DIY motorized blast gates
Woodworker Scott Walsh takes homemade blast gates, servo motors, and an Arduino microcontroller and creates a fully automated dust collection system.
May 19, 2022
I have no idea why this video from Scott Walsh doesn’t have tens of thousands of views. Maybe Scott and I are just a similar mix of woodworker meets electronics geek, but I love projects like his Arduino controlled, motorized blast gates. In particular, I loved going on the journey of building such an elaborate system with Scott—thus keeping me from wandering down this road myself.
Scott has a great YouTube channel and you should really check out his other videos. He’s also awesome and posted an in-depth tutorial on his WordPress site if you’d like to attempt something similar.
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Comments
Pretty cool, but also Crazypants.
The reason it doesn’t have more views is it’s too complex for most woodworkers who don’t have electronics or electrical background. I gave up after about A minute.
This guy just loves doing things the hard way!
I'm keen on something like this and designed something very similar though never bothered to build it. Even for someone who enjoys electronics and home automation, this is a fairly complex project. The physical construction is hard, the components are expensive, the programming is medium to hard to get right, wiring is a faff, and reliability of the blast gates is likely to be a problem in the longer term. Fun to do though, if you like soldering.
Still, there is a place for electronics and automation in the shop and it is good that FWW is sharing this content - his table saw dust collector hood video was fun too.
The blast gates are a weakness. They look large, fragile, and leaky. But, the guy makes control engineering look fun which is an achievement worthy of a Webby if not an RD100 award.
Hi Ben, not related to this video, I recently found out I can have access to a 3D printer at my local library and I know you have one so my question is; how can it help me, what kind of project can I do in woodworking that would use a 3D printer.
Thanks for your time.
Marcel
Marcel, I have used my 3D printer to make router table inserts, knobs for jigs, and most interestingly models of furniture before I build it. Though on the last one I’ve only gotten to the printing stage and have yet to build one in wood.
I’m in the planning stage for an over arm dust cover for the table saw. I suspect I’ll be using the 3D printer for some portions of the project.
Also, it would probably be best to start a new discussion on 3D printers in the forum. That way others will be more likely to find it.
This guys idea isn't all that bad. I've been looking for a way to automate 6 gates, 3 that are very hard to get to, but his are too big to fit there and it's all a little too complicated.
Jeremy fielding has a small, simple design for a gate that is operated by a small air cylinder. Air would be an idea killer if you didn't have an air compressor but most power tool woodworkers have them. The problem with Jeremys idea is I haven't found a cylinder that is cheep enough to get the unit price down to something I could afford and still have confidence that it isn't going to fail in a place that is going to take all day to replace. Check out Jeremy on YouTube. He has some great, simple ideas to solve a lot of common problems. He is amusing without turning a 5 min. expalnation into a 1 hr. comedy show.
Be safe and make some saw dust (but make sure you safely collect it)
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