# Two way Blast gate?



## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

I need to be able to switch between my table saw and jointer for 4” hose. I can’t reach under the TS or anywhere near it without opening the garage door. I was thinking that if I had one gate between the two to switch with a long push/pull bar extending out the front of the TS, I could manage it. I probably could make something out of wood of made sheet metal and mount it to the bottom of the TS






















Anybody seen anything like this?


I just was looking around and i realized that I was using the wrong terminology its called a 3 Way 2 Position Valve


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

I think I'll make something like this, but don't know how to seal it yet.


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## Trav (May 30, 2011)

Why not just use silicon caulk?


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## jharris (Jan 8, 2011)

Sleeper, I seem so recall seeing plans for just what you're looking for in one of my WWing mags or books or I might have it in a PDF file on the computer.

Ill see if I can find it for you.


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## jharris (Jan 8, 2011)

I can't find it. Sorry. It'll turn up the very second you finish building one.


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

Ttharp said:


> Why not just use silicon caulk?


 Sorry I should have been clearer, what I should have said was sealing the door. The door has slide back and forth easily yet still maintain some sort of seal between the two inlets. I was thinking of maybe some sort of weather stripping on the door, but I really don’t know how important the seal has to be. :smile:



I have to get ready to go to bed now for an early start to work in the morning, but tomorrow I’m going to see if I can do it with door sliding instead of swinging


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## Trav (May 30, 2011)

Sleeper said:


> Sorry I should have been clearer, what I should have said was sealing the door.


You don't need to be clearer, I need to be less dumb. Reading the post again it was obvious to me what you were asking. Sorry.

In stead if doing a hinged door what about making a sliding blast gate that had a hole in it that would open one machine and close off the other.


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## thegrgyle (Jan 11, 2011)

Ttharp said:


> In stead if doing a hinged door what about making a sliding blast gate that had a hole in it that would open one machine and close off the other.


Now that is brilliant.... :thumbsup:

I may have to do the same on my DC.

Thanks

Fabian


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## rrbrown (Feb 15, 2009)

Sleeper I know you were trying to build something but if it were me I would use a WYE and put a blast gate for each tool. It would be easy to use because both gates or in same place.

If your stuck on making something the idea os a sliding door would be best. Put the hole in the middle of the door and enough space on either side to close off the other gate. I would also make some type of registration system to make sure it's open all the way.

One last thing is you will probably want a way to close both at the same time for when your using another tool. That's why the Wye with 2 blast gates is my choice.


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## Shop Dad (May 3, 2011)

Why not just get a Y joint and use two blast gates?


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## Shop Dad (May 3, 2011)

Richard you're one step ahead of me!


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

rrbrown said:


> One last thing is you will probably want a way to close both at the same time for when your using another tool. That's why the Wye with 2 blast gates is my choice.


 :huh: Aw!! Richard, I didn’t think of that and that is very important, thanks. :thumbsup:

Well I was going to do the Wye and 2 blast gates but I can’t bend down on my hands and knees anymore to reach the blast gates under my TS. 35 Years of climbing around attics and crawlspaces as an electrician have left my knees in pretty bad shape. I do have Blast gates for my Band saw and Planer, but I found a 4”PVC Drain fitting to connect them to and I can reach them standing up.

I’ve been thinking about the sliding door all morning and it does make a lot more sense. I found a piece of 12 gauge steel that I might use if it’s long enough or maybe Plexiglas might be better. I also was thinking of using some felt window seals to seal the sliding door. Then all I have to do is connect a long rod with a handle extending out to the front of my TS to pull back and forth. :yes:

Plus why don’t the blast gates fit on the equipment? It would be perfect if it would fit right on to the equipment fitting. This whole DC Fitting business has me just fuming and just upsets me to think about how stupid this is. :furious: I think it’s all a bunch of BS to make more money and with little thought for the consumer. None of the fittings fit together and you MUST use a hose with clamps between each one or some other expensive alternative and I want to eliminate all that nonsense. I spent over a $100 on fittings just to find out they are not male & female and do not connect together. In fact I just sent back a whole box of them for a refund. It just doesn’t make any sense at all to have the blast gate especially floating between two hoses. OK I said my piece and back to the topic. :shifty:

I really don’t want to use hose where I can get away without it because there is always some saw dust left in the groves of the hose. So I only want to use a short piece of hose to connect each of my shop equipment. I found that the quick connect hose fittings are the only thing that connects to the equipment, but they are constantly falling off which is another one of my peeves. 










Here is my current drawing, but I need to make some changes now that Richard opened my eyes to being able to close the whole thing off. 










So now I’m thinking of gluing a Blast gate to the VAC side instead of the Flanged Inlet that I was going to use and extend another rod out to the front of the TS.

4" Flanged Inlet Dust Collection Fitting: Amazon.com: Home Improvement


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## jharris (Jan 8, 2011)

Definition please. What is a WYE? Y? May seem obvious to others but just for my ejumicashun.


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

jharris said:


> Definition please. What is a WYE? Y? May seem obvious to others but just for my ejumicashun.


http://store.cbtoolgroup.com/woodst...507.aspx?utm_medium=cse&utm_source=googlebase


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*A wye*

A WYE is like these: http://www.pennstateind.com/store/premium-wyes.html

In dust collection they have a gradual sloping curve, not sharp corners for better air flow.


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

*My Dust collection plan*

This is my current plan, but I’m still working on it so it’s not exactly in operation although I cap off one end to use.


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## TMA Woodworks (Apr 23, 2010)

*How about this*

Hi Sleeper, what I did was make a mod on the blast gate to open it from the front on the machine while having the blast gate as close to the machine as I could. I used a choke cable from the auto store (about $5) and some scrap metal. I have one that runs the gate on the TS and one that works the gate on the jointer. I posted a couple of pics to show what I did.


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

TMA Woodworks said:


> Hi Sleeper, what I did was make a mod on the blast gate to open it from the front on the machine while having the blast gate as close to the machine as I could. I used a choke cable from the auto store (about $5) and some scrap metal. I have one that runs the gate on the TS and one that works the gate on the jointer. I posted a couple of pics to show what I did.


 Wow, now that’s an idea. I think I’ll go out to the shop and take a look another look. I think I have at least one cable from an old lawnmower that I tossed a while back, Thanks for the idea :thumbsup:



Well I like it except I think I’ll mount the two Blast gates both on the saw so that it will be solidly held in place when I move the jointer out to use. I already have a Wye that came with the Harbor Freight hose & fitting set, and then it will be just a matter of connecting the hoses.

I guess I’ll have to order some Blast Gates. :yes: Thanks again


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## thegrgyle (Jan 11, 2011)

Whichever you decide to do, please post some pics to show your progress.... I am interested in this.

Oh yeah..... what do you used for your illustrations, i.e. your shop layout, your dust chamber drawing, etc?

Fabian


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## cocheseuga (Dec 15, 2010)

This might lead you down the idea path:

http://lumberjocks.com/projects/58961


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## rrbrown (Feb 15, 2009)

Sleeper you can hook the blast gate directly to the machine with either a coupling or a short piece of hose. 

As for not getting down to open and close the gates. I use a stick with a slot cut in it to operate the one under and behind by TS. The cable idea is a good one just a little more elaborate then my stick.:laughing:


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

thegrgyle said:


> Oh yeah..... what do you used for your illustrations, i.e. your shop layout, your dust chamber drawing, etc?


 You will probably laugh when I tell you, but I use windows paint and I am very fast. 

I discovered that if I use the copy and paste functions I only actually need to draw small portions to copy and then past mutable replicas. It’s hard to describe, I always put on a show for the guys at work who just can’t believe it. 

Now I can’t do anything to scale, but for illustration purposes, it’s great. I also have the Google sketch-it which is good for scale stuff, but for me paint is fast and easy just to get the point across.


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

cocheseuga said:


> This might lead you down the idea path:
> 
> http://lumberjocks.com/projects/58961


Oh that's very cool, thanks


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

rrbrown said:


> Sleeper you can hook the blast gate directly to the machine with either a coupling or a short piece of hose.
> 
> As for not getting down to open and close the gates. I use a stick with a slot cut in it to operate the one under and behind by TS. The cable idea is a good one just a little more elaborate then my stick.:laughing:


Well i was going to ask if anybody knows if there is a Blast Gate that i can mount directly to the port on the bottom of the table saw without a hose in between


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

Well I had a little time today to do a temporary set up using the plastic Blast Gate from a Harbor Freight hose kit. I’m going to wait a while on buying the aluminum Blast Gate because my credit card was compromised at one of the places that I bought Dust Collection stuff at and I don’t know which place, so until I can find a safe place to buy them, I’m waiting.

Anyway at least now I got a good idea of what needs to be done. I still want to use the choke cable so that i can move all this mess under the saw, but I want until I get the aluminum one, so for right now this will have to do. 

Hose Connection from Bottom










Hose Connection from Front


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