Shop Vac Blast Gates EASY DIY! / FREE PLANS! // EP26

[@benchtopwoodworks]

LINKS! Free Blast Gate Plans: benchtopwoodworks.com/woodworking-resources My Dust Collection Plans: www.etsy.com/listing/963089232/dust-collection-pipe-blast-gates-clamp?ref=shop_home_active_1

[@rooikatza]

You see,THIS is the kind of woodworking videos i like to see,full on detailed build video,from sawing to measuring and glueing!THANX!these other guys these days only make videos for views and show the first cut,promote some product or show their cats and talk alot off SHIT and then show you the end result!

[@benchtopwoodworks]

Thank you

[@rooikatza]

Chris Harpster just a question is a normal shopvac strong enough for this?i have a shopvac and cant afford complete dust collector unit and was wondering if a normal shopvac can be used like this

[@benchtopwoodworks]

It's been working well for me. It's no ultra high CFM professional dust collection system, but it gets the bulk of the dust at the source and for cheap.

[@keithgm4jkz871]

Great job - full of good information - building mine tomorrow thanks....

[@benchtopwoodworks]

Awesome, thanks Keith. Happy building!

[@francanfix9149]

Good job man, Loved it! Now making my own, Thanks!

[@benchtopwoodworks]

Thanks, Frank! Hope it worked well for you.

[@prmskeepr]

just sittin' here waiting to see a knuckle go flying across the shop ;o)

[@benchtopwoodworks]

sped up wide angle footage. I promise all setups were safe.

[@keithdbrown]

Great video. Hoping to make a micro shop like yours soon

[@benchtopwoodworks]

Keith, thanks man I'm honored! happy building!

[@andrewilliams8314]

Do you have plans on how to make your miter box on your table saw?

[@benchtopwoodworks]

Andre, unfortunately I do not. Thank you for watching and asking

[@tommiller5014]

Love the design. I think it's the best I've seen. Do you regret not gluing the parts together?

[@benchtopwoodworks]

Hey Tom, thanks for the compliment I'm honored you think that. I haven't had any fail due to not using glue. Glue certainly wouldn't hurt though if you want to use it. Some other lessons learned from making / repairing them: 1. I recommend polyurethane construction adhesive for attaching pipe to wood. I used epoxy on some which cracked / slipped on the pipe over time. 2. If you have a bandsaw, use it to cut your couplers, but find a way to clamp / hold them. I don't think the way I showed in the video is the safest.

[@tommiller5014]

@@benchtopwoodworks Thanks for the advice

[@Bdbrad71]

Did you use liquid nail?

[@jasondotray1095]

Awesome video, as always! I just finished building your mobile bench and table saw add-on and will be adding your dust plans to help keep things a little more tidy. But curious - did you build your table saw sled? Do you have any tips for making one? I love your stop-block on yours! (I looked through the videos but didn't find it)

[@benchtopwoodworks]

Jason, thanks for watching and for being a plans customer. I built my sleds, but never recorded them. They are very handy for small parts like the blast gates. I used a t-slot router bit for the stop block tracks. I used the 5 cut method to square the fence. I think John Katsmoses and Brad from @Fixthisbuildthat both have great videos and instructions on them. I think Brad offers some free plans for one of his.

[@jasonlanggin5132]

I’m curious after you cut the coupler in half what about the other side does the other side of the coupler become trash?

[@benchtopwoodworks]

I tried to split them exactly in half and use each half for a blast gate.

[@David-hm9ic]

Right off the bat, I had to go to your FB page to see which part of the South you're from, ----'cause nobody north of the Mason-Dixon says "Mash that button." Me? Texas, a Houston suburb to the east of the city. Already subscribed, though.

[@benchtopwoodworks]

Ha, I'm an adopted resident. From Pennsylvania originally and most of my language is Pennsyl-tucky-pittsburgese. Thanks for watching and the subscription, David! Did you find me on Facebook?

[@valleyboyscott4768]

Nice sweatshirt by the way

[@benchtopwoodworks]

Thanks, which one? PSU or South Carolina? Haha, I guess i filmed this one over several days.

[@valleyboyscott4768]

Chris Harpster the PSU one

[@benchtopwoodworks]

Outstanding, Scott!

[@TimsBitsnPieces]

Hi Chris, just a quick question please.. how does the measuring block stay fastened in place on the table saw sled? I see you tightening up the black knob, but how does it lock as there is no T-track visible etc. Tim Melbourne Australia.

[@benchtopwoodworks]

Tim, I used a T-slot router bit to cut a track into the plywood. It allows me to use a standard 1/4" hardware in the slots without T-track. Thanks for the question, and for watching!

[@TimsBitsnPieces]

@@benchtopwoodworks ok Thanks Chris.

[@bullfrogpondshop3179]

Nice system and gates! So many other guys are using 3/4" ply for all parts...seems like overkill to me. I'm not clear on the reason for the different size holes on each side (coupler and pipe)? Is there a reason you didn't use a coupler on both sides? Thanks

[@benchtopwoodworks]

Todd, thanks for watching and the compliments! My main reason for alternating coupler and pipe is that most of the places I need gates are either right next to another coupler or wye so I really only need a coupler on one side. User preference for my setup, I suppose. Most of my gates are followed by a heat-formed adapter to covert 2.5" pipe to shop vac hose. Please let me know if that wasn't clear enough to answer your question.

[@bullfrogpondshop3179]

@@benchtopwoodworks blast Gates turned out perfectly! Ended up attaching pipe to both sides. So glad I found your video! Thanks again photos.app.goo.gl/wcV2SpjakHyV7roP6

[@devildog3145]

One more thing, I’m assuming you made your cross cut sled as well. I like the design, do you have a video on that as well?

[@benchtopwoodworks]

I did make the sled but don't have a video on it. I used 1/2" Baltic Birch plywood for the construction. Overall, I didn't do anything special with the construction and thought there were some better designs out there like Nick Ferry's.

[@devildog3145]

I second the comments already made about the quality of your video and your work. I’m currently installing a dust collection system as I am wanting to move everything from my garage to my basement so that I can continue working on things during the winter months. It’s too damn cold in the garage and I want to put my car back in there to keep from scraping ice and snow. Any chance you’d sell some of those blast gates? I’m also installing a 2” system.

[@benchtopwoodworks]

Thank you, I appreciate that. Thank you for watching.

[@thomaskuzia8125]

Hi Chris, I made 3 of the blast gates and used hot glue to connect the pipe to the bodies.All failed after a short time as the hot glue didn't stick to the PVC pipe much at all.I then tried clear 100% silicone and it too failed. Any suggestions? Thanks for the video,,, Tom

[@benchtopwoodworks]

Tom, You might try scuffing the exterior of your PVC pipe with 80 grit sandpaper. Since PVC is non-porous, you need to create a way for the adhesive to grip mechanically to the pipe (sanding). I had good results with both epoxy & polyurethane construction adhesive. FIber empregnated EPOXY like JB-weld is great and solvent-based Polyurethane adhesive like Liquid Nails works well. All of the bonds mentioned are mechanical. If you really want to make the bond permanent, you could drill a few divets or shallow holes into the pipe where the adhesive will be in a few places. When the adhesive fills these and the wood fibers and hardens, you'll have a great mechanical bond.

[@ChrisTietjen_00]

A very thorough video. Nice job on that. I didn't like the way you jigged for the fly cutter. Your hands should always be well outside the cylinder defined by the spinning fly bar. That's a nasty tool as the spinning bar is almost invisible. I would have had a larger carrier plate that I could insert and remove into a referencing fixture attached to the drill press table. The other way would be to use Forstner bits or hole saws. They wouldn't pose the same danger to your hands (but would hurt your tool budget). How did you cut the couplings in half? In my experience that can be kind of tricky and deserves some attention in your video.

[@benchtopwoodworks]

Chris, thanks for watching and for the safety feedback. I agree, I did a bad job of showing the work-holding for that fly-cutter and could've shown much better technique. Thanks for highlighting that for others to see. Combination of poor camera angle and poor technique. On cutting couplers: I cut my fittings several different ways: I recommend a simple vise and hand-saw. Only power tool method I would advocate is clamping to a square reference and passing through a band-saw and allowing the off-cut to fall away. I don't think any circular saw techniques (miter saw or table saw) should be used. Short lengths of pipe were cut with ratcheting PVC cutter.

[@sumandl]

Good Job. Subbed!

[@benchtopwoodworks]

+SAWBLADE PROJECTS, thank you, I really Appreciate it!

[@stevedaniell7643]

I’m confused......Georgia or Penn State? Good vid.

[@benchtopwoodworks]

Haha, both. I'm from PA/PSU alum. I married a die hard UGA fan from GA, she's indoctrinated me.I get to root for 2x conferences now. Thanks for watching, Steve and taking the time to comment.

[@stuartcugnoni3366]

You don’t sell them do you?without the pipe.

[@benchtopwoodworks]

No, I don't sell them. There is a free set of Plans on my website if you like.

[@MrBubbajohnson1]

Nice attention to detail Chris. Good job. Keep it up. Where are you located?

[@benchtopwoodworks]

+MrBubbajohnson1, thanks I really appreciate it!

[@BigAl041451]

my question is why? you can buy blast gates at harbor freight for 3 bucks.

[@benchtopwoodworks]

AI Joe, I'm not sure if they have shop vac sized blast gates, if so good on you. I made my Gates for approx .40-60 cents each from all scrap except the PVC. I made about 20 of them and parts for 30. To directly answer your question, 1. partly DIY satisfaction 2. Part cost savings 3. Ability to customize to my needs. Probably lost money in time value but I'm not concerned about it. Hopefully someone learned something from the techniques or design or your comment about the $3 HF gates.

[@GunManOsh]

I don’t see ANY blast gates on their website. 😳

[@benchtopwoodworks]

I think they have 4" gates and hoses, there are some shop vac sizes gates out there on amazon. Thanks for watching and commenting, GunManOsh!

[@laser31415]

@@benchtopwoodworks The store bought dust gates are not self cleaning, they are notorious for collecting dust in the grooves and jamming. I like your design much better.

[@benchtopwoodworks]

Thanks, Lewis! On dust: I definitely recommend sealing. Waxing or painting this/my design of blast gates. Helps with the self-cleaning.

[@soundmanmartin]

hi chris...what kind of glue did you use for the pipe ?

[@benchtopwoodworks]

Martin, for some of the gates I used polyurethane construction adhesive, some I used 5 minute epoxy and others I used JB weld epoxy. All seem to be holding together just fine. Thanks for watching!

[@soundmanmartin]

@@benchtopwoodworks cheers mate..wish we could get jb weld in the uk ...hot glue works well. for me usually.

[@dovn5389]

Yor hand was verry close to the sercle coting bet,

[@benchtopwoodworks]

Thank you, I appreciate the concern. I have changed the way I record to maximize demonstrating safety. Please pardon any sped up video and poor camera angles that make things look more unsafe than they may have been. I clamped all the pieces to the table and recommend this when using that type of cutter

[@Subie-Driver]

very nicely done...but why do people take the safety guards off of their table saws...just looking to loose a finger or two and have your name changed to stumpy...

[@benchtopwoodworks]

Thanks, Stephen. Great point, attempting to answer your question...if it was intended as one. Obviously no one chooses to lop off a finger. Generally rushing, poor technique or violating a principle due to a lack of understanding or care leads to mishaps. Poorly designed guards can amplify this. My personal philosophy: follow the fundamentals, and guards are an added barrier for accidental contact. Unless you violate a fundamental, risk is minimal. I removed mine during this project due to switching to sled rapidly and ripping stock less than 4" wide. I apologize that I'm presenting a bad example, but my opinion is good technique is the key. A Few of the Rules I Follow: don't rip boards less than 12" long, keep your fingers at least 3" from all edges of blade while running, use push sticks anytime geometry of piece requires contact inside of 3", push primary stock completely clear of the blade, cut only flat stock, and set-up and physically or mentally rehearse each cut prior to the saw being on...and a long list of others. In the case of my guardless ripcuts in this video, I kept my riving knife installed, but kept guard off in order to allow space for my push block. I felt the cut was safer using a push block and not squeezing it past the guard vs keeping the guard and not having a secure hold on there workpiece with my push-block. If you're referencing the sled, I keep my hands in the same location when passing through the blade.