Porter cable orbital sander caught fire

[Chuck Thoits]

I'm thinking Don hit it right on the head. While it's dry enough to sand in 4 hours it prolly takes at least 24 hours to completely flash off. So by sanding it into the cloth bag it one had a head start on heating up from the sanding and two was confined in a space that it couldn't off gas as well.

[Don Baer]

I copies this from the Minwax web site.

Posted by HowardAcheson at May 4, 2011 5:06:23 PM

Re: solvent based polyurethane-how long will odor linger Oil based finishes will continue curing and off-gassing for 3-4 weeks. However, the majority of the off-gassing is over in about a week.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I don't think the problem was created by electrical as you would expect the resultant smoke to be in the body of the sander.

It doesn't really seen feasible to me that the problem was related to the finish as more people would have seen the same thing happen under the same condition. I just got through sanding the oak entertainment center I am building and applying another coat of Min-Wax Fast Drying Polyurethane. I have been in this routine for 3 or 4 days now.

I can't help but wonder if something inside the sander is hitting...2 pieces of metal that would create a metal spark that got sucked into the duct collection bag on the sander. Metal sparks are one of the reasons they recommend to not put dust collection on grinders and drill presses. In the few number of home woodworking shop dust collector fires, metal sparks getting sucked into the dust collection systems led to a slow smoldering fire in several cases.

JMHO and worth every penny you paid for it......

[Don Baer]

Here is a link to the minwax technical data sheet . Pay attention to the Pay attention to the note 3 under application where it talks about spontanous cumbustion

[Vaughn McMillan]

I think Don might have hit the nail on the head.

[Jake Vrbka]

Thanks for the link Don! I know I will be a lot more careful in the future when sanding, especially between coats. Thanks everyone!

[Don Baer]

No problem Jake, it was bugging me to find something besides my hunch to verify what I suspected. part of my research took me back to my college chemistry class when they started taking about this being a exothermic reaction. My head started hurting when I read that so I had to find an easier explanation.