Jim O'Dell
09-10-2006, 10:12 AM
Hi all! Well, I spent about 2 hours Saturday afternoon building my second blast gate, between going in the house and monitoring some downloads on LOML's computer. :rolleyes: I thought I'd give a pictorial account of my doings.
This first picture shows one side of the gate housing that has already been cut to size, and the 2 filler strips of 1/4" MDF glued and stapled into place. I had the gate portion sitting betwen them when they were stapled in place to assure a tight fit. Be sure to wipe down any glue that oozes out from under the filler strips. Paper towell and spit worked pretty good!:eek:
46586
The second picture shows the gate between the filler strips with one handle already attached. I put the 2 halves together and attached the handle so that it was tight against the blast gate housing so that it didn't get skewed to one side. Remember: Spring clamps are your friend.
46588
Picture three shows that I have marked the center of the blast gate for the PVC to attach, and I've marked the four corners for the bolts that hold the "sandwich" together to go through. At this time, I'm using a forstner bit to take a little out so theT-nuts will sit flush and have wood instead of melamine to grab onto with their teeth. You will notice here, if not in an earlier picture, that this melamine was wafer board instead of MDF like my first gate I built. I used scraps from a counter top for the first one that had formica on it. This was bought at HD and was the only shelfing material I could find with melamine on it.
46589
Picture four shows the gate installed between the two halves, the hole for the PVC marked outwith 4 screws holding the pieces together. I next drilled the four corner mounting bolt holes with 1/8" bit so I could then screw the whole assembly to a piece of plywood I could then clamp to a work surface. This way al the pieces stay together as I route the hole out for the PVC to fit into. Also this is where I drilled my center hole for my router pivot pin to sit into. This way all three pieces have the same center for routing the opening.
46590
Picture five shows the blast gate screwed down and ready to route. Note that the blast gater is not mounted with housing at this point. I tried cutting the hole in the gate separate to try to match the inside diameter of the PVC. I was close, but not perfect. But it wos no worse that the first blast gate I made with all 3 holed the same diameter.
46592
(continued on the next post)
This first picture shows one side of the gate housing that has already been cut to size, and the 2 filler strips of 1/4" MDF glued and stapled into place. I had the gate portion sitting betwen them when they were stapled in place to assure a tight fit. Be sure to wipe down any glue that oozes out from under the filler strips. Paper towell and spit worked pretty good!:eek:
46586
The second picture shows the gate between the filler strips with one handle already attached. I put the 2 halves together and attached the handle so that it was tight against the blast gate housing so that it didn't get skewed to one side. Remember: Spring clamps are your friend.
46588
Picture three shows that I have marked the center of the blast gate for the PVC to attach, and I've marked the four corners for the bolts that hold the "sandwich" together to go through. At this time, I'm using a forstner bit to take a little out so theT-nuts will sit flush and have wood instead of melamine to grab onto with their teeth. You will notice here, if not in an earlier picture, that this melamine was wafer board instead of MDF like my first gate I built. I used scraps from a counter top for the first one that had formica on it. This was bought at HD and was the only shelfing material I could find with melamine on it.
46589
Picture four shows the gate installed between the two halves, the hole for the PVC marked outwith 4 screws holding the pieces together. I next drilled the four corner mounting bolt holes with 1/8" bit so I could then screw the whole assembly to a piece of plywood I could then clamp to a work surface. This way al the pieces stay together as I route the hole out for the PVC to fit into. Also this is where I drilled my center hole for my router pivot pin to sit into. This way all three pieces have the same center for routing the opening.
46590
Picture five shows the blast gate screwed down and ready to route. Note that the blast gater is not mounted with housing at this point. I tried cutting the hole in the gate separate to try to match the inside diameter of the PVC. I was close, but not perfect. But it wos no worse that the first blast gate I made with all 3 holed the same diameter.
46592
(continued on the next post)