Watched a seaming iron catch fire on a job site last Tuesday

I was installing some cheap polypropylene carpet in a basement over in Oakville when my old Rotobond seaming iron just started smoking and then popped a little flame. I always thought that brand was bulletproof, but a buddy of mine had been telling me for months to switch to a newer model with auto shutoff. After that I went straight to the supply house and picked up a used Roberts iron from the repair guy there. Has anyone else had a power tool suddenly fail on them mid-job?

2 comments

2 Comments

troykim22d ago

Right, so that Rotobond thing brings back a memory. I had this old Stanley utility knife that I'd dropped a hundred times and it was still sharp as hell. Then one day I'm cutting through some really thick vinyl sheet goods and the blade just snapped in half, no warning, no nothing. Lucky I didn't stick the broken part into my hand. Made me realize that even the stuff you trust the most is gonna give up eventually. It's like they have a secret timer inside or something.

reese55022d ago

Six bucks says that blade had a hairline crack from day one.