Need to find reliable blast gates...

[Michael Dunn]

Hey guys!!!

I'm hoping to finishing finding and ordering parts for my DC system soon. I think I'll buy the steel duct work locally and order special Wye's, elbows, and blast gates online.

Does anyone have any resources to share? It'd be great to order them from the same place.

[Michael N Taylor]

I got the metal gates from Lee Valley on sale and they have been very good.

[Michael Dunn]

I got the metal gates from Lee Valley on sale and they have been very good.

Those do look very nice. I assume one end has flex hose attached via hose clamp and the other is to a rigid duct? That's what I plan to do. What's the best way to fasten and seal the steel duct to the first side of the blast gate? Rivets and tape (or sealant)?

[Michael Dunn]

I got the metal gates from Lee Valley on sale and they have been very good.

What about pipe? Is snap duct good? Or should I go with spiral pipe? Check out www.blastgateco.com I just found this place. The spiral pipe is only $2.71/ft for 6" diameter. Obviously there will be a S/H charge. I'm getting a list together now to see how much.

[Michael W. Clark]

I just bought some of the gates from Blast Gate Co. They look good but I have not installed them yet.

Regarding duct and fittings, I looked all over the internet and ended up getting a price from a commercial supplier of HVAC duct. They have a lot of fittings choices and all in heavier gauges than the Home center stuff. The home centers had a poor in-store selection near me, but you can order from Home Depot on-line and they have a good selection and free shipping on orders over $45. Amazon also has good prices too, but I don't think any of it ships Prime? The only thing HD was cheaper on was the wyes. Amazon beat HD and Corken Steel beat Amazon on price. Corken Steel will deliver it all to my door for $10.

I would stay with the KD (knock down, snap together) duct unless you have a large system. The spiral duct will be stronger in resisting a high static pressure but all the spirals can/do leak. Spiral duct is primarily designed for supply air situations (so is KD but only one long seam to seal insteal of a spiraling seam). Ideal is welded galv with quick clamps or flanges, but that is out of my price range for home/hobby use.

Mike

[Michael Dunn]

I just bought some of the gates from Blast Gate Co. They look good but I have not installed them yet.

Regarding duct and fittings, I looked all over the internet and ended up getting a price from a commercial supplier of HVAC duct. They have a lot of fittings choices and all in heavier gauges than the Home center stuff. The home centers had a poor in-store selection near me, but you can order from Home Depot on-line and they have a good selection and free shipping on orders over $45. Amazon also has good prices too, but I don't think any of it ships Prime? The only thing HD was cheaper on was the wyes. Amazon beat HD and Corken Steel beat Amazon on price. Corken Steel will deliver it all to my door for $10.

I would stay with the KD (knock down, snap together) duct unless you have a large system. The spiral duct will be stronger in resisting a high static pressure but all the spirals can/do leak. Spiral duct is primarily designed for supply air situations (so is KD but only one long seam to seal insteal of a spiraling seam). Ideal is welded galv with quick clamps or flanges, but that is out of my price range for home/hobby use.

Mike

Very good info. Ironically, I just signed up for amazon prime today. Free 2-day shipping on MANY items. Next-Day Air for $3.99 on certain small items!!! WTH was I waiting for. I shop amazon quite a bit throughout the year so $79.99 annually makes a LOT of sense. Plus, I GET THINGS FASTER!!!

I'll continue shopping based on your insights. Thanx Mike!!!

[Wade Lippman]

I just bought some of the gates from Blast Gate Co. They look good but I have not installed them yet.


Those are reasonable prices. I just got done setting mine up with plastic gates and they aren't very good; I might have to look into replacing them.

Do the metal ducts fit inside the blastgates, or do the blast gates fit inside the ducts?
After you have used them a bit, send me a message about how they worked out.

[Mark Bolton]

+1 on the HVAC supplier for your pipe and any fittings they can supply. Only thing is, at least around here, often times the HVAC supply wont sell outside the trade.

While the spiral and DC fittings are phenomenal if you've got money to burn, you can set up nearly any modest DC with 26 gauge pipe from the HVAC supply. I know a lot of guys with small home shop systems running the 30 gauge from the home centers with no problems what so ever.

The HVAC shops will generally have some y's and odd fittings but often not exactly what you want. If your in a reasonably metro area you can likely get spiral pipe somewhere close if you want the fuzzy factor.

The HVAC stuff won't be as flashy but when you tally the outrageous DC pipe and fitting prices and add in freight its a strong motivator to look into the HVAC shop. The pipe and fitting package for the cyclone in my shop came in at something like 1900.00 from "the big" cyclone company. I would guess I have less than 500 into all my pipe and gates. Im sure its not at 100% efficiency, and it sure aint as pretty, but 1400 smacks goes a long way...

[Michael W. Clark]

Those are reasonable prices. I just got done setting mine up with plastic gates and they aren't very good; I might have to look into replacing them.

Do the metal ducts fit inside the blastgates, or do the blast gates fit inside the ducts?
After you have used them a bit, send me a message about how they worked out.

It may be a little bit before I get to install them. Do you want me to measure them? I plan to post a thread about the upgrade so remind me then. I bought 5" and 6" if these are the sizes you are interested in.

[Michael W. Clark]

One thing about the HVAC shop is the availability of take-offs (hoods for DC). I found a square to round top take-off 5" connection that is going to work well for the TS cabinet and jointer.

Mike

[Michael N Taylor]

Any commercial HVAC supply house can get you 26 ga. snap duct and it works great. I used the 30 ga fittings and have not had any problems with my 2.5 hp collector. be sure and buy a couple of rolls of there silver duct tape it is great at sealing the joints and seams. You also need to get a box of their 1/2 or 3/4 hex head self tap screws, I used them for the duct and to join the metal blast gates to the duct then applied tape around the joint to get the best seal.

[Ole Anderson]

Stay away from 30 ga snap-lock and stick with 26 ga, usually available at the BORG. Use 1/8x1/8 pop rivets at 12:00, 4:00 and 8:00 less likely to catch shavings than screws, seal joints with aluminum foil tape, lasts longer than cheap duck tape, use clear silicone on the difficult to tape joints on your bends, wyes and blast gates. The blast gates fit into the pipe. Use a bell mouth fitting into your bottom collector on your TS. Penn State has them. Don't be afraid to use the 6" and 7" aluminum flex available at the BORG for odd make up angles. Those plastic 4" StableGates work well for smaller drops, don't rattle and stay in position without using a thumbscrew.

Steel duct install notes (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?158878-DC-Steel-Duct-Install&highlight=steel)
Shop tour after DC install (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?159135-Shop-Tour-New-DC-system&highlight=)

[Greg Portland]

WTH was I waiting for. I shop amazon quite a bit throughout the year so $79.99 annually makes a LOT of sense.
You also get a free Kindle book each month + free streaming movies.

[Joe Hillmann]

I went with plastic blast gates that Menards stocks. Three of the four of them are now held together with clamps and tape. They started breaking within a month. One of them I will admit was caused by me leaving it unsupported but the other two were just made poorly.

[Mike Berrevoets]

What about pipe? Is snap duct good? Or should I go with spiral pipe? Check out www.blastgateco.com (http://www.blastgateco.com) I just found this place. The spiral pipe is only $2.71/ft for 6" diameter. Obviously there will be a S/H charge. I'm getting a list together now to see how much.

I bought everything at blastgateco. They are a 3 hour drive from home but they had everything I needed. They do have 26 gauge snap lock pipe and less expensive wyes and fittings then they show in the website. It was just a big warehouse and fabrication shop but the guys knew just what I was trying to do and they were very helpful. They were out of stock on a few pieces and they shipped them within a few days.

Mike

[Michael W. Clark]

Michael,
You may have figured this out, but a lot (or most/all) of the duct fittings on Amazon were not available for Amazon Prime shipping. I have to pay tax on most stuff from Amazon, so the local HVAC supply suited me better. Mike has a good comment above regarding Blastgate co. I did not know that they have other offerings than on their website. Probably worth looking into.

Mike

[Matt Meiser]

Ken Craft in Toledo. Good people.
http://www.kencraftstore.com/Cast_Aluminum_Blast_Gates.htm

They have everything else too, but their pipe is snap-lock. If I was doing metal, I'd want spiral.

[Ole Anderson]

Ken Craft in Toledo. Good people.
http://www.kencraftstore.com/Cast_Aluminum_Blast_Gates.htm

If I was doing metal, I'd want spiral.

Wondering why, Matt?

[John M. Smith]

Check local businesses. I found one that made there own spiral pipe. Also made all laterals to order, so you can get exactly what you need. I put in spiral pipe with welded fittings, for the price of snap lock with those leaky elbows. They were also able to make me a hood for my planer. They were very willing to work with me, the only glitch was when I wanted to return some extra items. They had nothing in place for giving refunds, as most contractors simply take the extras to the next job. We worked out a deal to get my planer hood and a couple extras. All in all I was very happy, and have gone back for more as I have added machines.

[Matt Meiser]

Wondering why, Matt?

All those potentially leaky seams, snapping all the pipe together, shorter available lengths.

[Michael Dunn]

Ken Craft in Toledo. Good people.
http://www.kencraftstore.com/Cast_Aluminum_Blast_Gates.htm

They have everything else too, but their pipe is snap-lock. If I was doing metal, I'd want spiral.

I agree. I just ordered some 6"x5' hose. It's totally hardcore. Super thick, yet flexible. Super fast shipping. I order it on Saturday after hours I received it on Monday!!! I'm near Chicago.

[Michael Dunn]

FYI... I ended up buying my BG's from CVC. They should arrive on Wednesday. I think I'll order some 4" cast aluminum BG's from blastgateco.com for my DP, OSS, CNC, and benchtop belt sanders.

I actually just bought he HF 1HP DC with 20% off to use for this side of the shop. $75. I figure I could always expand my main system to accept dust from these tools. I just had to get something in place for them ASAP.

[Andy Pratt]

LV gates have been working perfectly for me for over 6 full-time years now. I have heard some people complain about dust getting built up in non-self-cleaning gates, and other people have said there is no problem. I figured I would stay safe and get the self-cleaning and haven't regretted it.