Fire! Festool CT22 vac

[Kent A Bathurst]

First time I've heard of maple igniting this easily.

I'm quite honestly stunned that people seem so quick to point to the routing + maple as the explanation.

I've been reading this forum as well as others for years now and have never seen someone mention that routing maple is a fire hazard.

Phil - legit point. I don't know that maple does ignite this easily. I know that the OP absolutely swears there were no hard objects in play - metal, stone, etc.. I know that maple is prone to burning, even with sharp blades/cutters, and while I have never seen flaming/glowing bits thrown off, the wood can still get smoking hot [BTW - the OP has never posted photos of the cut-in-play when the conflagration began].

And, so, I devolved to the misspent hours of my youth, and my love of Sherlock Holmes. In this case, as per The Sign of Four:

"....when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth...."


So - Phil - your theory is????

Mebbe a second sniper on the Grassy Knoll?

[Larry Frank]

Based on the fact that the OP emptied the dust bag it will be difficult to fully investigate. I would have had my phone out taking pics or video.

Festool will no doubt look at scorch/fire marks and full investigate the electrics.

On a kind of side note...given all the dust and chips in a shop and heat generated at time cutting, routing, drilling etc it is amazing that there are not more fires.

[Phil Thien]

Phil - legit point. I don't know that maple does ignite this easily. I know that the OP absolutely swears there were no hard objects in play - metal, stone, etc.. I know that maple is prone to burning, even with sharp blades/cutters, and while I have never seen flaming/glowing bits thrown off, the wood can still get smoking hot [BTW - the OP has never posted photos of the cut-in-play when the conflagration began].

And, so, I devolved to the misspent hours of my youth, and my love of Sherlock Holmes. In this case, as per The Sign of Four:

"....when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth...."


So - Phil - your theory is????

Mebbe a second sniper on the Grassy Knoll?

I don't really have a theory. I'm not going to jump to any conclusions here. I think Festool should be given a chance to investigate. They undoubtedly have engineering staff in the US, or visiting engineers from Germany, perhaps they will let us know what they find.

And for the record, I'm not dismissing the possibility it was induced by maple being machined. I'm just saying the reaction of so many here, that it is obvious that it was the maple being routed, seems insane to me. If maple being routed was an ignition source, few of us would have shops left.

I will tell you this, and I'm not kidding: I will be sourcing a smoke alarm to place near my separator and vac today. If nothing else, this thread has reminded me that there are dangers in this hobby and we need to take precautions.

[John Gornall]

The smoke alarms in my house and shop are interconnected wirelessly so that if one goes off they all go off. I have had the alarm in my shop go off at 3:00 AM and I wouldn't hear it if it was solo but when a few more go off including the one just outside the bedroom door, I'm up and downstairs in about 10 seconds. Left a soldering iron plugged in and the flux smoked a little. I now turn off the main switch when I leave my shop for the night. Alarms are by Kidde. I also have a large fire extingusher beside the door OUTSIDE my shop so I can grab it on the way in if needed.

[James Zhu]

The smoke alarms in my house and shop are interconnected wirelessly so that if one goes off they all go off. I have had the alarm in my shop go off at 3:00 AM and I wouldn't hear it if it was solo but when a few more go off including the one just outside the bedroom door, I'm up and downstairs in about 10 seconds. Left a soldering iron plugged in and the flux smoked a little. I now turn off the main switch when I leave my shop for the night. Alarms are by Kidde. I also have a large fire extingusher beside the door OUTSIDE my shop so I can grab it on the way in if needed.

Based on the electrical code, the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in the house are powered by the same electrical circuit, otherwise it is a code violation. One goes off, all go off.

[John Gornall]

Depends of course on the code in your jurisdiction and the vintage of your building. Mine needed help.

I worry about fire and had an interesting conversation with my insurance guy. I suggested an automatic sprinkler system and he said he would cancel my insurance if installed. He said there's more insured damage from water with accidental sprinkler activations than fire damage. I then suggested a manual sprinkler system that could be turned on by valve if needed - he's going to get back to me on that.