Kit-bashing a blade guard (pics)

[Steve Sawyer]

Dissatisfied with the actual guard on a Uni-Guard mounted on my Jet Deluxe Xacta, and intrigued with the design of the guard that came with the Jet, I scavenged parts from both to make the blade guard you see here. The Jet guard appears to be identical on both the Deluxe Xacta and PM2000, so you could do this with the Powermatic also.

So far, I'm very happy with the results. No tendency whatsoever for the guard "wings" to hang up on thicker stock as happened often with the Uni-Guard, but I retain the independent movement of the two wings. As with the Uni-Guard, this allows me to lift the right-hand wing and get the fence right up close to the blade for narrow cuts, while retaining the full protection on the left side. The guard also offers no discernible resistance to the stock as it moves toward and into the blade.
http://www.semiww.org/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php/members/stevesawyer/blade_guard_1.jpg?w=768&h=512&cache=cache

http://www.semiww.org/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php/members/stevesawyer/blade_guard_2.jpg?w=512&h=768&cache=cache

http://www.semiww.org/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php/members/stevesawyer/blade_guard_3.jpg?w=512&h=768&cache=cache

http://www.semiww.org/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php/members/stevesawyer/blade_guard_4.jpg?w=768&h=512&cache=cache

[Scott Rollins]

Nice work.