Almost started fire with CA glue

[decibel]

Hopefully you guys know this or can at least explain to me why. Anyway I was glueing the tubes in some pen blanks the other day and just happened to have an old cotton rag on on my assembly table and quite a few drops landed on the rag. I'd say within 10 seconds the rag was smoldering white smoke was coming off of it so I pulled it apart and it was VERY warm. It was one of those box of rags you can get from Klingspor / woodcraft etc. The rag had some old dired BLO on it but the area that I spilled CA on was clean. I didn't know CA would react that way with a cotton rag or was there something else.

Just another reminder to be careful.

 

[Ken Massingale]

I've had it smoke with Acetone or accelerator, but not on a clean cotton cloth.

 

[Trent Mason]

I had the same thing happen to me once. After that, I switched back to using the blue shop paper towels.

 

[NCTurner]

It is not smoke per say, it is a chemmical reation.

 

[decibel]

I've had it smoke with Acetone or accelerator, but not on a clean cotton cloth.

Maybe that was the culprit. It was a rag I hadn't used in probably a month or so and maybe it had residue of accelerator on it..

I had the same thing happen to me once. After that, I switched back to using the blue shop paper towels.

Same here I would have used it again but didn't know I could start a fire with it. I was only worried about drying oily rags.

I moved the fire extinguisher out to the shop today that I've been meaning to get out there for months :thumbs_up

 

[FredP]

certain fabrics can act as an accelerator on CA. It isn't the cloth that's smoking it's the CA. I've found that certain paper towels will do the same thing.

 

[Dragon]

FWIW, in my experiences, CA will NOT on its own initiate combustion. True, it does heat up when mixed with certain other substances but not to the point of ignition. Bear in mind that class A, (ordinary combustibles like wood, paper, cloth, etc.), require temps in the range of 400 degrees F. to ignite. I've used CA on foam rubber material in the past and it "smoked", (fumed visibly like on CSI Miami), and the material "heated" but no where near combustion temperatures.

I don't think you/we have any worries about "accidentally" starting a fire in our shops with CA glue. I haven't done extensive testing on this to verify my summations, but I have noticed that it will react differently with exposure to certain other materials. I found out many years ago when I was doing a lot of plastic modeling and using some photo etched brass pieces, that CA will most definitely accelerate its hardening speed if you blow cigarette smoke on it. It fumes, turns kinda brownish or whitish, gets all "warty" looking, but the end result is the original gorilla glue........ugly as heck but holds like.... a gorilla!

PS edit:
I forgot to offer that those "cotton" cloths were probably a blend with something like polyester, nylon, etc., that reacted with the CA and gave you the jitters. You may want to do a little research if it makes you more comfortable, but in this day of terrorism scares, I feel pretty comfortable that if CA could be used to initiate a fire, govco would have already required background checks and waiting periods just to buy a tube of Super Glue.