iVAC Pro Blast Gate 4" (PBG04-A-NA)

I had been thinking about automating the blast gates on my dust collection system for some time now and finally made the purchase. The iVac system seemed to be pretty straight forward to setup so I purchased the system. As soon as it arrived I began the setup following the instructions provided and it went pretty smooth. I ran into one issue which was the number one position gate did not stay open and close when it was suppose to when I opened other gates. This was explained in the manual that was provided. After several changes to the program switches on that blast gate with no success I called technical support. The gentleman gave me easy to follow instructions and solved the problem. The system is working great and has made working in the shop more efficient and a lot more fun.

I installed these a couple months ago along with the pro tool sensors and remote for the dust collector and I have to say they’re awesome! No more walking across the shop back and forth to turn on the dust collector and opening and closing blast gates. Instead I just worry about what I’m doing, the dust collector takes care of itself turning on and off automatically, and opening and closing gates as needed. A huge time and step saver! They’re not cheap but will pay for themselves in time savings both from eliminating extra steps but also unnecessary cleanup because the dust collector isn’t turned on or configured properly.

First off, this blast gate works as described and does a great job. It looks interesting and had been working for months without any issues. That said, to use this to it's full potential, you have to buy into the manufacturer's other products. This isn't always a bad thing, but in this case, it's very problematic as the system has limitations on how you can configure and trigger devices and isn't particularly flexible, nor scalable. The other problem is that you end up with a whole lot of wall warts (AC/DC transformers) and the system components start to take up a significant number of sockets in your garage or workshop. This also creates a mess of cords. The blast gate allows the user to plug in a remote to it instead of using the on-device switch or the ecosystem's wireless controllers and relays, but oddly enough, the remote requires a stereo 3.5mm jack connection and does not permit any voltage...just open or closed continuity. Not a huge deal, but it also means no light up indicator on your remote (to show if the gate is open or closed). Again, good unit; crappy system. I bought this as a standalone unit for one problematic exhaust port (problematic in my shop, nothing to do with this blast gate) and have no regrets. It's a little on the pricey side, but still worth it.

I finally broke down and replaced all of my manual gates with these automatic gates. And it’s about time! Yes they’re expensive, but it’s so very much easier to not worry about which gate is opened or closed.

I have a 1HP dust collector with a distribution pipe, and I always either forget to open the gates OR I think 'it's only a single cut'. Then the shop is full of dust. I put these in (6 in total) and I always use dust collection, and the shop is not dusty anymore. These things are reliable and you can see if they are opened via the colored cut out at the end of the gate. Well made, this is a must if you generate a lot of dust.

Transformer died. Have seven of these, so far two transformers have failed.

I added this to my table saw so that my vacuum system would switch between it and my miter saw. It was easy to install and works as designed.

Love these for certain tools that are awkward to reach a manual blast gate. They’re expensive for what they do so I only have four. All of my tools use amperage sensors to turn on vacuum and for these four they also open the gate. The others I put a switch on the manual blast gate so the vacuum only comes on if the gate is open and the tool is running.

Transformer stop working after 3 hours of use on the blast gate. My fault - system was not grounded. The supplier sent me replacement transformer in a timely manner and everything works great now . Really appreciated the after service from supplier.

nice product but with out a remote it is useless