Thanks! They definitely are built like tanks. I had to figure out a whole elaborate hoisting system to get the motor on top of the thing. I built a hoisting tower around the gorilla to accomplish that task.

One concern I had with the weight of the thing is that the location I have it installed is directly above the gas shutoff valve for our house. The shutoff consists of a bend of pipe that comes out of the wall, has an exposed valve, then goes back into the wall. If something really heavy fell on that? That could be a really bad day. Normally the first thing you do for a gas leak is to shut off the gas. This IS the valve you use to do it! I absolutely do not want anything to happen to this valve. I was afraid of some giant bit of dust collector falling on the thing. So I built some armor for it.

You can still readily access the shutoff valve, but if something heavy were to fall on it, hopefully the enclosure would protect it. Thankfully nothing did, and at this point nothing is ever likely to again. The gorilla will protect it from falling objects!

As far as blast gates, there’s large blast gates dividing the major branches and then smaller blast gates at individual tools. As far as if it matters? I have no idea. But for what we’re investing in this, I’m going to make damn sure I can get every bit of performance out of it I can. I definitely do notice a difference in airflow and pressure depending on how many gates I have open at a time. So it does have an effect. Whether that effect is significant enough to affect dust capture performance, I cannot say.

One fun thing is the table saw. This main line maintains a full 6" diameter all the way to the saw, where it splits off into two 4" lines. (The gorilla inlet is 7" diameter.) One services the 4" port on the saw’s back, the other on the overarm. One 6" line can carry more than two 4" lines. So this thing is fully supporting a 4" line both above and below the saw blade. It just lives in a tornado.

Sorry if I’m geeking out over this. This is definitely a passion project of mine. And it is a lot more work than you might realize. I’ve never done sheet metal work, and I’m learning as I go. But it took me a week to get the gorilla fully assembled and another week to get the ducting this far. And that’s working well more than full time hours on it. I’m assembling it single-handedly with no more elaborate lifting equipment than a tall ladder and gripple system.

It’s a lot of work, truly exhausting. But I’m having a blast. The process to form just one connection is like this:

1. Assemble any connecting snap-lock piping.
2. Tape the seam of the pipe.
3. Secure pipe to something rigid and cut to length with an angle grinder. (Shears don’t work on this gauge ducting.)
4. Crimp the ends of the pipe section.
5. Insert into line or into sub-assembly (10’-12’ in the air.)
6. Use spring-loaded center punch to place at least four divits on the exterior pipe or bend at the connection point.
7. Drive self-drilling sheet metal screws into both connecting pieces using an impact driver.
8. Seal connection with two layers of hvac metal taping.

That’s every single connection. I’m sure an actual skilled HVAC expert could make quick work of this. But again, I’m learning as I go! And yeah, this stuff is actually a lot thicker than normal HVAC ducting. This is 24g material. Apparently if you hook regular ducting up to the gorilla, the vacuum pressure will collapse it.