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Be careful using a cutting torch

J

John B.

Well-known Member
Today at work a young man was using a torch to heat up a pin on a bulldozer. The pin was actually the hinge pin for the loader. He was trying to get it out to take the boom/loader arms off of the dozer.
As he heated the pin he didn't realize there was a grease fitting facing him. Well he kept heating it and as it smoked and built pressure internally from the grease boiling and the fitting getting read hot, it finally blew out the little ball from the grease fitting like a bullet. Luckily he wasn't in front of it. It flew 30 feet then stuck in the wall of the shop. The grease fitting turned into a 6 ft flame thrower until it ran out of grease to shoot.
This could of been fatal.

Years ago I had a friend who was heating up a stell wheel on an old plow trying to take it off. same thing happened to him but he got hit from a chunk of metal that busted off from the pressure hitting him between the legs. He said he swelled up like a melon then had to have one of two private parts taken off.

Both of these two men are very lucky!

Be careful!
 
I've got another fun one for ya. Back in high school I was replacing the ball joints in my truck. I was using a torch to heat one up so I could pount it out- I had the front spindle removed from the truck and in a vise in the metal shop.

After about 5-10 minutes on it with a torch, that thing blew up. The ball flew out of the socket and shot probably 20-30 ft. across the shop. Only 2 other guys were therer at the time, and it sure scared the crap outta me. Did get that old ball joint out though....

Donovan from Wisconsin
 
I blew up a rubber brake line that way. I was heating the fitting in the end to get it loose. The next time I had to do that I cut the line first.
 
Did the same thing it hit the concrete floor 6in. from my foot never did find it. Sure took a chunk out of the floor.
 
I thought I would put this one at the top of the list but it's a reply to harolds posting below.

Brake fluid is very flammable, all it needs is heat to ignite it, not a spart or flame.

My dad had a 1964 Ford one ton truck he bought new. One of the firts I guess to have power brakes. Well the brakes would drag once in a while and one time while we were in St. Louis picking up vegetables to resell he noticed the brakes dragging going down the interstate so we pulled off and he bled them at the mastercylinder. The brake fluid dripped down on the hot exhaust manifold and caught fire. It was small and didn't burn very long, we were lucky.

As I look back on what caused the brakes to drag is the only thing I can come up with is that there must not of been any freeplay between the Mastercylinder and the push rod coming from the brake pedal.
 
Talking about concrete floors, always be careful when heating something around one. If the conctete gets hot enough the moisture in the mix will turn to steam and cause a part of the floor to spall off. I have seen pieces come off and go a pretty good ways if enough heat was concentrated in one spot long enough.
 
Same goes for grease you CAN see. Cutting a galled bearing from an axle, so you can remove the wheel hub off gets interesting when oxy is added to scarf off the bearing from the axle. Fire extinguisher if nice to have close at hand
 
I had the same thing happen one day when I was heating up a U joint on a driveshaft trying to get it out. All the grease inside exploded in my face and on my legs. I had shorts on. It really didn't hurt me very bad but I looked like Wyle Coyote after a bomb blew up. It even messed my hair up just like it does in the cartoons. I thought I was hurt really bad but it was more noise and stuff flying than anything.
 
Remember one that could have been real bad. Cut piece of steel(red hot)fell and cut hoses in two. Lots of flames and hoses moving around until shut off. Still have hoses for souveneir.
 
I was using the gas welder the other day to weld the grill on the c Farmall I'm working on, when my glasses slid down my nose inside the welding goggles. I reached up to push the glases back up with the hand that had the torch in it. Yep you're right set my hair afire. Not only that, its not the first time i've done that. Oh well pay them kinda wages,get that kinda help. Bernie Steffen
 
Using a cutting torch on a piece a few inches off the floor will cause the concrte to spall. Lots of cutting even off of a table can do it as well. The tech. school had steel impregnated floors to help prevent this. I picked up a torch and lit it. About 3 seconds later I had a big flame in my hands. Someone had took the torch handle off to put a different one on, with a big rosebud, and didn't tighten the fittings after putting the torch handle on. Luckily it was a propane torch. Acetylene might have burned back in the hose. I dropped the torch and went and shut the propane valve off. This happened in a large shop that used a 1000 gallon propane cylinder to supply all the torches in the shop. I didn't really panic but one of the apprentices was pretty scared. Each torch hose had its own shut off which is good. Dave
 
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