DC Main Lines To Machine Question

[Bob Haskett]

Ok, so I have been working on running my main lines for my DC. I have the main lines run, and 5 wye connectors in place for each of my machines. Main line is 4" S&D PVC. I decided NOT to run up the wall, but rather straight down the wall at machine level. Ok so when I hit a wye connector, and am ready to break off to a machine how do I run it?

My wye connectors are 4x4x4 all hubs. So does it go Y Connector->Blast Gate->Quick Connect Adapter -> Flex hose or what? What is the best way to do it? Do I need some kind of adapter for the S&D PVC pipe to a blast gate? Trying to figure out how to run this before I order the rest of my materials.

The main line is at knee level, the machines are pushed up against the walll for storage and pulled out to the middle of my side of the garage (5 feet) for use.

[Chuck Isaacson]

Hey Bob, When I did mine, I went from the wye to a small piece, about 4" of PVC. I then went blast gate to the flex. It may be different for you because you are using the S&D. I used Schedule 40 to do mine. It was what I could find on sale, and I am kinda weird and don't like the green. The blast gates that I used are the aluminum ones that they sell at Rockler. It worked out pretty nice. I just secured them to the PVC with a couple sheet metal screws. I also used a few wraps of masking tape to seal the connection a little. Hope this helps.

[Bob Haskett]

Hey Bob, When I did mine, I went from the wye to a small piece, about 4" of PVC. I then went blast gate to the flex. It may be different for you because you are using the S&D. I used Schedule 40 to do mine. It was what I could find on sale, and I am kinda weird and don't like the green. The blast gates that I used are the aluminum ones that they sell at Rockler. It worked out pretty nice. I just secured them to the PVC with a couple sheet metal screws. I also used a few wraps of masking tape to seal the connection a little. Hope this helps.

So you have to use a section of PVC as a coupler to connect to blast gates? The blast gates will not go into the hub section of the wye connector? And how did you get the flex onto the blast gate? Are they already sized properly for that?

[Chuck Isaacson]

Yes. Like you said, I use a small section of PVC between then wye and blast gate. Then I use a hos clamp to hold the flex on the gate. Works real good.

[Bob Haskett]

Ok so it looks like I need clamps, flex hose, some extra PVC to make couplers, and blast gates.

[glenn bradley]

I went - wye, blastgate, hose with clamp.

[Bob Haskett]

What kind of blast gates do you have? Is it 4" s&d?

[Peter Aeschliman]

I made my own blast gates. So for my 4" connections, one half of the blast gate was a 4" PVC connector and the other half is a standard DC-sized coupler.

Making your own blast gates is really easy to do. I'd recommend it if you have a large batch of them to do.

[Bob Haskett]

I only need 4 so am probably just going to get the self cleaning ones from Lee Valley, IF they fit in 4" S&D pvc. Does anyone know if they do?

[Cliff Holmes]

I only need 4 so am probably just going to get the self cleaning ones from Lee Valley, IF they fit in 4" S&D pvc. Does anyone know if they do?

Most likely they don't. I've found that S&D is always larger than "standard" DC connectors. Best to just ask LV, I'm sure they can give you the ID/OD of the connector.

[Bob Haskett]

They dont fit. So what I did was wrap the blast gate connector with duct tape until it fit. I do not know if this is optimal. Does anyone have another solution they used?

[Mike Cruz]

I have mine set up with PVC 4" run as my main line (up at the ceiling). From the wye, I continue with PVC to the machine. Now, each machine is different from this point on. I like my blast gates to be in convenient spots. So, for some machines, I connected the flex hose to the PVC, then blast gate right before the machine. Others have PVC, blast gate, flexhose. It all just depends on the machine proximity and convenience.

To connect the flex hose to the PVC (they seemed to be the same size...neither would fit inside the other), I cut a slit in the flex pipe about 3" long, put it outside the PVC, and wrapped it with duct tape. I didn't do it, but reading one of the other posts got me thinking that maybe before duct taping, I should have run a couple of those really short gutter screws through the flex pipe into the PVC, then wrapped with DT. That way, the tape is just keeping it air tight, and not beaing the weight of the flex pipe.

[Bob Haskett]

I have mine set up with PVC 4" run as my main line (up at the ceiling). From the wye, I continue with PVC to the machine. Now, each machine is different from this point on. I like my blast gates to be in convenient spots. So, for some machines, I connected the flex hose to the PVC, then blast gate right before the machine. Others have PVC, blast gate, flexhose. It all just depends on the machine proximity and convenience.

To connect the flex hose to the PVC (they seemed to be the same size...neither would fit inside the other), I cut a slit in the flex pipe about 3" long, put it outside the PVC, and wrapped it with duct tape. I didn't do it, but reading one of the other posts got me thinking that maybe before duct taping, I should have run a couple of those really short gutter screws through the flex pipe into the PVC, then wrapped with DT. That way, the tape is just keeping it air tight, and not beaing the weight of the flex pipe.

So I understand how you connected the blast gate to the machine. But how did you connect it to the PVC? You used the flex hose as a coupler?

[Mike Cruz]

Yeah, I guess I did... PVC to flex pipe, to blast gate, to flex pipe to machine. When connecting from a wye to a blast gate directly, yes, I just used flex pipe as my coupler. The wye and blast gates are the same size, so I cut a piece of flex pipe, about 6" or so, to connect them. The air never even hits the flex pipe because the wye and blast gate butt up against one another. That way, I didn't have to buy couplers...just cut what I needed as I needed it.

[Mike Cruz]

Oops, I might have misspoken. I think the blast gates WOULD fit inside the PVC, but it was sloppy (too loosly) and I guess I couldn't figure out how to get a nice fit.

Also, now that I think of it, I don't have any blast gates DIRECTLY at any of the PVC. In all cases, there is some sort of length of flex pipe between the PVC and the blast gates. Sorry, I did this a little while ago and didn't remember exactly what I had done.