During this whole dust collection series, I haven’t had to buy any wood. Admittedly, my sheet storage bin was overflowing with leftover plywood from various projects. ½-sheets and ¾-sheets a-plenty.  You mentioned that you want to set up collection for scroll saw work. This dust is usually quite fine and is in very small quantities. I think that your idea to use a vacuum and a small cyclone separator is spot on. Building your own blast gate for a dust collection system isn't hard. I've seen a few bad examples of how to do this in woodworking magazines however so I thought I would illustrate this simple design I use in my system. This example shows a gate being made for a 6" system but the principle is the same for any size of ducts.  I set the gate onto one of the halves. Using this temporary spacer ensures that I get a consistent dimension between the guides in case I am building several of these. The order in which this glue-up occurs is as follows: Set one spacer on a gate half (with glue) and clamp in place. Dust collection blast gates. Related Reviews You Might Like. Mg Collection Blues Collections. Blues Collections. Blast Cabinet Dust Collectors. Dust Collection Blowers. Best Reviews Guide Newsletter. Get exclusive articles, recommendations, shopping tips, and sales alerts. Sign up for our newsletter to receive weekly recommendations about seasonal and trendy products.

If you have made an investment in a powerful dust collector, that is a great first step toward creating a healthy shop environment. Now you want to make sure that you are doing everything you can to get the most out of it.

Proper duct design is perhaps the least understood topic related to dust collection, and it is critical that you study on this to get it right in your shop. I would argue that many of the products that are sold in this category are not Blast Gates Dust Collection Setup Path up to the task of removing. Proper ductwork is all about providing a network that allows air to be pulled from each tool individually at ample velocity, and moving enough air volume to remove both the chips and the very fine dust produced.

The primary enemy of ideal dust collection is static pressure. In applied terms you can think of static pressure as the force that restricts air flow. The things that increase static pressure in dust collection include smaller ducts, longer distances, bends in the pipe and flexible tubing, so we will focus our efforts in minimizing those things that materially increase static blast gates dust collection setup guide in our systems.

First you need to choose a material for your duct work. Either PVC or metal will work well. Also, consider spiral pipe which is more durable and easier to seal, although more costly. The HVAC piping in most home centers is 30 gauge or thinner, so it is not a good choice for dust collection.

You will need to buy from either a dust collection vendor or a HVAC vendor who carries heavier gauge ductwork. Buying local might provide savings due to the high shipping costs of large pipes.

If you choose PVC, be aware that there are different thicknesses on the market, and you should go with the thinnest stuff you can find. The blast gates dust collection setup guide and lighter the PVC, the easier to work with.

Do not get schedule 40 or 80, because these are expensive and heavy, and all of the extra mass is wasted on dust collection which places extremely low pressure on PVC relative to plumbing applications which generally blast gates dust collection setup guide schedule 40 or To cut PVC I simply use a jig saw blast gates dust collection setup guide whatever wood cutting blade I happen to have on the saw, and it zips right through it.

Does PVC need to be grounded or can it be grounded? These are hotly debated topics all over the internet. I have never heard of an actual example of a fire resulting from static discharge, but there is a blast gates dust collection setup guide that you may get static electricity shocks from your PVC duct system if you live in a dry climate. If this is your situation you can find many suggestions around the internet for grounding your PVC ductwork.

I have never gotten a shock in 10 years of running PVC ducting in two different shops, so I have never bothered with grounding mine. Make your duct runs straight and direct with as few turns as possible. Arrange your tools in such a way that the bigger dust producers table saw, planer, etc. One common mistake is to blast gates dust collection setup guide ductwork that follows the perimeter of the room, which requires longer runs and more turns in the ductwork for some tools, and performance suffers as a result.

Size matters in dust collection. Therefore it is important to have your duct layout in mind when you buy your dust collector, and have your vendor suggest a model that can deliver enough suction at your tools. That means you will likely have to modify tool ports on some tools, which I will discuss a bit later in the article.

It is not that hard, and it is well worth the effort. Pretend you are designing a race car track, and you want to keep the cars going at high speeds into the turn, because once they slow down it is hard to get them moving Blast Gates Dust Collection Setup Pdf fast again, and we want to avoid a pileup of cars, or in our case, dust.

Specific choices that help promote gentle dust paths include:. Minimize the flex pipe. Run hard pipe as close to the tool as possible, and use just the flex pipe you need for convenience in blast gates dust collection setup guide you need to move the tool. Also, choose a good quality flex pipe with smooth interior walls that was designed specifically for dust collection. Some of the cheaper stuff I have used is extremely rigid, making it terrible to work with.

Good flex pipe is expensive, so I am sufficiently motivated to minimize it for that reason as well. Extra ports. When you set up your ductwork consider installing additional ports at logical locations for possible future expansion. It is easier to do it now rather than pulling your ducts apart later. You can add a blast gate so you are ready to go, or simply place a cap on the pipe which is a bit cheaper. This can also provide a nice cleanout in a convenient location should something blast gates dust collection setup guide get lodged in your ductwork.

Seal the joints? In a couple key areas, such as where the duct work connects to the dust collector, I use X-Treme tape to seal the joint. This tape does not leave glue residue, so when you rework your ducting it is easy to remove and does not require cleanup.

On metal you will likely need to seal the joints to minimize leaking. Add screws wherever needed to secure joints. These are easily blast gates dust collection setup guide when rearranging ducts. A couple straps per 10 feet of pipe should be adequate to hold everything solid.

Blast gates. There are many options out there. If you use metal ducts, you should use metal blast gates. I use some metal ones on my PVC ducts as well because they are more durable than the cheap plastic ones.

Tool ports. I encourage you to accept the fact that most tools come with insufficient tool ports. In the last five blast gates dust collection setup guide or so, this seems to be improving, but is still not great.

So, you will have to make your own ports, and in some cases, cut holes in your tools to accommodate the port. That port Blast Gates Dust Collection Setup Name allows massive air movement, and allows my dust collector to pull everything that is not attached to the tool. Quick disconnect with standard PVC coupler. Use a standard PVC coupler to slip easily over the opening on your shop made tool port. Then insert blast gates dust collection setup guide flex pipe into the other end of the coupler.

If the fit is a bit loose, you could use X-treme tape or duct tape to hold it solidly and seal it. With a good system for quick disconnect, it is simple to share a duct between two tools if you prefer, and it allows you to keep your flex hose runs shorter to minimize static pressure because moving a tool for cleaning, maintenance, etc. If you want to dive into more detail on this topic, some of the dust collection vendors offer guidelines and services in this area, and independent researchers such as Bill Pentz provide extensive information on this topic as well.

For most small shop environments, however, I am confident that if you follow these basic guidelines to design your ductwork and power it with a dust collector that is capable of pulling through an adequate volume of air, you will be pleased or even amazed with the performance. Once designed your system to deliver enough air flow, the next thing you need to think about is how to best corral the dust at each tool. In a separate article I will walk through the dust collection design at each tool in my shop to help you complete your dust collection system design.

Watch the next newsletter for specifics on how I optimized dust collection at various tools in my shop. Source: X-Treme Tape, Self fusing silicone rubber tape 20 ft.

Click here to cancel reply. The big issue is whether I should go with a bigger DC to blast gates dust collection setup guide plumbing drops for each machine or a blast gates dust collection setup guide DC unit and drag a hose around to each machine. Suggestions anyone?? Go for the bigger machine and pipe to each tool. Thanks for the feedback. As to your question, you can probably guess what I would suggest which is a bigger DC and blast gates dust collection setup guide ducting system.

The benefits are significant. I also think that if you stick with woodworking long enough you will eventually upgrade your DC and add a ducting system, so if you believe that you will be doing woodworking in your current location for more than a year or two, I would consider biting the bullet now and getting into a system that will meet your needs for many years as it will actually save you money in the long run and give you a better experience up front.

If I were to get a portable system, I would do one of two things. Either buy one used from someone who has recently upgraded there are lots of them out there in my area or buy one that has enough power to collect from a ducting system if you decide to add that later.

That way your investment is protected when you expand the system later, and all you need to blast gates dust collection setup guide are a bunch of plastic tubes and fittings. I have used PVC for 15 years at least with no problem. I do recommend a direct connection to all machines and a open connection to portable machines that are used sometimes. I would be interested in seeing blast gates dust collection setup guide shop made blast gates if you are willing to post a photo of them in the Forum area.

Great success with both. As ar as static discharge, living in the South it is typically humid, but there are some days I get zapped while using my orbital sander with the dust collection hose attached.

Its fun. The lack of resources on this topic is disheartening. I think you will find that woodworking retailers are slowly getting up to speed on dust collection, but they are not on the cutting edge of research in this area. Companies that specialize in dust collection are much better versed on duct design, and in general where you find snaplock pipe they sell larger size pipe. For short runs I think it will be fine, but for long runs you might not have the power to maintain fpm necessary to pull the finest dust.

Hello Don, Great article! I currently have a 4 H. My shop is located in a basement and space is tight so I have to use the blast gates dust collection setup guide. I am planing to build a new dedicated shop and have many drawings of my tools placement and ducts layout.

My plan is not to use the manifold and use a main instead. My question should I take advantage and use the largest duct I can find for the main then branch off of blast gates dust collection setup guide with smaller ones? Or should I stick with the 6 inch ducts? I know the answer is basically on the length of the main and static pressure and design. I just keep going back and forth what to do off the main.

Apr 04,  · If you have chosen a dust collector with enough suction for your shop configuration, then the simplest approach with PVC is to run 6″ pipe wherever it is feasible, and 4″ pipe wherever you find it necessary. That means you will likely have to modify tool ports on some tools, which I will discuss a bit later in the article. Why Install Blast Gates. Blast gates cut off the suction to tools that are not in use, focusing the dust collection suction on the tool that is being used. Dust Collection Blast Gate Options. The standard Rockler StableGate Blast Gates are available in 4"- and /2"-diameters. The StableGate features a built in bracket for mounting directly. Dust collector blast gates let you control a dust collection system’s vacuum pressure in order to achieve maximum suction at a desired tool station. Here’s how they work: at each key tool station, a hose is attached to the tool and routed to the main dust collector vacuum for each hose run, a gate is installed that can be opened or closed.

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