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I’m trying to make what prompted such an incendiary calamity.

Clearly see some pressure relief valve blowing some sort of liquid. Would hydraulic fluid be so volatile and why wouldn’t the press designers release it into some containment vessel?

Man, that ended up like a blowtorch aimed right up at the ceiling.

It probably ended up like an oil-burner, ie, a fine mist of oil (hydraulic fluid) that just ignited and kept going. Hard to start up, but once heated and/or aerosolised, VWOOOSH!

Your comment on the “pest control (cockroaches)” got me digging for this vid.
I’ve worked with plastic injection presses and this isn’t one. Seems like a 1st world installation; all very clean and tidy. The fellow with the oxy-acetylene torch isn’t anywhere close enough to ignite the spray – lest I can’t see any jump to such.

Holy Shit!
Talk about hauling ass in the nick of time…
Did somebody say Kill It With Fire?!!
All the Best,
Jeff

Sheesh…I did not expect such a consuming fireball! Seems like it ignited on something floor-level to the back right of the machine. Kinda neat to see the rectangular flame outlines from the insulation batts after they hit the floor. Glad those two hightailed it out of there…I probably would have been standing there ready for incineration.

WTF! Looked like the last reel of a James Bond movie!

Amazing the security camera stayed live and in focus – a proper set-up with an independent power feed.

Had one incident with one of our presses where the nozzle blew. Heavy composite of glass fibre polyamide that overcooked and plugged it. Shot out with a very loud bang onto the bolster die plate. No harm was done but the release of a dark black sooty cloud got the shop evacuated. I was near, too close actually. Lost my hearing for the afternoon.

Operator error, was supposed to dump any residual load before lunch break.

The draw on that press is long, maybe 30 feet *. The controls on the bottom right are heaters/coolers. The overhang ducts are for fumes. Can’t see any gantry/overhead crane and can’t make what’s on the floor, coiled. I don’t think a hydraulic failure is the culprit – those are a short burst (they do make mist though).

*Edit:
Draw perhaps 5 to 6 feet. Ducts don’t seem to be directly overhead the press but rollers are in line. At second look, the press would have completed its open stroke and the pressure valve then releases.

Good save—dude went back to get his phone!

Wonder if they knew the potential effect of a fire. They seemed alert to a dangerous situation and reacted quickly.

Did it take out the whole factory?

What would they need to do with an acetylene torch around a big press—pre-heat some part or fixture?

No crane or fork lift for heavy lifting, wonder what is being pressed.

Wow! Insane. Curious—it was just posted yesterday, as an unlisted video, and comments are turned off. No explanation in the description section.

It would be interesting to understand the “generally expected” volatility risk of that factory. Were they dealing with volatile materials at all, or was this scenario completely unexpected? Notice how one guy goes running back to the control console to grab his phone and he briskly walks away, not running fast… until that fire rapidly expands. THEN the two guys run full speed. The heat must’ve been pretty serious. Can you imagine if one of them tried to rescue the computer at the control console? They would’ve been engulfed by the fire.

The hydraulic fluid (?) spewing out of the top of the press like that… looked like firehose volume… must’ve rapidly spread over the ceiling. It’s crazy how fast the ceiling materials caught fire and then came raining down.

Some digging:

Aluminium extrusion factory in Seville, Spain Thursday, June 2nd, 2022
Reddit
And redirected article from CanalSur (Radio & television) link
However they say the fire started in the ceiling – clearly not the case.

Metafilter has more probable cause to hydraulic fluid atomized: link

Imgur:

Aftermath

Now I better understand the machine is an aluminium extruder; billets coming from the left and the final shape out on the right. The “coils” are the dies, the ducts for the cooling and any oils/vapours coming off. The operator was perhaps about to replace a die and had the machine open up. Something went wrong and the hydraulic pump went full flow. *
*Afterthought: hydraulic pumps deliver little flow but rather pressure – so maybe some other fluid.

My only experience with this type of machine was on a tour of Alcan in Kingston. Ontario. The billets and the end products were all on rollers and laterally to the extruder (unlike this set-up where they are in line). The billets were pre-heated with natural gas and I suppose this would have been the ignition source here.

Blowing my toot!

Looks like the extrusion dies survived the fire—not so much his lunch box and thermos bottle.

Good find. Curious… the place looks much less sooty than I would’ve expected… unless the aftermath shown is after a certain basic cleanup had already been performed.

Roving gangs of grannys ...be afraid very afraid

I’d pay good money to have hands as steady as this guy…
And to think Rolex refused to work on this ladies watch.
Just like so much in this world - nobody to step up and do things right.
All the Best,
Jeff

Fascinating.

Kept me glued to the screen. visually and auditorily captivating. Not only a steadiest of hands, the chronological order of re-building – without a single error. This guy has seen many watches; almost a lost profession.

Good find Jeff, that was amazing and such fun to watch.

Imagine what would be involved to manufacture the tiny fine thread screws and gears, etc. How do they do that?

Cool video, Jeff. I’ve never seen anyone do a full disassembly of a mechanical watch. Fascinating all the parts… and this guy knows them by heart. No reference manual checks. He knows the names and the order of disassembly. Really remarkable how after a whole year, not really all that much watch relative to all the parts. That’s some terrific engineering. I haven’t watched the whole thing… I wonder if he reveals what the charge was for the owner?

xevious brings up a similar afterthought. Looking at all the specialized tooling and his knowledge, that he had some replacement part ordered from eBay for a steep $120, I would fathom upwards of $3 K.

Those specialty cleaners and spring loaders must have a very high price. His camera set-ups are quite costly. May have a tooling investment of upwards of 150 K. Then add the miscellaneous parts and defunct watches in some bins, perhaps another 150+ K. These things have to be recouped. Add the time (he makes a living from such repairs), I wouldn’t be surprised maybe closer to $5 K.

There was a time watchmaking was a profession and classes were given. A fellow with such knowledge could be in the educational sector and make a living from such. Nowadays, if you’ve made a name for yourself, you could cater to the select few that wish to have their vintage timepieces repaired/restored. These people aren’t at a lower living standard.

Addendum; Marshall Sutcliffe is an amateur watch restorer. So I’m probably way off in my estimate of work charge. I had assumed as these timepieces carry a high purchase cost and sentimental value, the labour costs would also be proportionate.

His camera set-up is in excess of $3.5 K. Don’t know of that sophisticated cleaning machine.

A while back I was mesmerized by a Tourbillion video:

YouTube

The price tag of $50 to $100 K for an original Abraham-Louis Breguet.

The mechanism has been copied to lesser brands such as Tufina for $2 K.

If you are looking for an art piece as an investment, The Label Noir Rolex Tourbillon at $130 K.

Good for an evening at the Oscars.