I didn’t want a column of cold air coming into the house so I attached mine to the window instead of the Glowforge.
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Buy some Aluminum Duct tap and not that crappy Duck tape mad out of thread. You will hate it with a passion as it sticks to everything but it will not leave a nasty film when you take it off.
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Really appreciate the design! It’s my first real “ Fabrication“ on my Pro, an
d it turned out perfectly!
I added some color coding to have the visual indicator of whether or not the gate is open or closed or if it’s only open halfway; I know I was absent minded enough to mess that up someday if I didn’t have some visual cue😂
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Should I just glue these pieces together? Also are all four rings just glued together on one side?
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The rings are split into two groups - if you check closely you’ll see that the 2 on page 1 are bigger than the 4 on page 2. They’re glued with the ones that are the same size glued together, and then the bigger ones go toward the 
and the smaller ones are for your hose to go over.
You may want to measure before you glue - I found that cutting an additional 4 of the smaller ones made it WAY easier to easily connect the hose (I’m using a padded hose).
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@slroh2001 This is the first time I have gotten to come to the shop since my medical issues!! I was so desperate, my husband put the kiddos to bed tonight and I left and I actually was able to come to the shop! I have so much I wanted to do, but I have to take it super easy at the moment! The first thing I wanted to do (after running a much-needed job just to make my machine run) was find this blast gate forum in order to tag you in it. Just because this file was the most useful file for me from GF family forum. I know you said that you were thinking about a filter, but until then…this thing is a life saver!! I can not wait to get back to normal!
I know you have messaged me, but they have me on some meds that make me super drowsy and sleep through ANYTHING. Anytime I would sit down, consider me a GONER! I am sooo glad I do not need them any longer. Pain pills put me OUT!
Sam, I want to talk soon! And I am finally close to being back on normal sleeping hours.
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Oh! My Goodness it is so good to hear from you. Please, please let me know if there is anything I can possibly do for you. I’m happy and blessed to hear you are on the mend. Take care of yourself and I look forward to meeting you in person one day soon. “Sam”
For those who have made this, I’m wondering what are the advantages of this over a commercial one? I have this one which I bought for $14. It seems to me that the raw acrylic costs almost as much and I have to cut and assemble. So unless it’s actually better in some way, buying is better (let’s assume we ignore that I already bought one). Amazon.com
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It’s not. It’s just fun to make your own. The most common one is plastic and costs less than $10.
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Thanks. I have enough to do 
I saw a plastic one on Amazon and figured it wasn’t good enough, but the metal one I have is actually quite nice.
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I have the $10 Rockler plastic blast gate and it’s quite good. Bulky tho, so I built this version and it works better in my space (scrap acrylic = free).
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Brilliant design, I may add this as a secondary precaution to my setup. I’m using 4" PVC secured to the floor frame in my workspace with 1/4 turn shutoff valve. This allows me to open to the outside through a dryer vent when the forge is in use, then I when I’m finished I just close the shutoff valve to prevent any backflow into the forge. Pretty simple setup.
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Do you have any issues with the seal on that? I have a few of them but never used it because it just looked like it would not provide a good seal when in use and I would have smoke leaking out.
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If you’re asking about the metal gate, I’m having no leak problems. It does have a small opening but the following things prevent any leak:
- It is positioned right at the Glowforge exhaust port
- My external vent hood has a gravity cover on it (I probably don’t even need the blast gate)
- I’m venting to a very large area outside that has good airflow
- I typically keep the fan running for a long time after I am done cutting (this is routine because I don’t always know I’m done cutting)
So, net, the fan probably pulls a bit of air from the room in addition to from the Glowforge, but none of it results in in-room leakage and I have zero smoke and zero smell.
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Yeah the metal gate looked like a potential leak spot so I didn’t even try it. Glad to hear it may not be as much of an issue. Maybe next time I have everything apart I will check it out. I now have a booster fan after where I would put the gate so that may help.
When I print out the pdf it gets cuf off…do I need to use 8 1/2" by 11" paper?
Thank you for this, getting colder here too.
Marque
Welcome to the forum.
Just wondering why you are printing this on paper? It is a digital file meant to upload into the Glowforge interface to cut acrylic.
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Got you getting my GF pro tomorrow just trying to get ready. Once I get it set up and learn how to put in the digital files I will be printing this out. Thank you for you reply, very new at this.
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Yeah, the majority of designs posted here will be set for a 12"x20" bed, since that’s what’s the has…hard to print on paper unless you have a large format printer or are willing to tape multiple pieces together
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