WD40 for cutting aluminum ?

[Weldingrod1]

I think I have at least 5 ready to use ones, two water ones I use for training kiddos, and a fixed one over my generator.

Yes, I HAVE used them on fires...

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[Jake M]

How many of you have working, in date, fire extinguishers in you shop? @ home?
Piles of oily chips can be a source of fires! Woodworking dust also.

When I rented, I didn't think too much about it. There always one. I couldn't tell you if they were ever up to date. Not much on the line. Once I bought a brand new house, and enough stuff to fill it.... The "what if's" started settling in, ESPECIALLY in the beginning, when ALL my money was gone, I barely had enough stuff to make a functional household, needed appliances badly, and due to the finish date, the first mortgage payment is due in two weeks.... My first grocery list was Ramen and fire extinguishers. And I've stayed with it. The basement/shop, the kitchen, and one in the cabinet by the back door, where the BBQ grill lives year round on a wooden porch. All due in 2025 and sharpie marked as such. Even the basement one, which is much newer, as I don't care to be bothered keeping track of them indivudually.

 

[tq60]

We have gas based units all over the place.

CO2 and Halon substitute, do not need servicing, if gage states full it is...

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[EricB]

Just a thought from the CAS# info on the MSDS: If you heat WD40 until it smokes, the fumes are probably carcinogens.

 

[ChazzC]

From a guy who has managed to set his makeshift chip tray on fire, with a half horse lathe at a relatively moderate speed, that shouldn't have been able to do that..... Well, thank goodness for the makeshift cookie tray chip pan I keep under there. That was sulfurized cutting oil built up in there that lit up. I got lucky. Had that lit up on the bench....... I don't wanna think about it.

Fire danger is never a "non-issue". But while the alcohol is "probably" a lot easier to set on fire.... It won't burn as hot or with the same intensity. I wouldn't be scared of it, and in fact I have a small can of it just to see what it's about, although I've not come across a job that I think is appropriate just yet. I'm not worried about another fire, but I really hesitate to say that fire is a "non-issue". Maybe it'll never happen to a lot of us, even most of us, but I think it's ill advised to have that thought ever completely leave your mind. It can happen. Even just having a plan thought out, and a fire extinguisher someplace nearby. One real bonus to the alcohol- It really won't build up much in the chip tray. Unlike oils, it pretty much goes away in a reasonably short time. Provided you've got a little fresh air coming in the room, that's another bonus.

The thought behind using alcohol is that (as mentioned above) provides cooling by evaporation and some fluid for chip removal: if any drips into the chip tray you’re using too much.

I use Tap Magic Aluminum for tapping and Isopropyl Alcohol for turning/milling. See this link to Stefan’s thoughts.

 

[Boswell]

How many of you have working, in date, fire extinguishers in you shop

3 in the big shop with the grinding, welding sand blaster and two in the small shop with the lathe, mill and drill press. One of those is a large CO2. My plan would be to use the CO2 first to hopefully avoid all the Chemical residue from an ABC. I also have 1 ABC outside the primary entrance/exit

Check them regularly for pressure. Also smoke detectors in both shops although the ceiling height in the large shop means that I may not give much of an advance warning.

 

[pontiac428]

WD-40 is better than kerosene, unless you determine all of your life's actions by cost. Fuels are end-of-the-pipeline junk that stink and have more carcinogens in them, but they often have the right properties for solvents and uses like this. WD-40 is severely hydrotreated, so even though it has the same carbon atom cut point range as kerosene, the kerosene will be full of unsaturated, heteroatom-substituted, branched crud that vary highly from batch to batch. WD-40, as @Jake M stated, is mostly distillate/naphtha aliphatic cut, which is much safer on your skin and lungs than fuels. The aluminum probably doesn't care, as long as it's "wet".

How many of you have working, in date, fire extinguishers in you shop? @ home?
Piles of oily chips can be a source of fires! Woodworking dust also.

I have a 20 lb in the center of the shop, and 10 lb'ers at each end, plus a 5 lb at the welding bench. I recently started using MoblMet flood cutting oil on the lathe, so thanks for reminding me to get another 10 lb for the machine bay, in case I run around all stupid if a fire starts.

Years ago, my son was working on his old car in the garage and it caught fire. He went through all the fire extinguishers on the place to keep it cool enough until the fire department got there. One less extinguisher and the place would have burnt to the ground. The car was a total loss.

Anyway we now have half dozen large commercial quality extinguishers and annual maintenance contract on them. they were just here last week.

Not many agree with me, but this cost is nothing compared to a fire.

Speaking of running around all stupid, the same thing happened to me, except my house is made of old-growth timber cut a century ago, and the carriage house is under my bedroom. I imported my sports car that I bought in Germany, and didn't think about that goddamned ethanol in the fuel here. Rotted my fuel lines, fuel vapor hit the pilot light on the water heater, and I was standing in the center of a fireball when it went. If the fire station wasn't a block down my street, I'd have lost everything. A garden hose won't do much against a real fire, so yeah, have a plan if nothing else. I never want to repeat that experience, it took awhile for my eyebrows to grow back and I still have pyroclastic rust on some of my tooling. File that under goofs and blunders you want to avoid...

 

[fcs]

I use lamp oil for aluminum. It appears (to my inexpert reading) to be a more highly refined and odorless relative of kerosene. Available in quarts for around $6 at any hardware store. YMMV.

 

[verbotenwhisky]

I bought a gallon of WD40 and just us an acid brush to put it on. Much less in the air than a spray can. I think Stefan Gotteswinter uses alcohol. There may be more fire risk with it.

I buy it in the Gallon can and put it in a pump oil can....

 

[verbotenwhisky]

I buy it by the gallon, and use a squeeze bottle. WD40 itself is a solvent. I have spray bottles (zep containers) for large coatings (not machining).

I use it for Aluminum, but I still use tap magic for Alum as well. I also use Kool Mist. I like the way tap magic works tapping as opposed to wd40. I find that it leaves a slightly cleaner cut (might be a perception thing).

I bought a bottle of Anchor Lube for threading to see what all the hub hub was about, for threading the stuff is magical, not cheap but I will buy more....