I know that the blade guard is important to keep our fingers, but how many out there actually use the blade guard? I found that the blade guard limited the size of cut, ie ripping small pieces and using a push stick.
putter
Edited 2/17/2003 10:36:17 PM ET by putter
Replies
putter
I have a crown gaurd and use the short fence. To rip narrow stock with the crown guard attached, I bought one of those thin 1/2" push shoes with the tall handle. Cut a 1/4" slot in it hroizonal to the table surface and inserted a 4"x 4" Lexan clear plate to act as a shield, just in case of a slip up. It's kind of like a hand-shield on a sword.
I rip to 5/8" with total concentration with this set-up with confidence. Narrower than 5/8", no chance. How narrow are you talking.?
Have a good evening...
sarge..jt
Sarge
What's a crown guard.
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
Until recently I was not using a blade guard because it got in the way and the design simply su** (original equipment it came with my saw). Because I now have many projects on my plate, a tight schedule, and long hours in the shop (these are good contributors to an accident) and don’t need to loose any digits. I’m now using one that I put together myself. I didn’t like what was available and didn’t want to spend a lot of $$ not knowing if I would actually use it. I was inspired by a euro design and only took an hour to put together, it’s very simple, slim, made of 3/8 lexan, easy to remove and it even has dust collection. So far I’m happy with it and will continue to use it.
RickL
Edited 2/12/2003 9:58:59 AM ET by R!CKL
Rick
Can you give me a better idea of what you did.
And will it fit over a Beisemeyer snap in splitter?
Jeff
Jeff,
I'll take a couple of pictures this weekend and post them. Pictures would be better than my explanation, as for fitting over a Beisemeyer snap in splitter? It should. My saw is an old sears with a modified splitter (cut to smaller size), pawls removed, and releases with one turn of a knob. It will adjust to the blade angle but like yours it doesn’t go up or down with the blade, although I wished it did. Anyway I'll have some pictures up by the end of the weekend.
RickL
Thank you
Jeff
Jeff
If you will go to the recent thread, Just When I Was Getting Ready to buy American; I gave a full detailed explanation. It is a gaurd attached to the top of a riving knife that checks the uplift of stock that can be generated by the dangerous rear rising teeth. It also sits about 1/8" over the top of the blade and stays at that distance because the riving knife it is attached to moves up and down and angles with the blade. This is usually found on the Euro saws. I was fortunate to purchase a junked Ryobi BT 3000 and I did some heavy modifying. It also has a riving knife, so I built a crown gaurd from ligum vitae to compliment it.
Here's a pic to explain. Any questions, ask.
Have a great day...
sarge..jt
Sarge
Looks interesting.
Any suggestions how to adapt to a Beisemeyer Snap in Splitter.
Jeff
Jeff
I would have to have a look at it and see how it attaches. The riving knife the crown attaches to is attached to the mechanism that moves the blade with bolts. I'm not sure what that Biss splitter attaches to or how. If the splitter is securely attached, it is a matter if drilling 2 holes for 5/16" case hardened bolts. I don't think that splitter is wide enough to handle the crown. Again, haven't seen it.
How wide, how does it attach...
sarge..jt
Sarge
It attaches to the rear of the trunion with 2 bolts.
You remove the standard splitter/guard support and bolt it to the
same location.
It doen't raise or lower with the blade, but stays in the same place.
I looked in the saw and didn't see any easy way to attach to the
carraige for a splitter that would follow the blade height adjustment.
Jeff
It is about 1 inch at the bottom, 3 in the middle and only 1 inch at
the top.
Edited 2/12/2003 7:13:14 PM ET by Jeff in Vermont
Jeff
And you won't find a easy way. Our American saws are designed totally different. The problem with a crown on a standard splitter is the splitter doesn't move with the blade. You could attach to the splitter, but when the blade is at the lowest height, that crown is still up on top of the splitter inches away. There is a lot of room between the blade and overhead crown that your hand or fingers can get into. Enough that it would not warrant adding the crown gaurd.
So, definitely add the splitter and follow the safety rules to the letter. All we can do without extreme modification.
Good luck and stay alert with your safety procedures...
sarge..jt
I use an Excaliber guard ,but for ripping narrow stock there is little to protect you.I find that an inexhaustable supply of home made ,sacrificial pushsticks to work just fine. Woodworking is dangerous ,staying focussed and using common sense will help. With knowledge and some luck we hope to survive!
I'd agree with the suggestion of "staying focused". I've operated safely without a guard for years, although I'm trying to get accustomed to one now. I've stayed safe by occasionally simply spending time just gazing at the blade, fence, table, and board and imagining how things would go wrong. A catch pulling my fingers into the blade and the flesh shredding. I've thought about the sharp tug on my fingers and the cone of blood etc on the table, the wood, and the wall behind me.
This digested, I've tried to stay focused on using push sticks and keeping my fingers away from the blade. I've tried to avoid the careless return after the cut where moving the scrap wood, I accidentally brush my hand against the teeth.
It's worked so far, but (my gut feeling) it doesn't feel like this approach will work forever. If I take a one in 1,000 chance a thousand times, I will probably use up the universe's good will.
So I'm trying to reach an accomodation with the guard on my new supersaw. It's better than most, but Jet (and delta, powermatic, etc) could do better with a better approach.
By the way, all those who tout the sliding tables: It greatly improves precision and SAFETY, right on!! I really like the sliding table. The fence adusts right up to the blade.
I think you've contemplated this thought a little too much LoL. We use to say in the Marine corp. if you contemplate getting shot you probably will, focus on how not to get shot and you probably won’t.
RickL
Edited 2/13/2003 8:44:17 AM ET by R!CKL
For many years, I've used a 50's sears 10" that may or may not have ever had a guard. Now, I' ve gotten a Jet Supersaw and I'm determined to give the guard a go for a while. You're right that the guard is bad in many situations. Narrow cuts you can't get a push stick past the guard. You can't use it for cuts that don't go all the way through.
The guard on the supersaw hinges back away from the blade and out of the way, but leaves the splitter and the anti-kick back pawls in place which helps with thin cuts. Better than other guards I've used.
However, for all but wide rips, the guard seems to almost make the cut more dangerous by just being more futzing and less visibility. Time will see if I use the guard or just put it up into the rafters of the garage.
The sliding table is orgasmically good compared to my old sled or the old mitre gauge. If only saw makers could get the guard right!
Does that jet Supersaw come with an European style rip fence, tele? That's the style that the Delta Unifence is based on. If it's that style, it can be flipped over 90° to present a narrow edge towards the blade, and therefore it won't block off your push stick between the guard and the fence.
A birds mouth type push stick is the style I use when ripping, and I always rip with the short set European style fence. Never been a fan of long rip fences, but then I don't use a dado blade or a moulding head in a table saw either, so a long rip fence is completely irrelevant. Slainte. Website The poster formerly known as Sgian Dubh
The supersaw has a typical american fence, well thought out, but not euro. However, I've never used the fence surface and have always used a selection of auxiliary fences. I like the idea of a low fence for narrow pieces.
My big hitachi resaw has a short fence. I've never tried one with a table saw, but it should get the cutoff out of harm's way pretty quickly. I'll have to make one and give it a try.
A friend and I are building a pair of the blade guard/vacuum adapters shown in Fine Woodworking in the October 2002 issue. There were no dimensions given for the guard so I have mocked up a version to evaluate.
I was wondering if there are any others out there who have built one of these and have any lessons learned to pass on.
BTW I have modified the piece that holds the splitter on My Unisaw with a longer bolt and a strong spring. This allows me to push a splitter into place with out going through the wrench routine. It took some experimenting to get the right pressure but is well worth it because I now use the splitter (also homemade) more often.
Dave Welser
Not only your fingers....Consider your face if the saw throws something like a large fragment of wood, or a carbide tooth. Just two days ago, I was squaring the ends of some pieces using the miter gage. A little offcut block (about 1x1x2) found its way to the back of the blade and was thrown up toward me. It might have hit my face...but the guard was there so it was deflected and got me in the rib instead.
Also consider your lungs...The dust collector gets a lot of what goes down, but a second hose to a hood above the blade will pick up more of the super fine dust that is thrown upward.
I have an assortment of guards, hoods, etc...mostly made of particleboard and MDF and a variety of push sticks and featherboards.
The thing that makes this stuff practical is that I have drilled and threaded lots of holes in the top of my table saw. The stuff can be bolted on very quickly.
I don't use the factory supplied splitter-mounted guard. In most cases it creates hazzards rather than resolving them.
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