On Thursday, March 11, 2021 at 5:32:51 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Thu, 11 Mar 2021 09:45:51 -0800 (PST), DerbyDad03
wrote:

On Thursday, March 11, 2021 at 12:31:14 PM UTC-5, Scott Lurndal wrote:
Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet writes:
On 3/10/2021 5:02 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:


Sounds complicated. Compared to mine. Get rid of the gates. and the Y.

Not complicated at all. Why do you think that?


I have a 30 foot hose, with a flared end to fit the machine. Not tools
requires to move from one machine to another.

You on the other hand have a Y with a hose attached to each side. My Y
is capped off on one side. You have 2 gates that get clogged. I "never
ever" get clogs. No gates to open or close.


So I only use one tool at a time, I have no need for a manifold and or
gates.

I've a 2HP Reliant DC with a single 6" inlet connected to a 6" by two 4"
wye. One side of the wye connects to rigid plastic 4" drain pipe with
gates for the shaper, the disk sander, the drum sander
and the TS.

The other side of the wye goes another wye, one side of which connects
via a gate to the bandsaw, the other side goes to another wye, one
branch of which goes to the DJ-20 jointer, and the other to the SCMS. Most of
this is 4" flex black DC hose.

When needed, the 15" planer is moved to the center of the shop and
a 4" hose is connected to inlet used by the jointer, but I've found the
drum sander does many of the jobs the planer was used for.

All metal gates, and I've never had a clogging issue with them.

I'm guessing that you are moving a lot more air at a much faster rate
than I am. That could account for the non-clogging of the gates. I have
no need (or room) for a system as large as yours, so I put up with the
single downside of my set-up.

The advantages of the Y and the 2 gates far outweigh the inconvenience
of the occasional clog.
I think clogs are a function of the design of the gate. Some, I've
seen, the gate doesn't completely move out of the airflow or have a
lip that can hang up larger hunks of stuff. Good gates are very
smooth on the inside with nothing to obstruct stuff flying though
there.

I probably shouldn't have used the word "clog".

What actually happens is that dust builds up in the hidden corners
of the slot that the gate slides in. Even when hanging vertically, but not
nearly as often as when they were horizontal. Once the dust builds up
in the corners, the gate will not fully close.

What I think may be happening is that dust settles on the track and
then the gate pushes it up into the corners when you close it. Eventually
the gate doesn't fully seal. I can tell not just by the air flow, but also
by the dull thud when closing the gates vs. the solid click when clean.

I bought 2 "self-cleaning" gates from Lee Valley but they leak too much
for me. They have an open slot so that the gate pushes the dust out,
but the slot also acts as a hole in the system. Dumb.

Full disclosu These are 2 1/2" plastic gates from Woodcraft. I need
to look for some 2 1/2" metal gates of the non-self cleaning style.
Maybe the thinner metal gate won't push as much dust into the corners.