4" S&D, to HF blast gates?

[John Hunter]

I have the gates already, and I am aware of the clogging issue. I was planning on mounting the gates with the handle down...

You might want to rethink that and mount the handles side ways. Wear can make them not stay closed if gravity is pulling against them Also the advantage of the self taping screws is you can pull the gates out and clean the slides if they clog and do not close all the way. I have plastic ones from Woodcraft also and I think they are better made.

[dbhost]

After taking a much closer inspection of the HF blast gates, I am considering taking these back and ordering some aluminum ones. But the aluminum gates have their own problems... The highest rated ones I found on Amazon are the Jet JW1142 4" gates. I may have to grab these instead. But are they worth it?

[windmill]

Check out the Blast Gate company. They sell pretty good 4" aluminum blast gates at a reasonable price. A little tape and weatherstripping and they fit great inside the 4" S&D pipe.

[dbhost]

Windmill,

Your setup looks pretty much exactly where I am trying to go. I am guessing that you put together a Thien cyclone type trash can separator. Is that right?

[LarryG]

John has a good thought about the handle orientation. About half of mine are horizontal, due to space constraints, the other half are on the bottom. I haven't yet noticed any differences in wear but it could happen over time; also, thinking about it, I realize that the gates I open and close most often all slide horizontally but for the one on the planer.

OTOH, I'm dubious about any difference in the quality of the various plastic gates. Four of mine came from HF, the rest are JET brand, and I've seen the ones at Woodcraft. They all look identical to me.

My metal gates are the self-cleaning models from Lee Valley. I have one of them installed as a test, and it's working great. It's also a good fit into the green 4" S&D pipe. A couple bucks more than the JET from amazon.com but IMO the self-cleaning feature is worth it.

EDIT: Finally got Windmill's link to work. Racehorse prices on those metal gates ... I paid two bucks each for my plastic ones!

[windmill]

I am guessing that you put together a Thien cyclone type trash can separator. Is that right?

Yup, that's what I did.

[dbhost]

For some reason I never equated your usernames here and there. I have seen that one. You did nice work there.

[dbhost]

Just got back from lunch... and made a quick stop by Lowes to get some supplies.

I had a 10ft joint of 4" S&D, a 4" S&D street elbow, two 4" - 3" S&D reducers (which will get some inside work with the dremel to get rid of the edge...), and of course a 30 gallon galvanized trash can.

The MDF is sitting in the shop right now waiting for a good use...

Time to build another Thien Cyclone! Since I am using MDF for this one, I need to figure out how to prime it so that the MDF doesn't just suck up every drop of paint that comes its way...

[dbhost]

Yup, that's what I did.

Another question for you windmill...

Why did you put the pipe fittings on the hose side of the gate? I would think you should have been able to simply slip the hose over the male nipple on the gate and clamp it down.

[LarryG]

Since I am using MDF for this one, I need to figure out how to prime it so that the MDF doesn't just suck up every drop of paint that comes its way

The faces are quite dense and won't give you a problem. To the edges, apply a thin coating of drywall compound (your finger is as good an applicator as any), let it dry, sand it smooth, repeat. And possibly repeat again. The density of MDF brands varies a little; I find that two coats will usually suffice, but there have been exceptions. When it's nice and smooth, paint away.

[windmill]

Another question for you windmill...

Why did you put the pipe fittings on the hose side of the gate? I would think you should have been able to simply slip the hose over the male nipple on the gate and clamp it down.

Well, that's a long story. I had originally planned to have the blast gates higher up and the hoses connect lower to the ground. That way, the hoses come up to the machine rather than hanging in mid-air. That's why I added the pipe.

Of course, this idea didn't work out too well, so I just shortened the pipe on the hose side of the gate. I could have removed the pipe and fitting entirely of course, but I have a couple of those quick release clamps (the kind you squeeze together) that hold better on the pipe reducer rather than the narrow ridge of the gate.

But yes, with a breeze clamp, you can certainly attach the hose directly.

[dbhost]

Well, a borrowed long reach caliper set later and a review of the 4 - 3 reducer shows that the OD of the reducer if 3.25", the ID of the lip piece between the halves necks it down to 2.75", at that point, we have introduced a bottleneck in my dust collection system that makes a DC pointless as the shop vac should do just as well... The reducers are going back tomorrow.

From what I can tell, it appears that true "dust collection plumbing" is measured at OD in the manner of tubing, whereas the S&D is measured by ID in the manner of pipe.

So 4" S&D pipe is 4" ID, and 4" DC is OD.

So having said that, the Rockler 4" ID S&D to 4" OD Dust Collection reducers only neck down about 1/4" instead of 1"... So it appears that is the way I am going to go for the connections to the Thien Cyclone. I am going to go with the winding tape around the OD of the blast gate and sliding it into the pipe trick, then clamp the hose to the other side of the blast gate...

Please don't get me wrong, I really like your setup, I think you did a great job, but I am willing to spend the extra time, and the little bit of extra $$ (The PVC reducers are $3.29 # Lowes, the Rockler adapters are $6.99, yeah that will add up, but not enough to justify an avoidable bottleneck).

I hope to include a good number of your ideas into my DC setup. Specifically the 45, nipple, then 45 to make a 90 degree turn...