Overarm Blade Guard - Long Awaited

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