Blast Gate

[Brian Harnett]

A simple blast gate I made up for my dust collection system The gate slide has sandblasting mask on the suction side so it seals really well when closed.

[Doug Haffner]

Nicely done!

[shilala]

Very nice.
I need a new blast gate, I melted one with my patio heater. It only melted a little, but it still wasn't my most shining moment.

[Kyle Stapleton]

What is the white part on it for?

[Brian Harnett]

Kyle, The white on the gate is sandblasting mask its a thin rubber sheet with adhesive on one side it creates a gasket seal when closed, as more tools got added to my system leakage becomes an issue especially with my planer.

This gate seals far better than any sheet metal or plastic gate I have previously used.

[shilala]

Brian, I think Kyle meant the white tab behind the stick, screwed on the end of the blast gate. Looks kind of like a flag or indicator tab?

[Brian Harnett]

Brian, I think Kyle meant the white tab behind the stick, screwed on the end of the blast gate. Looks kind of like a flag or indicator tab?

Thats a latch so it does not get sucked closed.

[Bob Eustace]

Brian it is good particularly the mask seal idea (brilliant!) but it is not self clearing. You could have a bash at putting a big hole in the blade and letting it exit out the currently sealed end when closed??? I rather like some experiments Gary did years ago using motorhome Valterra sewerage valves but these dont self clear either but they do have a seal each side and they are under ten bucks. Have you tried a helix head on the planer to make the shavings more easily suckable? Made a huge difference for us.

http://youtu.be/iXJhTz-Jc7c

[bleeth]

If you have a supplier of Valterra 2" Valves in the US for under 10 bucks I want to know them!!

[Brian Harnett]

Bob I was not sure when I designed the gate if the mask would seal enough to go with that type of design, so far the gates have not had clearance issues when closed.

I do not use a helix head, a lot of the material I use is milled by me on private property and all kinds of interesting things can be found in my slabs its cheaper to resharpen or replace blades than a dozen inserts.