Surprise Concertina Fire

[Dissonance]

The Concertina Fire!

This is was most unexpected and in retrospect very entertaining. Through the help of counseling I am now finally able to tell the story ?

 

I got ahold of a Stagi Anglo, you know, inexpensive, steel ends white celluloid acetate buttons. The problem was that someone in the distant past thought it was a great idea to hot glue the buttons to the levers in lieu of the rubber sleeves. Well it wasn’t a great idea because all the buttons were just getting stuck (this system relies on flexibility). I did just about everything I could think of to remove those buttons, nothing worked. That darn hot glue had way more strength and integrity than the cheap aluminum mechanism. As a last resort I decided to use a heat gun to try to soften the hot glue to the point that I could take the button off the lever. 

 

Starting with a warm setting I carefully increased the heat incrementally and .....BANG!!!......the button I was working on flared up like a firework. Literally In under a second and before I could reach for a rag to put out the fire it had spread to three other buttons and singed a couple more.    

              Let that be a warning!

After the smoke cleared (and there was a surprising amount of it) I checked the temperature of the heat gun. I was able to hold my hand under it for quite a while. What this means is that these old Stagis are a lot more flammable than gunpowder. 
 

I think I may have stumbled upon the secret Stagi self destruct mechanism.

 

[Peter Laban]

Celluloid is extremely dangerous as a fire hazard. It is l known for being highly flammable. That why old film archives are kept in bunkers.  This really shouldn't have been a surprise.

Edited September 6, 2020 by Peter Laban

[RWL]

Isopropyl alcohol softens hot melt glue.  No need to heat the stuff.  Just drip some alcohol on it.  Keep it soaked "awhile" and peel it off.