Dust Collection Blast Gate for 6-inch Sewer & Drain Pipe

thingiverse

Like a lot of woodworkers, I'm using PVC plumbing pipe in a central dust collection system in my shop. One drawback for this type of pipe is that the fittings are not designed for upwards of 1000 CFM air flow, and will introduce significant pressure drop to the system. Additionally, once you get up into 6 inch and bigger sizes, the fittings get expensive. These factors led to designing and printing my own fittings for the DC system. Blast gates, elbows, and wyes. I tried to design these to minimize pressure drop, and to fit the PVC sewer & drain pipe directly, without additional adapter fittings. The fewer fittings, the better for DC performance. This blast gate is a variation on https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3125532. This one is designed to fit a 6-inch PVC S&D pipe on the dust collector side, and 5-inch flex hose on the machine tool side. The side toward the dust collector is designed like the hub of a S&D pipe fitting, so it fits directly on the end of 6-inch pipe. The side toward the tool is designed for a good fit with the flex hose, which in turn connects to the DC port on the WW tool. Magnets are included to ensure the gate stays in it's selected open or closed position while the DC is running. This could be considered optional. So far I've only run this with the gate horizontal, so it may be okay without, but I wanted to make sure they didn't creep open or shut from vibration. This might even hold the gate in place in a vertical position where gravity is trying to pull the gate down, but I have not yet tried this. Mounting bosses are included for a micro switch. Eventually I will wire the DC system to use the blast gates as switches to start and stop the DC as the gates are opened/closed. There are three mounting holes on each side. I've mounted some gates using both sides, and some with one side, and even one-sided is sturdy enough. Some additional material is needed in addition to the 3D-printed components.