Thread: Technicolour Dream . . . diverter.

Had a bog-standard 100mm Y piece where the DC comes in through the wall with flex hose connecting to my underground duct ever since I moved into the place and I've always seen it as a 'choke point' for the system. Wanted to build a 'diverter' rather than a bigger Y piece so I could block off the side I'm not using (one less void and fewer leaky gates to contend with) but I'm no sheetmetal worker and wood just wasn't going to work for any design I could think of so I'd put the idea on hold . . . until recently when I saw a dust-hood a mate 'printed' for another mate. Worked with him to come up with a plan that would fit within the bounds of his 3D printer and set to it in Sketchup which isn't ideal as you end up with lots of 'flats' instead of true curves but it worked out alright. When drawing it in Sketchup I created each component in different colours to make it easier to distinguish them and thought we might as well continue with that when he started printing the main bits. Made the big mistake though when I emailed him the drawings of the square-to-round transitions - already had purple, orange and yellow so I told him to use whatever he likes for the transitions - knew I made a mistake as soon as I clicked 'Send'! Didn't know there was such a thing as rainbow cord for the printer but I'm stuck with it now The perspex sides were cut out by the same bloke on his laser cutter - there is no toy this lad doesn't have!
Originally planned to fit an over-centre spring arrangement to hold the flap in place but found it isn't required - flap stays put wherever I park it and has less leakage than a commercial blast gate.

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Got it all installed today including the duct run over to my drum and edge sanders which were running off another DC outside the door that meant I had to open the door and hook everything up every time I wanted to use them - no fun at all, especially if it rains.
Happy as a pig in poo with the setup now. Sized some boards up today and for the first time ever there was no shavings dropping on to the thicknesser table when I used the jointer so I've got the performance up to where I wanted it at last . . . and its very cool to watch the shavings shoot around the bend while the thicknesser is doing its job Just waiting for a new length of flex hose for the drum sander now so I can get rid of the join - was sure it was 3m long

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