After market riving knife / splitter for Delta 36-714 table saw

[Eric Getchell]

Hello all,

Long time reader of the Creek, first time post.

I have a Delta 36-714 series hybrid saw and the factory blade guard, splitter, anti-kickback fingers unit is, for lack of kinder words, not pleasant to deal with.

Does anyone have any recommendations for after-market replacements, and if so, any comments on their ease of use? I'm almost at the point where I'm going to have both a splitter and riving knife custom-milled, but before I went to all the effort, I figured I'd ask!

Thanks,

Eric

[Dave Gaul]

Have you considered or heard of the SharkGuard?

http://www.leestyron.com/sharkguard.php

I will be ordering one myself as soon as I get my permanent DC system installed...

[Trent Shirley]

I was about to suggest the SharkGuard myself. Did a lot of reading on these yesterday and they seem to be well liked. I will be ordering one for my Ridgid R4511 tomorrow after I get paid.
Eventually I would like to upgrade to the whole SharkGuard package with pawls and dust collecting guard.

[Dave Gaul]

I was about to suggest the SharkGuard myself. Did a lot of reading on these yesterday and they seem to be well liked. I will be ordering one for my Ridgid R4511 tomorrow after I get paid.
Eventually I would like to upgrade to the whole SharkGuard package with pawls and dust collecting guard.

Trent, please post when you get your parts installed... I have a R4511 as well, would be interested in hearing/seeing how it works for the saw...

[Trent Shirley]

Trent, please post when you get your parts installed... I have a R4511 as well, would be interested in hearing/seeing how it works for the saw...

I will. But everything I read both here and on RidgidForums was very positive.
For now I am just getting a thin kerf riving knife and will add the options to it later. Already upgraded to a Biesemeyer fence and added a router table wing, the riving knife and dust collecting guard should complete the table unless I can figure out how to get enough room for an outfeed extension.

[Ian Roth]

I have a Delta 36-717 series hybrid saw (basically the same as yours) and I have a shark guard on it. It works great and Lee is great person to deal with. You may have to wait a couple weeks for it because sometimes he gets a bit backed up. He makes them all himself and the quality is great. I got 3 splitters with mine and they are all good quality and work great. I would buy another one if it broke.

Good luck,
Ian

[Lance Norris]

Eric... first off... Welcome. Delta makes a quick detach, tool less splitter that is part of the Uniguard, but is available seperately from the Uniguard, meaning you dont have to buy the whole Uniguard system to get it. Its excellent. I installed it on my Delta cabinet saw, and its a great improvement over what was on my saw from the factory. It was designed for the Unisaw, but thankfully, Delta has pretty much standardized the mounting attachment for the guards and it should fit your saw as well. I ordered the kit from The Saw Center and then also ordered another splitter blade and mounted my blade guard to one. This way I have a blade without the guard for times when I want just the splitter. Here is a link to The Saw Center. The kit is part number 1349941 and is shown almost at the bottom of the page.

http://www.sawcenter.com/unisawparts.htm

[Larry Rasmussen]

Welcome Eric,

I saw this and was going to write to say I've used the Shark Guard set up for most of a year now on a Jet saw and it works very well. There is some info on Shark Guard site regarding matching the splitter thickness to the blade type you favor.

I have embraced the thin blades from Freud and use them pretty much exclusively now. I let Lee know that when I ordered and got the splitter set made for the thinner blades. If you use these thin blades (and they are somewhat universal now days) then a stock old school splitter can hang the wood up if it is too thick for your cut. Just thought I'd mention this, it is one of the required decisions you make when orderering a splitter.

Regards,
Larry Rasmussen
Seattle

[Van Huskey]

Sharkguards are great. An inexpensive option is the MJ Slitter.

[Jim Sears]

Eric..Check out Bob Ross' (aka BacsiBob) "B.O.R,K." (Bolt On Riving Knife) over at Woodnet.net
He makes a riving knife for just about any saw. And it's very resonably priced.
http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=5029825&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=

[scott spencer]

Eric..Check out Bob Ross' (aka BacsiBob) "B.O.R,K." (Bolt On Riving Knife) over at Woodnet.net
He makes a riving knife for just about any saw. And it's very resonably priced.
http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=5029825&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=

+1....a true retrofit riving knife, not a stationary splitter. Very effective, great guy to deal with.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/hewood/RT/rt001-1.jpg

[ken gibbs]

Try making a custom tall fence out of good popular with a T-track at the top. Wax the fence. Make or buy several good finger boards that you can mount fore and aft of the blade in the T-track. Buy a plug in splitter if you still want one. I made my fence attached to and over my commercial fence, and use feather boards. No more kickback, and I have great control on my Unisaw. I don't bother using my plug in splitter any more.

[Mike OMelia]

watch what happens when you spell it **** instead of ************ (yes, I know why)

[Mike OMelia]

+1....a true retrofit riving knife, not a stationary splitter. Very effective, great guy to deal with.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/hewood/RT/rt001-1.jpg

The last time I looked at ****, the knife was held on by pipe clamps or the such. (as I recall). Since you have one, can you discuss the current mounting and how well it works?

[scott spencer]

The last time I looked at ****, the knife was held on by pipe clamps or the such. (as I recall). Since you have one, can you discuss the current mounting and how well it works?

Mike - Mine's held on by a U-bolt, but some of the earlier versions used hose clamps to anchor the boom to the swing arm. It seems a little wacky at first, but once you realize the existing saw components that are in play, combined with the necessity for easy DIY installation, it makes more sense. The key to it's stability is from the lateral support provided by the custom ZCI...without that you're sunk. One thing for sure, once it's setup well and fitted with that ZCI, it works great.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/hewood/RT/ORKBAY4.jpg