A coolant fire at the old Johnson Tool shop made me rethink everything

Honestly, I was running a big batch of aluminum parts on a VF-2 about five years back at Johnson Tool in Dayton. The coolant sump was full of chips and I was behind schedule, so I just kept running. Ngl, I saw smoke but thought it was just steam from the heat. Then a spark from the tool hitting a clamp must have caught the oil mist in the air. The whole enclosure flashed over in a second. We got it out fast with a CO2 extinguisher, but it melted the way covers and ruined the spindle bearings. The repair bill was over $15k. Now I clean my sump every single Friday without fail, no matter the job. Has anyone else had a close call like that from putting off basic maintenance?

3 comments

3 Comments

hugow3018d ago

Fifteen grand for a repair is wild, but the melted way covers part makes my stomach drop. I always thought those things were tough enough to handle anything. Seeing the sparks catch that oil mist must have been horrifying. Did the CO2 extinguisher mess up any of the electronics long term? I've heard stories where the powder ones brick whole control boards. Glad you guys got it out quick, but that kind of flashover sounds like a nightmare I never want to deal with.

david_henderson62mo ago

Forget the repair bill, man. That fire risked the whole shop and everyone in it. Makes you realize we treat coolant like it's just messy water, but it's basically atomized oil waiting for a spark. My old foreman used to say a dirty sump is a time bomb, and he wasn't wrong. It's not just about wrecking a machine, it's about what could have happened to the guy next to it.

paige5142mo ago

Okay but "atomized oil waiting for a spark" feels a bit dramatic, @david_henderson6. I've seen some nasty sumps and misty shops that never had a problem. It's a fire risk, sure, but calling every dirty machine a time bomb is a stretch. Most of the time it just makes a mess and wrecks the machine, not the whole building.