electronics. Here’s what many of the early purchasers opted for:
Amerex A384T, 1.4lb Halotron I Class B C Fire Extinguisher https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F5CK0S0/
From one of the many threads on fire extinguishers:
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OK, OK , I will admit this was a ‘pot stirrer’ post, It was TRUTH I did think it, and wondered, what a dust off would do, but I have a ‘server closet’ in my office, and a Halotron fire extinguisher mounted (and I added a fire blanket on the recommendation of here) to my setup.
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I keep a wet paper towel in a bowl next to my GF when ever i cut cardboard or paper.
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I just learned last week that the best thing was a damp rag nearby. I actually keep a damp rag next to my GF whenever I’m using it, no matter what the material, but especially paper or cardboard. A lot easier and no mess. I figured if I had to use the fire extinguisher (which I bought specifically for the GF), I would have such a mess I’d have to buy a new GF anyway. Damp towel will only mean replacing the material I’m using if I catch any fire soon enough.
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Still stirring… the mounted extinguisher appears to be a standard auto/marine, sodium bicarbonate extinguisher. Definitely not Halotron.
Not really, Halotron leaves a fine powder residue not good for computers, and halon is dangerous to breath, The one mounted is class 1,2 & 3 fires - the fire blanket is for the glowforge.
Jonathan
PS: I did say it was a Halotron, my bad. I did misspoke
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Holy smokes, look at all that gear!
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well… I am… a MACGEEK. . . . . . 
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ya halon extinguishers are amazing. I was at a junkyard one time and a guy was in there trying to sell the own some BLAZEGUARD fire extinguishers. they were halon.
the demo things the guy did were amazing. the owner held a lighter at one end of the counter. the sales guy “puffed” a short burst of halon from the other end toward the flame. a second later the flame was out. You damn sure wouldn’t want to be in a server room when the system discharged.
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