It may seem obvious but it is worth saying – LASERS CAN START FIRES!
The instructions that come with the laser emphasise that they should never be left unattended. There is even a label on the laser gantry –
There are loads of examples of the possible consequences of not keeping an eye on on the laser, one here from the Facebook – Laser Engraving for Beginners page.-
So, okay definitely never, ever, EVER leave the laser running unattended.
To be fair it is quite entertaining, indeed slightly mesmerising, to watch the laser doing its stuff. At first….
But if it is doing a photo engraving it can take anything around two to three hours, possibly more. Seriously am I going to stand over the laser watching it every second of that time! But then I don’t want a fire to destroy my laser, or worse my workshop (full of wood), or worse our house!
With all of the above in mind I felt I should be looking a some better protection than a fire extinguisher by the door.
After some research I found the xTool Fire Safety Kit at £159 from xTool (of course!). This kit has five flame detectors and a flame/heat sensor for the laser head. These all connect to a control box housing all the detection electronics and four CO2 gas bottles. The control unit is also connected to a smart socket used to supply power to the laser machine.
If it detects the potential start of a fire it beeps for a few seconds to allow the user time to switch it off and attend to matters themselves if no action is taken after a few seconds than the power to the laser engraver is cut off and the enclosure is flooded with CO2 to suppress the fire.
Here is my installation –
I still wouldn’t want to leave the laser entirely unattended when in use but at least I can turn my back on it and do something else.
