Remote Blast Gates

[Vince Shriver]

Never having built a dust collection system, i have a couple questions (I'm thinking others may have the same questions), so I ask: Are remote blast gates normally closed, and when activated they only open to the machine being used? Or is the system usually designed to open one of the "main arteries" and all the the "capillaries" belonging to it would be opened? For instance: If I have a main duct feeding to say a bandsaw, RAS, Edge Sander, drill press and a chop saw - would one gate open them all, or does each machine have its own gate and duct. Thanks

[Art Mann]

All the hobby shops I know of have gates for each machine so that only one machine is having dust collected at a time. A system such as you describe would have to have an excessively large capacity to adequately collect the dust from one machine while just sucking air at many others. The commercial shop I worked at many years ago didn't use blast gates at all. The entire system was sucking air all the time. A system that automatically opened a gate when a particular machine was powered would have been too expensive and too high maintenance to be practical in that situation. That system didn't use filtration at all. The cyclone was located outside the plant and the bottom of it discharged into a giant dump trailer.

[Chuck Raudonis]

Does anyone have remote automated blast gates INSTALLED? Thoughts? I'm getting tired of being at one machine and and realizing the blast gate for another machine is still open. I would love to have it open when I'm there but I am worried about reliability.

[Robert Payne]

Probably the best automated blast gate system was designed and built by Alan Shaffter for his shop in Little Washington, NC. He uses pneumatic controls and has some gates that are activated by sensors in the power wiring for their individual tools. Alan has posted details on this website -- do some searches and you'll be sure to find information.

[David Kumm]

My gates came from KAIM, Inc. and the controls were cobbled together off ebay from Alan's designs. They are automatic and open when the proper machine starts. Some close after a delay so the dust can clear for a few seconds. Check out Alan's video. You can make gates or buy from several sources. Dave

[Joseph Tarantino]

here's alan's video:

http://www.americanwoodworker.tv/videos/5057_automatic-dust-collection/

these guys also build auto activating tool accessories that work very, very well. they even have a 4" blast gate in the works. great products from a company that defines customer service:

http://www.ivacswitch.com/index.action