Overarm Guards - Excalibur vs Exaktor

[Dave Anderson]

The recent thread about <i>how safe is your shop?</i> got me thinking again about something that has been on my tool wish list for quite a while.

I really want to get a good after-market blade guard for my PM66. Right now, I use the stock splitter but took the bulky blade guard off years ago.

I'm looking at either the Excalibur or Exaktor brand blade guard. By the looks of them, they are almost the same BUT I'm sure there are differences that go beyond what the eye can see.

What do you folks have, why did you get it, would you get it again, how do you like it, what don't you like about it??? The ususal questions.

Thanks :cool:

[Phil Phelps]

Dave, I bought this Excalibur because I hate the dust MDF throws off. It works well, but I'm not a "saftey gadget" guy. I really like what the DC does, but it can get in the way sometimes. I'll keep it.

[Dave Avery]

Dave,

I have the Exactor.... like it fairly well. It's $100 less than the Excalibur. The vertical adjustment mechanism is a little clunky, and I haven't ever been able to adjust the lexan guard so the left side doesn't sit slightly lower than the right side.

Minor gripes aside, it does what I want it to do - keeps me from getting to close the the blade. It also picks up 98% of the MDF dust and most of the bigger stuff.

BTW, I got mine from Penn State (I think they call it their house brand, but it's an Exactor). Dave.

[Ed Falis]

Dave,

I got an overhead Brett-Guard. It serves as a hold-down, and there's an option for dust collection that works fine. In looking at the several overhead guards available, I preferred the rigidity of the Brett-Guard as opposed to the floating-guard method of the other ones. They have splitters for both thin and regular kerf blades - the pawls are inside the guard, so the splitter is very simple. If you keep the splitter low enough normally, you don't have to remove it even for non-through cuts. Good system.

- Ed

[Jim Becker]

I have the Excalibur and have been very pleased with it. (Review on my site) It's the second overarm guard I've owned...the first was a UniGuard that I picked up second hand and made a replacement head for DC purposes. I considered the Exactor, but preferred the heavier construction of the Excalibur. The price difference wasn't all that great, especially at the show price I paid for the "yellow" product.

Just as a note to Ed, the Excalibur guard head can be locked down or allowed to float. I don't lock it entirely, but I do keep things pretty tight...I have to use two hands to make the height adjustment without touching the locking knobs.

At any rate, the safety aspect of these things is great, but the DC capability is a major reason to own one of these guards. There is a lot of stuff that comes off the top of the blade when you are making through cuts and it gets taken care of wonderfully. The shop, saw and operator stays much cleaner with it in use!

[Ed Falis]

Jim Becker wrote:
"Just as a note to Ed, the Excalibur guard head can be locked down or allowed to float. I don't lock it entirely, but I do keep things pretty tight...I have to use two hands to make the height adjustment without touching the locking knobs."

That's good to know, Jim. I was definitely considering the Excalibur guard when I bought, but I guess I misunderstood its capabilities. Thanks for the clarification.

- Ed

[Jim Becker]

Ed, the Brett Guard definitely locks down better than any other guard...it was a key design feature. I didn't consider it, however...I wasn't into printing money at that point to buy one! :D

[John Miliunas]

Another vote for the Excalibur. I've had mine for about 6 or 7 months and it works great. I got it for a steal, but even before that, it was on my short list. :cool:

[Steven Wilson]

Another vote for the Exaktor. If you want to see how it's installed visit my site http://www.geocities.com/stevenowilson/