DC Remote Blastgate Recommendations

[Todd Crow]

Doug,

I built these blast gates for my dust collection system. They are operated by a 120V air solenoid that I hooked up to the switch of the machines. I used some cheap electric plugs to connect the machines to the gate electric system, so I can disconnect them easily. You could just hook a switch on the wall if you didn't want to connect them to the machines.

Automatic Gate

I made a pdf file that has instructions on building the gates. It is available here:

http://www.crowsnest.us/woodshop/woo...p_projects.htm

Todd

[Steven DeMars]

Any reason everyone locates the gates near or attached to the machines. Would they work if all your blast gates were together near the dust collector in a row like a manifold ?

Just thinking . . . .

Steve

[John Bush]

I've had good luck with the Ecogate system so far and would recommend it as an expensive convenience. I automated all my gates that are a bit out of reach and it really makes the milling process much more enjoyable. I had to replace two of the small motors but the CS was excellent and the system has been flawless since. Good luck, and happy Holidays!!! JCB.

[David Duke]

Any reason everyone locates the gates near or attached to the machines. Would they work if all your blast gates were together near the dust collector in a row like a manifold ?

Just thinking . . . .

Steve

Steve, if they were set up as a manifold an individual line would have to ran to each machine instead of running a main trunk line and branching off. This would get expensive if you have very far to run.

[Jim O'Dell]

Plus a big manifold would probably be ineffecient, robbing you of some CFM. I see some people use a big box with 5 pipes in from machines, and 1 pipe out to the collector. If you've got enough power to spare, it would be fine. But why give that away? Jim.

[Robert Mahon]

Todd,
Where in S. A. were you?
For what reason?

[Doug Shepard]

OK - Jim & Jim (and anyone else that questioned my sanity). It's starting to sink in that I need to reconsider where to locate the blastgates.

Doug, do you need the drops to come off to pull a vehicle in? I did this in my shop because I want to pull my 3/4 ton van in in bad weather, and it won't fit in the regular garage...too tall. I incorporated the blast gate into a quick disconnect. The blast gate is after the elbow down, so I don't have the blastgate up in the rafters. (My main trunk is up above the rafters.)
Bill Pentz says to use metal ducting if it will be hidden up above the ceiling, for fire safety sake. I built a tunnel open at the bottom for mine since I already had the PVC on hand. I have the two halves of the blast gate held together by bolts and T-nuts that when taken out, the blast gate separates, I take the sliding part out, and the whole down tube is on rollers to move out of the way. I can still reach the blast gate to operate it in normal mode with out even tip toeing to reach. The set up wil be harder to undo at the TS! The flex hose I have is a very tight fit on the S&D PVC. Jim

Yep - Need to park a vehicle in the shop. No ceiling here though - it's open rafters, but I'm leaning toward metal anyway. If so, I'm probably going to go with the Nordfab stuff just for the drops and quick connects but less pricey stuff for the main lines. Still haven't ruled out going with PVC though. Got any pics or a link to pics showing the Down-Tube-On-Rollers and the gate setup? This sounds like something I might want to investigate.

Assuming for a moment I still decide to go with remote (but relocated) gates, is Ecogate the only ones that make 6" remote gates? I spent some time Googling yesterday and the only Non-Ecogate remotes I found were all 4". Couldn't find any 6" except for the Ecogate units, but maybe I just haven't looked hard enough yet. And if Ecogates are the only 6" ones, can you use their gates with other controllers? Just trying to explore all the options.

Icidently - I posted more ClearVue album pics of the install starting with the last pic on the 3rd page here: http://gallery.clearvuecyclones.com/...-CV1400?page=3
Everything inside the DC closet in now DONE except for what needs to be done to hook up ducting and possibly electric for blastgate controller wiring. Followed Mr. O'Dell's lead and decided to suspend the bin lid for bin emptying.

[Jim O'Dell]

Thers are a couple pictures here, though not very detailed. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ght=coolmeadow
Post 69 picture 4 shows the blast gate hanging, but no tube on the down side. The top half of the gate has eye bolts screwed partially into a T-nut that is recessed into the bottom side of that top half. The bottom half of the gate just has holes in it, and they also thread up into the same T-nut. I used barrel adjusters ( I think that's what they're called) to hang the gate from the rafters.
Post 83 , last picture, shows a very dark picture of the TS down tube. You might be able to make out the cradle with the 2 wheels on it going toward the backside of theTS. The horizontal duct at the floor is strapped to the cradle with 2 bungee cords. I can tilt the tube back toward me which engages the rollers on the floor, and wheel it where I need to go. Kind of the opposite of the Mini Max johnson bar set up. It works pretty good. If you need better pictures, let me know. It might be Tues evening before I can take them...On the way to Oklahoma here in a few minutes.
If you are going to leave the ceilings open, PVC will be fine. If you use metal, be sure to use gloves when assembling. I used metal for my exhaust. One adjustable elbow and one wye, and I cut my hands up a LOT. Made me glad I used PVC on the rest of it!
Let me know If I can take some better pictures for you! Jim.

[Doug Shepard]

OK - I'm officially confused again. A trip to Bill Pentz' site found the following, which makes me think my original idea of putting the gates up by the Y's was what I should do ??
You close the airflow to a machine with a blast gate. There are many different types of blast gates including many that can be opened automatically through electric motors, air pressure, and even hydraulics. The best place to put your blast gates is next to the wyes off your main line up high. The more open pipe or hose you leave exposed between the main run and the blast gate, the more resistance it causes. Also, if that pipe fills too much, opening the gate will cause all that material in the down drop to slam into the impeller potentially ruining motor bearings and even breaking impellers. It then goes into the filters potentially poking holes and greatly reducing filter life by requiring far more cleanings.
From http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyc...tingComponents

[Todd Crow]

Robert,

I was stationed outside of Riyadh when I was in the Air Force for four months.

Todd

Todd,
Where in S. A. were you?
For what reason?

[Travis Porter]

What size/type collector do you have?

You could make the gates stick right below the ceiling and use a stick/rod to open and close it.

[Ted Christiansen]

Doug,

This blast gate design might work for you since it uses strings to open and close. Note: this isn't my design, I found it on the Internet in May 2005. I should have saved the URL of the site, but only saved the image URL. When I make the switch from 4" flexible hose to 6" S&D PVC I plan to use this gate design.

Ted

[Jim O'Dell]

Ted, I like it! Nice and simple, yet effective and easy to use! Jim.

[Fred Voorhees]

Doug, I built mine from plans from SMC member Terry Hatfield and I swear by them. That is, of course, if you can get your gates below cieling level. I tried to get over to Terry's website, but it looks as if it is down. You may try to get a hold of him to see if you can get the specs on them. Very easy and inexpensive to build and very effective.

[Jeffrey Makiel]

Ted,
That's very clever. The only downside is that the damper must be in the overhead versus along the wall. However, I'm sure one can figure something out for a wall application also.
-Jeff