Am I completely incompetent, or is it virtually impossible to keep plastic blast gates functional? After a few days of use, the slot the gate rides in becomes clogged making it impossible to completely close it. Since I can’t close it, I lose suction to other machines which makes the system less effective. I know they’re cheap (hence the reason I bought them to begin with), but I don’t really want to throw them out if there is a trick to making them work better.
If there isn’t a way to make them work better, should I send them to the dipstick posting about bugs? Maybe he couls use them as some kind of bed bug defense system.
Replies
Plastic blast gates
I've had luck clipping the corners (at the "closed" end) of the housing. When the slide is pushed home to close the gate, it pushes sawdust out of the open corners, allowing the slide to seat completely. I have not noticed any loss of suction at the machine when the gate is open.
Good idea
Thanks, I'll try clipping the corners.
The loss of suction I was talking about is when the gates don't fully close. I have 4" pipe run to each machine and open the gate as needed. When a gate doesn't fully close, I'm losing suction at that point. I know it isn't much, but my DC is minimal and I don't want to lose any more than I have to.
Plastic gates
I had the same problem at first. I found that if the blast gate is set to open upward it clogs more than if the gate is set to open sideways or slightly down. I now have them set that way and only get a clog in the one on the planner and only about once a month do I have to clean it. I clean the clogs out of the corners of the gate with a thin hex key, being careful not to drop it down the tube. It just takes a minute. One thing to remember is, don't try to force the gate closed when it gets clogged, you only pack sawdust into the corners of the gate housing and make it harder to clean. Another trick is to attach the gate with a quick connect so you don't have to undo hose clamps every time you have to get at the inside of the gate. When I set up my dust collection I needed so many gates that the metal ones would have busted my budget. Now they seem to work for me with few problems after I oriented them in the right direction. Good luck.
re leaking blast gates
I also had this problem & my solution was to fully close the blast gate, mark a semicircle around the base of the gate itself & then cut this to the line on a bandsaw & smooth with a file. Next I filled the bottom half of the recess, where the dust normally accumulates, with a two pack builders bog & as that started to set I put some plastic food wrap over the bog & then pushed the gate home just a little to make an even seal. When the bog has set, remove the plastic, smooth out any rough bog with a utility knife.
Works fine for me, no leaks at all & no dust buildup as there is nowhere for the dust to get caught.
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