Overarm tablesaw blade guard

Mike Boyle

Member
Messages
3
Location
NW Ohio
I am looking for one as I am tired of eating sawdust when using the saw. I have the 3hp Unisaw and was wondering what you guys are using. I've seen the Excalibur and it looks good. I used to have the Penn State guard but it was more of a pain so I sold it. When I put in my Gorilla cyclone this summer I planned the ductwork to accept an overarm guard. Any idea where I could find a used one?
 
I've used several different ones, but my preference is the Delta Uniguard.

I really like the 'split' feature so that I can make very thin rips by just raising one side of the guard.

Only downside to it is that it doesn't have dust collection. Personally, I seldom find that to be a problem. Dust collection on a tablesaw really isn't that great anyway, so I often use my cabinet saw without bothering to even turn the DC on. I just vacuum out the sawdust from the cabinet every so often.
 
Thanks for the nice words Jason. I'll try to post a couple pictures here as the one in Jason's thread was not all the way assembled. DSCN2209.jpgDSCN2210.jpgDSCN2212.jpg
Picture 3 shows a close up of my counterbalance system.:rofl: Thread-all mounted in a wood block mounted inside the aluminum with fender washers and an acorn nut on the end. Easy to add or subtract to get that perfect balance. Remember to do this with the hose attached as it adds weight to the business end of the pick up.
It wasn't hard to do. I was lucky that most of the parts were free. I did buy the steel and aluminum tubing and all the screws. The plastic sides were left over from the previous owner of the house. About 1/4" thick. The top is a piece of PTEG that Ed at Clear Vue sent to me to play with, and the hose adapter is a 4" round to 2 X 3 fitting from Lowe's to adapt rain gutter to underground piping. If you have to buy Lexan or other plastic for this, it might get expensive. But you could certainly use wood for the sides...I just wanted mine clear. Jim.
 
I have an Excalibur. It was on the Unisaw with a Merlin splitter. Then I got a used Laguna TS,moved it to this saw, works real good. The Excalibur can be swung out of the way when not needed. Looks cool too!:D
IMG_5069.JPG
 
I found a used Biesemeyer Overhead Guard on eBay that I have found to be very satisfactory, except that the dust collection port on the original guard was too small for sufficient air flow. I replaced the OEM guard with the Sharkguard, which has a 4 inch port. I presently am using a 2 1/2 in hose for overhead dust collection and the dust collection is good. I may go to the full 4 inch someday. The Sharkguard gives improved visibility as well.

Picture 1 is a view of the overhead guard in the elevated position. Picture 2 is a comparison between the OEM guard and the Sharkguard. Picture 3 is a view of the system with Sharkguard in use.
 

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  • Shark with 2.5  in duct (600 x 400).jpg.jpg
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