Materials that aren't certified laser safe

Dumping a whole glass of water in is out of the question, but if we are watching it as we should be, then I would suspect that a quick and direct spritz from a small spray bottle, or even throwing a damp rag over it would be enough to put out the vast majority of the fires that would occur under normal operation.

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Spot on. Keeping a spray bottle next to the machine is a good idea. That’s the 99% use case - just trivial little flareups of paper/cardboard (and maybe wood) unless you do some of the slaggy plastics and then you’re on your own and you deserve it :smile:

The damp cloth is a good idea except if you’re like me, you’d never remember (or would eventually stop due to lack of use) to dampen it before jobs.

The fire extinguisher is for when one of the above doesn’t work. They’re going to dump some crappy stuff in there and it’s gonna be a bear to clean.

BTW, don’t mixup your water spray bottle with your alcohol spray bottle that you use to clean smoke stain residue off pieces when they’re done cutting.

Also BTW, be aware that when you open the lid on a fire you may get a bigger flare-up due to the inrush of air to the box.

I’m willing to bet we’ll be able to count on one hand the number of GF fires that need to be put out by anything other than the air-assist on the head in the next year. It’s really not that common.

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I got a small co2 tank, may just place near gf (maybe post warranty add a co2 line to the gf so I can just open a valve to flood the chamber with co2). Till then also got one of the halotron extinguishers that were listed in one of the threads…

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Oh good idea. I have a five pound co2 tank that came with my homebrew supplies, but doesn’t get used since we already have a ten pounder hooked up to the beer/carb fridge.

Note for others - if you go this route be sure to secure your tank so it can’t fall over. If it does fall over and begin leaking, immediately leave the room instead of trying to pick it up as it could conceivably drive the oxygen from your lungs if the space is sufficiently enclosed.

Nothing poisonous, but enough to make you pass out and asphyxiate if alone.

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That’s an interesting thought.

If you can connect a hose from the CO2 tank to the GF :glowforge: (with a regulator and shutoff value) and not damage the GF :glowforge:, you could create a ratio change of air in the unit to lower the flame capacity.

Worse case is you stop the job and just flood the compartment with CO2, killing the fire. Just have to remember to let it set until all the embers are dead (opening the lid would bring in fresh air.

I wonder if the SodaStream CO2 tanks could be used?

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A CO2 or Halotron fire extringisher could work (or any fire extinguisher rated for electronic use). Some people have suggested a damp rag to smother small flare ups. You could also use wool, which is naturally fire resistant (100% wool, it was used in fire blankets). Also, a small water spray bottle could work for flare ups, as well.

Here are a couple threads you could look at.

http://community.glowforge.com/t/if-gfs-laser-cut-caused-the-material-on-fire-inside-of-machine/3208?u=joe

http://community.glowforge.com/t/source-for-co2-fire-extinguishers/2044?u=joe

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I have a pony tank for pushing a keg that I may explore employing as a fire suppression solution.

I wonder about connecting a regulated CO2 source to the air assist. Might be useful if using a particular material that is prone to flair ups.

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It’s not something I’d get in the habit of doing in that vein, simply because the sudden difference in pressure / expansion is going to create temperature and thus potential condensation issues. If a material is consistently flaring up, either it shouldn’t be laser cut, or one needs to modify their cutting methods, unfortunately.

To be honest, I’d just keep it with a regulator set to something high but workable (like 30-40psi) and a trigger that you could spray on the problem areas. This is sort of worst case scenario, though, because any flare ups you should be able to catch and immediately put out (additionally I really like @joe’s suggestion of using wool - definitely going to buy something small to keep next to mine).

I will never get tired of saying this, though, because inevitably someone will forget - never operate the glowforge, or any other laser cutter, unattended! This is how things burn down. :smile: :glowforge: :sob: :fire:

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(Speaking of how things burn down, we had an interesting time last night when our stove started burning – nope, not a grease fire, some kind of blowback. Luckily all contained, but could have been bad if no one had been around for a few minutes. Also made me rethink having the gas shutoff valve behind the stove. Which is something to think about with the GF: whatever setup you have for dousing a fire, make sure it’s easily accessible while a fire is in progress :slight_smile:)

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What about building a button controllable nozzle on the print head that has one of those mini CO2 cartridges that are used in BB and pellet guns? See a flare up, tap the button for a short momentary burst right where it is needed. A pressure sensor could change the led button from green to red when the CO2 has been depleted.

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That’s a great idea. I think it would definitely work for some smaller things, but if you managed to set a piece of wood on fire, you’re going to want something sustained that can just push all the available oxygen out of the way.

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Holding the button down continuously might do the trick.

Yeah I mostly meant those little cylinders really don’t hold very much - it’d be out and gone in a jiffy, compared to a big (in comparison) tank.

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This is not something you should do. Those CO2 cartridges are fairly heavy. You would not want to add any mass to the print head that it was not designed to carry (or the gantry for that matter). Just sayin’. The fire scenario, as others have said, is pretty rare. The spray bottle or fire blanket (small for GF) will likely be all you need. A small CO2 extinguisher should be mounted on a wall that is not too close to the GF. Make sure you get a gas extinguisher that doesn’t include a small amount of baking soda, as that will leave a mess in the GF. Go :glowforge: _ Rich

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Maybe the cartridge could be plumbed into the air assist line and only activated when the button was pushed.

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This is definitely adding too much to the complexity. Especially because you’re not going to remove all the oxygen from the environment with that sort of setup.

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sadly, that’s always the first change :stuck_out_tongue:

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I apologize for not making that clear; no, as others have said, the warranty on your machine protects your machine against manufacturing defects and so on regardless of which materials you use. We add additional protection if you use Proofgrade materials by guaranteeing that they will not harm your machine.

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what about damage to products, say like the much hyped engraving your laptop in the original video?

For laptops specifically, I don’t think you will have much issue. When the laser etches a design on the back of the laptop, it’s only burning off the layer that they cover the metal with. It cannot cut or mark metal. So there is little to no danger in harming your laptop, at least not in a way that will stop the functionality of your laptop.