# All my Blast gates leak causing efficiency to drop



## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

I’ve posted this before about my dust collector’s efficiency dropping with the addition of outlets and now I have proof. I just installed another outlet next to my saw for a short 1 ¼” hose to cleanup around the top of the saw and I heard it. Then with the gate closed, I put my hand over the hose and actually felt the suction.










So now what can I do about it? I have 6 blast gates divided into two lines for each side of the shop and I’m trying to come up with a solution of shutting one side or another off completely depending on what side of the shop I’m working in.

The problem is that I use my table saw a lot and always going back and forth. I cannot reach the “Y” connector on the HF Dust Collector, so I’m going to have to come up with another solution. I really don’t have a lot of room and I’m packed in like sardines which make it even more of a challenge. 

All kinds of ideas are going through my head like maybe a 6” manifold box with a swinging door attached to an electric solenoid that would change the flow from one side to the other with a remote switch. Or possibly two solenoids attached to two blast gates operating opposite each other.

One problem I discovered yesterday on my table saw was that sawdust collects in the grove in the bottom when the gate is vertical with the slide to the top preventing the door from closing completely. 










I’ve changed the other blast gates to work sideways, but the table saw is a little more difficult because I screwed everything in place. It may actually be better to have the gate slide down for open, but I can’t do that on some of my equipment.


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## rrbrown (Feb 15, 2009)

Sleeper it happens because of not enough suction to pull all the debris out of the blast gate grove. It builds until they won't close fully. Its worse with the plastic gates and can be fixed somewhat by putting srews and nuts on the plastic gates to tighten them up. Clean the groves with a small screwdriver before adfing the screws. A larger dust collector will reduce the problem but may not eliminate it all together. 

Just my opinion on what I have been doing in the same fight. : thumbsup:


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## Fred Hargis (Apr 28, 2012)

If those gates are closing fully, it's the dust buildup problem. One thing you might try: the dust usually piles into the back 2 corners of where the gate slides in. Drill small holes (I used 1/8") into those corners. That may let enough air in to keep them clean, and give you a small opening to push some of the dust out. They might whistle when that gate is in use.


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

Fred Hargis said:


> If those gates are closing fully, it's the dust buildup problem. One thing you might try: the dust usually piles into the back 2 corners of where the gate slides in. Drill small holes (I used 1/8") into those corners. That may let enough air in to keep them clean, and give you a small opening to push some of the dust out. They might whistle when that gate is in use.


 I did think about drilling holes in each corner to keep the dust from piling up, but I still have the overall system leakage to deal with. 
The blast gate on the small hose where I confirmed my suspicion is a brand new and never used gate. I have an aluminum gate on my Jointer, but it’s going into dust pan and I can't tell if it’s leaking or not. i need another one hooked up to a hose so I can feel it

The only one I know for sure that does NOT leak is the Ridgid Blast Gate on my drill press.


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## Bob Willing (Jul 4, 2008)

I replaced all but one in my shop with these http://www.blastgateco.com/Cast-Aluminum-Self-Cleaning-Blast-Gates.php and it solved my leaking problem. I really like the self cleaning ones.


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

Bob Willing said:


> I replaced all but one in my shop with these http://www.blastgateco.com/Cast-Aluminum-Self-Cleaning-Blast-Gates.php and it solved my leaking problem. I really like the self cleaning ones.


Oh so that's what a self-cleaning gate is. :huh: Umm I guess I'll need to replace mine with those. Thanks Bob


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## ifermon (Dec 27, 2020)

I know this is a very old post, but blast gate technology doesn't seem to have changed very much in the past seven years. I had the same issue and thought I might share what worked for me.

In the picture below the side on the left was the side that has the knob that pushes the plate (middle) against the other side (right). The first issue I had is that the right side plate had some casting marks that prevented the gate from seating fully. I filed those marks off so it was flat. The second issue is that the knob on the left side, when cinched down, didn't create any pressure towards the top of the gate, leaving a very small gap. The fix was simple, I added three layers of painters tape the the LEFT side. The tape wasn't meant the make the gate more airtight per-se, it just provides pressure to push the gate into the right side plate. It was simple, fast, and the result was that I could no longer hear or feel any air escaping.


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## Mark Jones Ozark (Feb 26, 2019)

If you drill a 1/4 inch hole in the corners of the gate valve slide when you close the gate slide it will push the saw dust out. Don't drill into the plate that slides back and forth. Only in the outside sleeve. What I mean is drill the hole with the gate in the open position. Then when you close it it shuts off the gate and pushes the saw dust out to the holes you drilled on both sides of the slide. Takes about 5 minutes to fix all your gates in your shop.


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## DustyDan (Dec 21, 2020)

Mark-A picture is worth a thousand words. I’m having trouble picturing this in my head.


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## Mark Jones Ozark (Feb 26, 2019)

Drill the holes with the gate open and it can be installed as well. After the holes are drilled when you close the gate it pushes the sawdust out the hole and the plate has not been drilled so it shuts off the air flow just like it did before.


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## Mark Jones Ozark (Feb 26, 2019)

I drafted this up in Vcarve in about 3 minutes. Its not to scale but it gets the point across.


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## Rebelwork (Jan 15, 2012)

I don't see the gain from drilling holes... How can you push saw dust out when your DC is suckling it in?

Most sawdust os packed in the blast gate from poor volume of air. Over time they just don't close completely...


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## Mark Jones Ozark (Feb 26, 2019)

It works. Fixed about 10 leaky gates in about 10 minutes. Just don't drill the holes with the gate closed! The gate when it closes pushes the sticky sawdust out through these holes. You can watch it do it. This was not my idea. I found it on the web many years ago. Lot's of people don't know about it. I don't understand why they don't fix the design and make them that way from the factory. DISCOVERY!


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## Dave McCann (Jun 21, 2020)

Rebelwork said:


> I don't see the gain from drilling holes...





Mark Jones Ozark said:


> It works.



Moral of the story; Don't knock it unless you've tried it? 📐📏


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## Rebelwork (Jan 15, 2012)

I've got wood gates , I'll pass.

At the shop were metal but we never had this problem


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## Mark Jones Ozark (Feb 26, 2019)

Nice gates. How did you handle the dust that settled in these? Did the slot go all the way through and they were self cleaning that way?

40 years ago I made (15) some using a Fine Woodworking article they were made out of maple, 1/8" steel plate with felt seals 3" pvc and aluminum with brass contacts so when you opened them up they turned on the Dust Collector. (This was before they had or I had discovered for small shop dust collection machines and gates.) 

Lots of great ideas from sharing what we are doing. This last week I built a shop vac sound deadening box. While my current project of CNCing 11 parts out of 4' of 1x10 for making 16 wooden canteens for our Royal Rangers (church boyscouting program) to assemble and glue up I put that quiet shop vac to work vacuuming cob webs and spider webs in the shop. It was nice having a cleaner quieter shop. Will hand the boys two 2 ' pieces of wood with the parts all cut but held in place by tabs so they can clean them up and assemble in a couple of wed nights. All they will need is a utility knife, sand paper, dap rapid set glue and some clamps. This rapid set glue is new to me. I was skeptical about it at first but it has proven to be a great glue for many uses. I can assemble in 4 minutes and it's ready to surface plane or machine in 30 minutes. New ideas are sometimes pretty good. (However most new ideas will be wrought with 99 fails before they pan out...) GRIN! In this case I like this new idea!


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## Rebelwork (Jan 15, 2012)

No... they stopped short.


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