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I Forge Iron

And this is why air compressors should be well maintained


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When i was a welder we where thought that cylinders should always be mounted vertical so that in case of something going wrong they could take off, which is far better then them flying around at eye level.

3000 psi? make that 4300 psi. Seen those for both air and shielding gas.

On the video, could be me, but are those grind and weld marks on the bottom? Exploding gas pressure tanks always go spectacular, 50 Liter at 50 bar is about 250 Liters of air, if that volume finds a way out, it will all go out in a split second. Never ever seen or hear of a air compressor failing, but that is mainly because in factory's they but a dehumidifier next to the compressor, air goes from the dehumidifier to the compressor, dry air means no rust.

Maybe this on got some condensation going, which pooled at the bottom and rusted its way through the metal.

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A couple few years ago a 60gal. compressor tank failed catastrophically. It did severe damage to the building though the frame was repairable, the cladding wasn't and there were minor injuries. Not opening the tank drain regularly is the bane of air compressors, if you keep the condensation cleared out they don't rust. 

I'm thinking most of the shrapnel damage was gravel and debris blown of the shop floor. 

Lucky guy.

Frosty The Lucky.

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Nothing like unqualified or careless folk using dangerous things. 

Occasionally water heaters shoot themselves through a floor or two and onto a neighbor's property. Mythbusters did a great episode about water heater rocket launches. It takes multiple safety device failures for a water heater to explode. Too often they've been disabled to "fix" the problem on no hot water. 

Frosty The Lucky.

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6 hours ago, Glenn said:

Oxygen cylinders full pressure is typically about 2,000 psi and can go as high as 3,000 psi.  Always chain them in a vertical position so they can not fall over, possibly shear the valve, releasing that pressure.

I have seen the Mythbuster ep where they knock the valve off a cylinder and it went though a hollow concrete block wall like butter. Yep, no argument here.

6 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

I have to say that that was actually a relatively MINOR tank failure, Structure still standing, most of the stuff that was "blown out" can be repaired, he didn't end up in the hospital.

I did not see some chunk of steel looking like a prop from a Clive Barker movie embedded in a wall, could have been MUCH worse. I would think that micro fractures could have made that tank in small very fast fragments   

I have to wonder about all the people on Youtube using old and in some cases rusty propane tanks for air tanks. 

I told my wife last year when she wanted to buy a cabinet from the Re-Store and have me put a book shelf on it that I don't think they built this thing with 500lbs of books on it. 

I don't think that propane tanks were built to handle compressed air that is always bringing water with it. 

I also think that if a propane tank is end of life that is not a great time to use it for compressed air. 

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On 11/6/2020 at 5:09 PM, eseemann said:

I have seen the Mythbuster ep where they knock the valve off a cylinder and it went though a hollow concrete block wall like butter. Yep, no argument here.

Used to work at a company where we welded big pressure vats. We also tested said vats for leaks, smaller ones (up to 6 meter and 1,5 meter across could go into the bunker (37,5 bar air pressure) and the big ones we filled with water (up to 300 bar).

Hear ones of them fail in the bunker, the bolts that held a glass viewing plate in place turned into rockets. Really glad we had that bunker.

There was also this one time i was testing this really big vat, maybe 15 meter long and 3 meter across. Just got it to 150 bar and had to climb on top of it to disconnect the pressure hose. As i am sitting there closing the valve with a pair of plier i remember myself thinking, what the is with the wobble in this valve (17 at that time, did not know anything), next moment i am looking at a water fountain about 5 meters high. Took me a solid 15 seconds to really understand what just happened, took me another 15 to realize i was no longer holding my pliers.

Turns out that the valve mechanism was only kept in place by a single ring, that ring failed and the internal mechanism went up, trough the roof. Missed my face by about 10 cm or so. Found my pliers laying on the factory floor 20 meters behind me. 

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And Deimos and his face for the win! 

5 hours ago, Deimos said:

Missed my face by about 10 cm

There is a term the people that investigate bird strikes on air craft use to describe what is left of the bird after hitting an air craft, that term is Snarge.

Lord looks after fools, small children and in this case Deimos!

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When I went on active duty with the US Army many, many years ago (and, no, we didn't load the guns from the front end) I was 1.9 meters tall and weighed 61 kg, only 2 pounds above minimum weight.  I have filled out since then, perhaps too filled out.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

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Yeah, that's probably too thin.  I have never found anorexia to be attractive either.  However, in the US today with all the junk food, extra fat, empty calories, and fast food overweight is much more of a problem than underweight.  For most folk "too thin" is probably a good, healthy weight.

One of the few good things about the pandemic is that fewer people are consuming fast food and the average diet today is probably healthier than it was a year ago.

I speak from experience since we haven't eaten out in 8 months and we have gone to a low fat/low carb diet to improve my A1c blood sugar.  My A1c has dropped from 8.5 to 6.4, my morning and after dinner blood sugars are below normal, and I've lost over 20 pounds.  So, all to the good.

And, yes, I have passed this info on to Thomas.  Anyone who is diabetic/pre-diabetic who wants details should feel free to PM me and either I or my wife (who I give most of the credit to for this) will give you the details.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."  

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True that though I'm not big on junk food I've cut my intake to maybe one Arby's or taco bell taco salad a month. the selection of frozen vegies is getting thin and when I see how many people paw over what fresh ones are available it runs me off. 

That's a great A1c! My endocrinologist would be delighted, maybe give me a hug. I've tried to cut to a low everything diet but haven't lost much. <sigh> Better cut lower. 

I caught an interview with Dr. Drew, I'm not a fan so only catch things from him on the news, etc. The thing he said that stuck in my head was, "Americans are fat. The solution is simple, eat less, move more."

I sure can't argue.

Frosty The Lucky.

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George I would have never considered you for the Muzzle Loading Era!  (BTW do you remember if you used tree gum or tar to mount the flint projectile points?...)

I've gained 5 pounds lately; probably from sitting in my small office and NOT supposed to be wandering the halls at work.  I had better start splitting the wood we bought for the woodstove into "wife approved sizes..."

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