

| Subject: | ! Magnesium grinding |
| Date: | Wed, 5 Jun 96 09:53:34 +0200 |
All, When grinding magnesium beware of steel bolts or dowels near the spot you want to grind. A couple of years ago I modified a T IV fanhousing and i wanted to grind of some things, after a few minutes there was quite some magnesium powder on the floor and workbench in my basement, the magnesium doesn't give sparks when ground, but then I hit a steel dowel with the disc, I reacted instantly and only a few sparks came off but, unfortunatly, that was enough to ignite it, it gave a flash you wouldn't believe, bright blueish white, I turned around and saw my shadow on the opposite wall, i ran up into the kitchen and the only thing i could grab was a pan of spinach, i ran down again and trew it onto the bench, the magnesium allready stopped burning, but the spinach put out the phone and some other things that had cought fire. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx x Magnesium powder is very easily set on fire, be very carefull. x xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx And another thing, after all the things you might have read here on the list you might be interested in burning an engine case, someone might have told you allready but be carefull, porosities in the casting can cause explosions that spread pieces of burning magnesium. I read that several cars burned out at the Bug Ins at Orange County Raceway (if i have the name right) because of people burning cases. Brian.
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