Unisaw blade quards yet again.....

[Alan Muller]

I've finally got my old Unisaw cutting wood and want something better than the stock guard. The choices seem to like between a splitter mounted guard and an overarm guard (ceiling mount is not an option for me).

LOTs of discussion of this stuff is here and elsewhere, but I have not seen this answered: The original Delta overarm guard, sold for decades, looped around to the left of the saw. Most modern overarms loop to the right. Why? What are the pros and cons of the two? I feel able to fab up a sound overarm, but need guidance on the design of same....

Alan

[Cary Falk]

I thought that the Delta over arm guards that i saw looped to the right but I may be wrong. It would be cheaper to loop to the left if you had a 50" fence . It would be less matreial and be more ridgid. Looping to the left would get in the way in some cases with a large crosscut. If it looped to the right it would never be in the way if attached at the end of the table. I have the Excalibur over arm guard. It is adjustable to 50". I think it is the best design if you are not attaching from the ceiling.

[Jim Andrew]

Search shark guard. Big improvement over the stock guard, plus you can add overhead dust collection.

[John Sanford]

I'm not absolutely positive, but I believe that the Uniguard can be set up to loop either way. I've never considered setting mine up to loop on the left, since my router table is on that end.

[Rod Sheridan]

When I had a cabinet saw I installed an Excalibur overarm guard on it.

It was a great guard, it could be used with the blade tilted, it had excellent dust collection and most importantly, it could be used for non through cuts.

It's amazing how many aftermarket guards do not have that important feature................Regards, Rod.

[Kevin Jenness]

Second the Excalibur recommendation.