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Overarm Blade Guard - Long Awaited

Project by USCJeff posted 560 days ago 2079 views 8 times favorited 3 comments Add to Favorites Watch

Woohoo! Finally took the time to do this one. I’ve been working without a guard for the last year or so and have known that I really should change that the whole time. The Grizzly 1023S factory guard takes two wrenches to remove. That lead to it not being put back on.

Anyways, I borrowed ideas from many sources so I can’t take a lot of credit for the design. The guard itself came from a BadgerPond Woodworker blog. I chose to used hardwood strips and screws versus attaching Lexan to Lexan. I can switch out parts easier should damage occur.

The guard assembly is constructed of aluminum square tubing and flat steel strips. The steel was recycled from an old work table. I used a metal cutting jigsaw blade to cut it and grinded it to shape. I used two plastic knobs on the front of the assembly, but they should not need to be loosened so it might be a little unneeded. The two walnut knobs are what makes the guard pivot. The knobs are 3.5” with a 1/4”-20 T-nut in it. Walnut is pretty straight grained so it should be able to handle the constant tightening/loosening (I hope).

The vertical mounting tube is steel. It was a stretcher for a work table that I’m slowly recycling. I cut the corners of the tubing so that I could bend them to right angles. I drilled holes in the bended right angles for 6” lag bolts. The lags are secured to a base on the ceiling that is attached to studs.

Future Plans: The first thing I think most will think is where’s the dust collection hookup. Need to do that. There’s room for a 4” splice on the front end. However, my dust collector barely keeps up with the cabinet so I’m not sure that I’ll split the airflow until I upgrade. Maybe a shop vac in the mean time. Also, I plan to attache a hinge to the ceiling support and use a pulley to get the whole assembly out of the way for tall vertical cuts.

-- Jeff, South Carolina


3 comments so far

View USCJeff's profile

USCJeff

899 posts in 964 days


posted 560 days ago

Just wanted to add the link to the plan resource I worked from: Link

It’s very well written and I found it easily adaptable to what I wanted my setup to achieve. Don’t know the author or the forum, but thanks goes to them.

-- Jeff, South Carolina

View Scott Bryan's profile

Scott Bryan

20707 posts in 718 days


posted 560 days ago

Jeff,

This is a nice addition to your saw that should make for a much safer operation and more convenient, which is the main reason a lot of us, myself included, remove the guards permanently. I need to add a guard to my saw so I may have to “borrow” some of your ideas.

Thanks for the post. It has been helpful.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

View jockmike2's profile

jockmike2

7322 posts in 1142 days


posted 559 days ago

Always good to keep safety in mind. I took mine off and never put it back on. I’ve been thinking lately maybe I should put it on. Be safe. mike

-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com

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