Porter cable orbital sander caught fire

Jake Vrbka

Member
Messages
35
Location
Malcolm, NE
So I bought a new porter cable orbital sander today and was sanding my tabletop between coats of polyurethane. I sanded the whole tabletop and the extensions, then shut it off and set it in my shop stool. I grabbed some sandpaper and started sanding the edges of the table by hand. After a few minutes I thought I could smell something burning. After another minute or so, the smell was getting stronger. I looked at my new sander and noticed it was smoking. I picked it up and the dust extraction bag was starting to smoke pretty good. I took the bag off and tried to dump out the contents but nothing was coming out. I walked to the front of the house to run some water on it from the spigot. By the time I got there the bag was just starting to flame up. I got it put out.
Anyone ever have that happen? I'm just glad it wasn't later and I didn't sand then shut it off and go inside to bed. Probably would have burnt the house down!
 
Wow! I think you were very fortunate to have it happen when you were there to see it. Could have been a disaster. I wonder what sparked it. Do you think it was electrical, or a spark from sanding (which doesn't seem likely if you were sanding between coats)?
 
I had something similar happen once, but it was totally my own fault. I was using a belt sander to flatten the back of a very abused chisel. sparks flew up the vacuum's hose, into the dust bag, and it began smoldering.

Your experience however, seems quite a bit worse. Any chance the sandpaper hit a bit of metal, sending sparks? Hard to believe the motor brushes spark enough to ignite the dust, but maybe. In any case, this is really dangerous. Have you thought of contacting the consumer products safety agency? Please let us know the outcome.
 
I'm pretty sure I didn't hit any metal with it. I was just gonna return it to Menards and get a different one. I thought about contacting the company, but I don't really want to have to send it in to them and wait for them to do whatever they will do and be without it for who knows how long.
 
Just for fun run it with out the dust bag on in the dark to see if the sander is shooting sparks into the bag. If it is than get the company on the horn and let them know. So they can look into the problem and do a recall if necessary.
 
i got agree with chuck on doing that dry run test and then contact manufacture if you just got menards theproblem wont be addressed properly you get new sander but possible others wont know its a problem and the manufacture wont get to fix a problem they may unaware of.
 
another question you say you were sanding poly between coats, is the poly solvent based or water based, if it was solvent based are you sure the poly was completly done out gassing before sanding. I have had poly on rags spontanously cumbust before just due to it being hot.
 
That could be a possibility Don. I'm using Minwax fast drying polyurethane. On the can it says to let dry 3-4 hours, then lightly sand. When I sanded, it had been just over 4 hours and felt dry to the touch, and it was producing dust. I would think if it was a little wet yet that it would have balled up on me, but who knows. I'm getting ready to try a dry run with it and see if I get any sparks.
 
I'm using Minwax fast drying polyurethane. Water based or oil based?? If it's water based that not what caused this.
 
Larry, I took a 2x6 into the laundry room in my basement. There are no windows in there, so it was dark. I had the dust collection bag off and I sanded the board for about 10 min. I didn't see any sparks during that time.
 
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