Dust Collector Blast Gate (Multiple Sizes)

thingiverse

This shutoff/blast gate is designed to fit inside 4" flexible tubing for dust collectors. You'll need to secure the tubing using a band clamp to the outer portion of the circular extrusion. There are four main pieces - (1) the blast gate, (2) the spacer/middle section, and the (3) left and (4) right side pieces (these last two have the mating pieces for the 4-inch tubing). Some may choose to call them "top" and "bottom", rather than "left" and "right", but it depends on your setup and how you mount it. For my buddy, it was mounted in horizontally, rather than vertically. The gate is designed to be assembled with 4x #8 screws, 5/8" long, each with a #8 nut, which will be captured on the back side of the unit (on the "Right" side piece). In the photos, I was using an odd-sized screw/nut combo that was a bit longer than the prescribed screws (hey, it's what I had on hand!). An official #8 machine screw that's the right length should fit perfectly. :) NOTE: I designed the Fusion360 model in such a way as to make it easily scale down from fitting a a 4" tube to smaller one tube. I believe 2.5" is the other common size for dust collector tubing (?). If you are interested in me uploading a different size of tubing, please let me know! Drop a comment or a direct message to me. I'd love to hear from you! Please also post any makes! I'd love to see everyone's different setups! *** UPDATE: BLAST GATE VERSION INFO *** Added Blast Gate v10 - this is an improved design that has two small landings that will bind slightly with the gate spacer and the side piece to detent the gate into the opened and closed positions. This is a significant improvement that allows things to stay put - either closed or open - but will still allow the gate to slide in and out freely. I removed the old version (v9) and replaced it with this one because it's a much better design. If you would still like v9, I can send it to you if you DM me. Thanks, and happy printing! :D *** UPDATE #2: ADDED A 2.5-INCH VERSION! *** Upon request, I have added a version of the design to fit a 2.5-inch diameter hose. I have not printed this version or tested it, but it should work - all dimensions were based off of the hose diameter, so shrinking that will bring everything else into alignment. If you do end up doing a print, please post a make of this new version! I'd love to see it and get feedback on if it works properly. If it doesn't, please let me know what needs to be changed and I'll make the necessary alterations. *** UPDATE #3: ADDED A 125-mm VERSION *** Upon request from a user on Cults3d, I have uploaded a 125-mm version for anyone using metric tubing. I'm not sure what the smaller version of that is, but if someone needs it, just let me know and I'll make a version for that size as well.