Doug Shepard
05-24-2007, 9:49 PM
After contemplating buying remote blastgates, some replies on an earlier thread of mine got me thinking about making my own gates. I wasn't entirely happy with the homebrew examples I saw for one reason or another. I'd also read lots of positive comments on the Lee Valley self-cleaning blastgates. After kicking some ideas around and knowing LV's liberal return policy if I decided this wouldn't work, I decided to get 4 LV gates and see what if anything I could do to make them "remote". My gates will be overhead in the rafters and I need to operate them from below. After a few weekends of experimentation, this is what I came up with. I think this is going to work out well - so Rob Lee, I wont be returning the other 3 gates that I haven't modified yet - and if this gives you any ideas, I'd like my royalty check in $USD, No Loonies please:D
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I originally tried out a bridge piece bolted onto the opposite end of the gate, but the needed spring length made finding ones that would work almost impossible. So I opted for this arrangement. A 3/16" piece of aluminum is attached to the gate flange with #6-32 bolts. The middle eyebolt is for attaching chain to pull from below. The 2 outer eyebolts are for attaching the spring ends. All holes through the aluminum are tapped. Had to put these holes a bit closer to the edge of the gate flange than I would have liked, but the bolt heads and eyebolt nut need to be offset or they'll jam on the blastgate housing and stop the gate from completely opening. The 2 factory bolts on the other spring ends were too short, so are replaced with ones slightly longer. Now that I know this works, I also want to put some sort of short sleeve over those threads so that the spring end doesn't get worn. It took a fair bit of trial and error to find the right springs to make this work, but I found these at a local hardware store and they'll work nicely. Something just a tiny bit less stiff/strong might have been better but these will do.
There's also the issue of these not really being the right size for use with 6" S&D PVC. 1/16" x 3/4" Self Adhesive Rubber from McMaster-Carr solved that problem. Just going by measurements with digital calipers, I originally got 1/8" but just couldn't get it to fit into the PVC. McM-C also has 3/32" x 3/4" that I think might work too. This 1/16" slips into the PVC easily enough, but it's snug enough that I cant rotate the gate inside the PVC.
Just wanted to share my Rube-Goldberg efforts in case anyone else needs something similar.
652376523865239
.
I originally tried out a bridge piece bolted onto the opposite end of the gate, but the needed spring length made finding ones that would work almost impossible. So I opted for this arrangement. A 3/16" piece of aluminum is attached to the gate flange with #6-32 bolts. The middle eyebolt is for attaching chain to pull from below. The 2 outer eyebolts are for attaching the spring ends. All holes through the aluminum are tapped. Had to put these holes a bit closer to the edge of the gate flange than I would have liked, but the bolt heads and eyebolt nut need to be offset or they'll jam on the blastgate housing and stop the gate from completely opening. The 2 factory bolts on the other spring ends were too short, so are replaced with ones slightly longer. Now that I know this works, I also want to put some sort of short sleeve over those threads so that the spring end doesn't get worn. It took a fair bit of trial and error to find the right springs to make this work, but I found these at a local hardware store and they'll work nicely. Something just a tiny bit less stiff/strong might have been better but these will do.
There's also the issue of these not really being the right size for use with 6" S&D PVC. 1/16" x 3/4" Self Adhesive Rubber from McMaster-Carr solved that problem. Just going by measurements with digital calipers, I originally got 1/8" but just couldn't get it to fit into the PVC. McM-C also has 3/32" x 3/4" that I think might work too. This 1/16" slips into the PVC easily enough, but it's snug enough that I cant rotate the gate inside the PVC.
Just wanted to share my Rube-Goldberg efforts in case anyone else needs something similar.
652376523865239