Clogging dust collector gates

[photobug]

I recently did a revamp of my dust collection.  The main branch was found to have been filled with thickness planer shavings.  I am also reformatting the system to work better with the overhead dust collection on the table saw.  I found most of the gates so clogged with dust, grit, who knows what so they don't actually close.  I have tons of spares and some other styles, I will have to dig out of my crawl space.  I assume metal gates are better than plastic but not sure how much I have of what.  I have taken some of the gates out and even trying to claw out whatever is in the gate and can't get most of them to work again.

What I am wondering: Is there a way to design and install the gates to prevent them from getting clogged in the future?

[fredhargis]

If your gates are like these, it helps some to drill a hole on the back corner on each side....I drilled mine 3/32" and it seemed to solve the dust build up problem. A better solution (and I what I eventually did) is to make your own. The designs that have a cross slide don't have those pockets...of course, they take up more room since the slide is always protruding from one side or the other. If you can't clean the plastic gates out, they can be disassembled if your careful. The ones I had were glued together and I was able to break them apart with minimal damage to the gate. I didn't glue them back, I used screws to put them back together. Anyway, here's a pic of the gate design to which I refer.
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[John Mihich]

On my plastic ones I cut the corners off the ends opposite the movable part.  Doesn't seem to affect the DC.

[2Goober]

I ran the full 6" to the cabinet of the saw, for the high volume dust collection and connected the over arm to a whole house vac., this is low volume-high pressure.
I found the old whole house vac on FB Marketplace cheaper than I could buy a good shop vac. Between the 2 I have very little dust from the TS.
I did the same thing with my chop saw. Connecting the high volume to a Amazon hood and the whole house to the miter saw housing. Works much better but I still get a little blow by from that one. Nothing I've tried gets anything close to everything on that chop saw.

[photobug]

I ran the full 6" to the cabinet of the saw, for the high volume dust collection and connected the over arm to a whole house vac., this is low volume-high pressure.
I found the old whole house vac on FB Marketplace cheaper than I could buy a good shop vac. Between the 2 I have very little dust from the TS.
I did the same thing with my chop saw. Connecting the high volume to a Amazon hood and the whole house to the miter saw housing. Works much better but I still get a little blow by from that one. Nothing I've tried gets anything close to everything on that chop saw.

I am going to try to up my dust collection on my chop saw as it is the weakest link in my dust collection.  I think the lack of gate closure on the table saw causes weak suction at the chopsaw.  So solving the gate issue should help my chopsaw get better collectiion.

Also I have plenty of 6" duct still available.  I should use this to bring full-sized duct to my tablesaw.  I need to find some 6-6-4 vees somewhere.

[Aram]

I recently did a revamp of my dust collection.  The main branch was found to have been filled with thickness planer shavings.  I am also reformatting the system to work better with the overhead dust collection on the table saw.  I found most of the gates so clogged with dust, grit, who knows what so they don't actually close.  I have tons of spares and some other styles, I will have to dig out of my crawl space.  I assume metal gates are better than plastic but not sure how much I have of what.  I have taken some of the gates out and even trying to claw out whatever is in the gate and can't get most of them to work again.

What I am wondering: Is there a way to design and install the gates to prevent them from getting clogged in the future?

Just a note, I've had my Oneida blast gates for over a decade. I've run everything from exotic hardwoods to borg 2x4s, and they still open and close like new. I wonder if some makes are better than others.

[Tapper]

What is the HP rating on your DC?

Doug

[photobug]

What is the HP rating on your DC?

Doug

It is a 2 HP system, and also a possible issue is.  At one point I had a plastic grocery bag stuck in the intake and just recently I had a large blockage in the area coming from the 4" pipe to the 6" section.  I have not been using my shop much recently but ready to begin some projects.  

It is possible one (the plastic bag) caused the other (the wood chip clog) and that both or either caused the gates to get clogged.  Of the 3 I pulled out clogged I was not yet even able to get them unclogged.  It could be small rocks or pebbles stuck in the groves from vacuuming up the floors that fell into the groove and got lodged in there.  I have been trying to include photos of my system but the pics get rejected as too big.

[photobug]

[photobug pid='8014812' dateline='1630775219'].  I have been trying to include photos of my system but the pics get rejected as too big.[/quote]

Lets see if these work.

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[photobug]

I am considering keeping the duct all the way at 6" until the very end.  If the duct going over the table saw was a 6" duct until the drop down to the overhead guard might it work better?