New subject: Magnesium Fires, was Re: HP-2116A chassis (or repairing cast aluminum)

18 Apr 2005

Many years ago, I did some machine work on magnesium and kept the chips.
At some point, I wanted to see how it would burn and put a small pile of
chips on the sidewalk and lit it with a match. Burned *very* nicely all
the way up to the time the concrete exploded from all the heat being
generated (and probably moisture from rain the day before.) It left a
scar above one eye and put a hole in my dads brand new convertable top.
People still wonder how I managed to live this long :).

...
   Alex wrote:
  No need to worry - trying to get a magnesium case
to burn is _hard_ 
 Actually, it's very easy.  You just grind it up into powder first.
 Time-consuming, but not particularly difficult.
  Once a small part is ignited, it will burn quite well in solid chunks if  
 it gets enough oxygen.
 A bit of iron oxide can make the situation very interesting.

 Drilling or grinding magnesium without proper precautions is risky.
 Welding is done with inert gas, so that is usually quite safe.

 -- 
 Bj??rn