Thread: New setup. Gate location advice please!

If the gates are manually operated by hand you want them as high as possible but within reach to be able to open them, if they are to be operated remotely, (not by hand) then ideal location is as close as practical to the main line.

One thing to be aware of is that an unused, (gate closed) leg can/will fill up with sawdust and if it is a long leg that could be quite a bit of sawdust that the DC has got too move and it may not be able to, a solution to this is drill a small hole (1/4") in the gate, this breaks the vacuum.

I wouldn't be too fussed about putting gates at A and B.

Bringing the piping/hose into the combo is a bit of a pain, you need access pretty much all the way around it, basically the trick here is to be able to pick up each part of the machine without interfering with another operation, as a suggestion I'd come up the back of the saw somewhere close to the gap near that triangle table extension with a bit of solid but no higher than the table hieght and maybe low enough to get a bend on to take it out under the infeed on the planer, that really depends on if you will be cutting wide sheet material, then come down off the main with enough hose to be able to pick up planing/thicknessing/SM and saw by swapping hose as required.



Pete

Personally, if I was going for "minimal" gates I'd put them at B, D & F.

At B rather than C, to avoid the issue PJT mentions with long lengths that become "backwash zones."
At F rather than G for the same reason, plus it keeps the gates D & F together for easier switching. (You'd stand in one spot to set either/both.)

That's good info about the 1/4" hole in the gate. I was originally going to gate at A&B to stop the buildup of dust but wasn't sure if it'd be a drama. I have zero experience with ducted systems.

I'm hoping to be able to leave the combo and the bandsaw open together as those are the 2 machines I'll be using the most.

I 'm planning on putting the combo with the planer table parallel to the wall that has the duct running down it. I was going to have the saw hood 4" connected above head height on a boom arm with flexi that drops down to the saw hood. The 5" that comes out at floor level I'll change between the saw cabinet and thicknesser/planer as I need it.

That's the theory anyway

The FDB option makes sense to me.