Redundant, I know, but this is important...

I feel a little stupid but I'm going to bear my shame with pride...

Last night I had an explosion in the filter bag. I'm going to start by saying that I wasn't following my own advice, which is to include at least a four foot drop and a dust separator ( cyclone ) with water in the bottom. I was taking an unnecessary shortcut and being lazy and moved my 'portable,' filter to the new grinder set-up instead of waiting and setting it up the right way.

I'm pretty sure what happened was that the small filings from a 220 grit belt built up on the platen into a small mass which caught fire and then went down into the pipe, so it didn't extinguish like a spark would.

Even if you are smarter than me ( which didn't take much last night... ) KEEP THAT FIRE EXTINGUISHER UP TO DATE!

Just last month I replaced the old one on an annual basis and when I checked it to see if it worked... it didn't. That replacement saved my *ss.

Now I'd like to ask everyone what other precautions they take on the matter- it would be difficult for me to directly vent in the Winter, so I'd like to make sure the precautions I've taken ( and ignored... ) are adequate...

Any other suggestions beyond dust separator, metal pipe and four-foot drops for grinding collection?

If you can not afford a cyclone use like a 10' to 12' hose to give it more time to cool off the particles.
Ricardo Velarde

There is an actual firequench box(unsure of correct name),John Mallett of www.trugrit.com (http://www.trugrit.com) handles them.Might have to call about them though.

Glad you're still there! Maybe we've all learned a lesson.

Thanks for the report - and for not worrying about saving face. I appreciate your candidness. (Is that a word?)

Fire Extinguishers - check 'em and get them refilled and make sure you have the right kind. Nothing like pouring water onto a grease fire. This is NO JOKE. I work on race cars all the time and it seems like paranoia, but we always have a fire extinguisher handy when we start them up. I've only needed one twice in about 10 years, but it made a big difference in salvaging the motor.

Thanks, Jerry.

We probably, hopefully, all have one handy, but we all, again, probably haven't checked them lately.

Whe you need them you REALLY need them!