Who is Occam, and why would I want to use his razor? It should only take one time for me to fill the room with smoke because I forgot to open the blast gate, but knowing myself, that would probably not be the case. I put a sign next to the switch for the exhaust fan to remind myself that the blast gate needs to be open. The sign is pre-drilled for two #6 screws.
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I have one that I lay on the top of the GF whenever I close the blast gate. That way it’s in my face when I go to use the GF again (my exhaust fan is on the same power strip as the GF which is off the side of my bench so putting the sign down there wouldn’t help 
). I also use it as a spacer to offset material placement from the leftmost side of the honeycomb so I can cut all the way to the edge of the material so the sign doesn’t go missing (because that would be the next issue if I only used it to indicate blast gate status ).
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Heh 
I installed mine so the handle extends above the back of my 
vertically - clearly this is a universal issue!
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Nice relaxed text there, I needed something bolder in my face. The button is a good place for a gentle reminder…
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I just recently left mine open…a little smokey in the house!!
I could have, but because it depends on air flow to open, it increases resistance and, therefore decreases the efficiency of the fan. The blast gate (when it is open) adds no resistance.
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I have just such a reminder on my escutcheon (sp?).
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Nice reminder! I think I’m going to modify it to read, “Is the blasted gate open?”
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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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