Same here…
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For me the seal doesn’t look tight enough around the edges. I went into my shop one afternoon to find moisture in my hose and a little in my GF. This was before my blast gate and after a 95+ degree day with 80+ humidity. When my glowforge sits in a 65 degree dry basement the blast gate is for moisture.
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I have reminders like that all of my 3D printers. Looks like I’ll be adding some for this when he arrives. One question. What is a blast gate? Slang term or additional equipment?
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Yes - it’s definitely slang, but it’s come into common usage 
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What @deirdrebeth said. I made this gate shortly after getting my GF. Can’t stand the noise of the built-in fan. Installed this gate and an external exhaust fan, turned ‘off’ the built-in fan via the GFUI.
edit: sorry, I meant to reply to @seanhunter79
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Been there done that
That is impressive.
Those of you who use a blast gate, where do you locate it in your vent system? At the window, at the machine, before or after your in-line fan?
I have mine as the first thing inside of the house. The addantage of doing it that way is that the outdoor air (which around here is almost always near 100% relative humidity) does not collect in the fan. The disadvantage is that the fan is blowing through the blast gate rather than sucking through it. There is always slight leakage around the gate itself. If you put the fan as the last thing before the system exits the house, any leakage is on the “suck” side rather than the “blow” side, so nothing leaks into the house. I would rather trade the very slight odor instead of a rusted or shorted out fan from condensation.
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Mine’s just before the window vent. Since the vent has a flap, it’s technically dual-gated, but I just didn’t trust the little flappy thing on the vent to keep air out.
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Can I ask the official name of the blast gate for ordering purposes? I need one.
“Blast gate” is a generally recognized name. There are many available. This happens to be the one I have, but there are others that are just as good. Just be sure to get the diameter you need. 4" and 6" are the most common, but there are others. I have a 6", because I have a 6" in line fan. If you are using the built in GF exhaust fan and the hose GF provided, you would use a 4" blast gate.
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Do you mind sharing the design? I am using a sticky note right now.
Right click the illustration under the text in the original post and save image as svg to your computer.
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What a nice inventive way to remind yourself!
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That’s just gorgeous! Now I’ve got to make one.
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Here’s my way of telling myself to open the blast gate. I just reduced Dave’s original plan to make a miniature blast gate to cover the start button.
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