63mm Ball Valve Type Non-Clog Blast Gate for Workshop Dust Extraction Network

thingiverse

Update 26 Jul 21 See this YouTube video by Nils Rasmusson ([https://www.thingiverse.com/nilsynils/designs]) for a performance comparison of this blast gate with other commercially available designs [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epJ929kZzc4&t=8s&ab_channel=LRN2DIY] Update 10Nov20 At the request of Michael Tipman (WoodFlipWorkshop), STEP files added. ________________________________________________ Update 01Sep20 A 100mm version of this ball valve is here: [thing:4585570](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4585570) ________________________________________________ I have two previous designs of blast gate that I hoped would be clog free, a sliding blade [thing:4298421](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4298421) and a butterfly valve type [thing:4298595](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4298595) The sliding blade works OK but needs enough space either side / end for the slider to operate. The butterfly valve type is contained within it's own volume when operated, and works well for dust and small particles, but does catch longer/ larger shavings on the butterfly (such as from my planer/thicknesser) and these back up along the extract ducting. So, I had another think... This latest design is based on a ball valve. I've printed two and had them working successfully for a few weeks without clogging. One has been fitted where it extracts fine sawdust from my bandsaw, and one where it extracts the larger shavings from my planer/thicknesser. The downside to this design is that it's a bit bulky when compared to the other two, but it's fit wherever I needed it to and it does operate within it's own volume. In addition to printing filament you'll need 4 short M5 bolts to fasten the two halves of the tube together (I used M5 x 10mm socket head set screws), an M4 x20mm bolt to hold the bearing on to the ball, and an M4 x25mm bolt to hold the lever onto the ball. The holes in the tube / ball housing may need to be eased with a suitable drill bit - 5mm on one side and 4.2mm (for tapping to M5) on the other. You need to print 2 tubes, 1 ball, and 1 lever and bearing set for each gate. It's useful to use different colours for the lever and for the tube so that the position of the ball (open or closed) can be seen easily