Problems with Mast-R-Slide +DC on table saw?

[Dan Forman]

A few months ago, someone posted that the fence on their Jess-Em sliding table made it difficult to collect sawdust coming off the blade on top of the saw, due to the height of the fence interfering with the blade guard at the end of the cut.

As I'm looking into table top dust collection now, I'm wondering if anyone has come up with a solution to the problem yet?

Dan

[Mike Cutler]

Dan.

I believe that may have been me. I still haven't corrected the problem. It won't be too difficult though. I am going to build a thinner dust shroud.
My current dust shroud is 4 1/2" wide due to the dust collector connection on top. I am going to make one that has the DC connection on the side of the shroud so that I can get it down to about 1 1/4" wide.

The interrim fix was just slide the Mast-R-Fence to the left. It thows off the fence markings, but I don't really use them anyway.

[Doug Mason]

make a wooden fence that steps down and will slide under the dust hood; attach the wooden fence to the slider fence.

[Dan Forman]

make a wooden fence that steps down and will slide under the dust hood; attach the wooden fence to the slider fence.

Thanks, I thought of the wooden sub fence, but since I may be making my own blade guard, wondered if anyone had come up with one that mitigated the problem. On the other hand, the wooden fence would give back the zero clearance alignment andf backing function lost with the aluminum fence.

Dan

[Rob Blaustein]

Dan--I have an overarm blade guard (Excalibur) and just picked up the Jessem unit this past weekend (the Rockler 25% off deal). Haven't installed it yet, but had read Mike's comments previously. The Excalibur uses telescoping tubes that allow you to move the guard to the left or right. I don't know how close the Jessem fence comes to the blade, but I can bring the guard over to the right so it only is an inch from the blade on the left. I figured I'd be able to move the Jessem over a bit if I needed to.

So you guys who use the Jessem--how close is the fence to the blade?

[Gary Herrmann]

I've also got the Excalibur and the Jessem slider. If I understand the question, the fence on the Jessem slides. If I'm ripping stock 4" or wider, I put the Excalibur right down on top of the blade. What I've noticed is ripping thin stock, I have to reach under the Excaliber to push the stock thru the blade.

While using the Jessem to crosscut, I have had to raise the Excalibur a bit if the stock is especially thick. I try to get the Jessem fence pretty close to the blade, since I also have the Merlin splitter, I obviously, space it far enough to I don't run into it.

I'm pretty tired tonight, so I'm not sure how coherent I am. Did I answer your question?

I guess not...

[JayStPeter]

I don't think that problem is specific to the Mast-R-Slide. I have the same problem with my SmartMiter, Incra1000, and homemade sled. It's one of the many things I dislike about my overarm blade guard.
I've considered sawing part of the left side of my blade guard off and putting a slotted piece of plexi in it's place that can move up and down to make room for a fence to slide under. I've also been considering a few other upgrades to the thing, just haven't gotten around to it.

[Dan Forman]

I don't think that problem is specific to the Mast-R-Slide. I have the same problem with my SmartMiter, Incra1000, and homemade sled. It's one of the many things I dislike about my overarm blade guard.
I've considered sawing part of the left side of my blade guard off and putting a slotted piece of plexi in it's place that can move up and down to make room for a fence to slide under. I've also been considering a few other upgrades to the thing, just haven't gotten around to it.

That's the sort of mod I was thinking about, some way to adapt the guard to the fence so that it can go to it's full travel without disrupting things.

Dan