SawStop Question - blade dust collection and over-arm blade guard

[Andrew Pitonyak]

My intention is to purchase a SawStop cabinet saw (120 V) with the 36" fence.

Question 1: Does the saw come with the Dust Collection blade guard?

Question 2: I built a router table to install to the right of the blade as part of the saw top (it is currently installed in a Ridgid table saw). It looks to me like the over-arm dust collection pipe would render that particular mode of operation not possible. Do you agree?


If the pipe would trivially swing down and out of the way, then it would be fine. I suppose that I could also build another router table and use it as an outfeed table for the saw, but would rather not do that.

I expect that I will use the dust collection blade guard and run my own line that I bring down from the ceiling.

[Rusty Howard]

No, blade guard dust system is not included, but SawStop has specials where you can get the system for free with new purchase, ships from factory took about two weeks to recieve.

Question 2: I have a SawStop 1.75 cabnet saw and I installed a cast router tablewing to use as you are describing, The top bar of the dust collector comes off wo any mods, there is a lower pipe which is attached to the back of the saw table with allen screws, quick loosen and it folds out of the wat quickly. works very well. hope this answers some qustions for u

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I was trying to decide what to buy and what not to buy. The saw-collection blade guard by itself is $139 and it looks like the entire package is $199 (assuming the bar comes with the dust collection blade guard). This means that I will probably purchase the mobile base for $199 so that I can set that up immediately and then use the special to get the blade dust collection portion.

The fact that I can quickly drop it out of the way is very helpful indeed!

[John Coloccia]

http://www.sawstop.com/free-upgrades/

You have until the end of April.

The overarm dust collection does NOT include the blade guard. It's just plumbing.

BTW, the 3HP model does come with the dust collecting blade guard, but the 1.75 does not. I had the non collecting blade guard on mine and threw it out after going through 2 of them. I have customers that have gone through many of these too. In spite of everything else they do, which is world class, the original blade guard is an absolute piece of junk....embarrassingly bad, actually. I ended up upgrading to a Shark Guard, and then later when they released it the dust collecting blade guard. The new guard is NICE and worlds away from the flimsy and poorly designed stock guard. The original guard was so bad that there was a bump on the front where one of the screws went in, and this bump would routinely catch wood, pushing the guard straight back, jamming everything up and driving it right into the blade. I'm not sure if that they've even bothered to fix that simple thing yet.

Can you tell I'm strongly recommending the upgraded guard? :D

[Ron Natalie]

I agree, my PCS came with the dust collector blade guard standard, but it was up to me to get from the blade guard to the dust collector. I actually split the drop at the blast gate (probably about 5' above the floor) and use a fairly rigid piece of 2" flex hose to get to the upper guard while the 4" hose drops down to the floor and runs to the port on the saw body itself. There's not enough sag in the 2" hose to interfere with anything passing through the saw.