Overarm Blade Guard - Which To Buy

[Steve Kohn]

I own a used Powermatic PM66 with 50 inch fence. I would like to add an overarm blade guard with dust collection. In addition I would also like to get some anti-kickback protection to work in conjunction with the overarm guard.

I have seen ads for Excalibur, Exaktor, HTC (Brett Guard), PSI (TSGuard) and Biesemeyer.

Recommendations anyone?

[Jim Becker]

I've owned both the Delta UniGuard and the Excalibur. The latter is on my saw and I'm quite pleased with it. I have a review on my site.

[glenn bradley]

I have the PSI but, with that level of a saw I would look for something that moves a little more air (PSI is 2 1/2" at the hood, 3" across the horizontal and 4" to the hose). A lot of folks like the Excalibur, I'm sure others will reply who have some of the other products you mention.

[Mark Carlson]

Steve,

I have a General 650 and I wanted a blade guard, with dust collection and a splitter that was easily removed. I looked at all the guards you have on your list and ended up buying a shark guard from www.leestyron.com. I'm really happy with this solution and its worth considering. There's a lot of threads about the shark guard on this forum.

~mark

[JayStPeter]

I have an older excalibur that is similar to the Exaktor. However, I will probably upgrade to the shark guard mentioned by Mark. I keep my guard removed from the saw around 50% of the time these days. I really only put it on when cutting MDF or repetitive ripping for the minimal extra DC it provides. I gave the thing a chance and used it 99% of the time for a few years. I just got more and more aggrivated with it over time. My complaints would be the same for any overarm guard, thus my reasoning for going with something else.

[Mike Cutler]

Steve.

Those are all some pretty fine overarm guards. Hard to go wrong with any of them.
Have you considered making your own? I made mine and it is suspended from the ceiling. It swings up and out of the way if necessary. A little different, but something to consider.

[Dave Falkenstein]

I have an older Excalibur on my 50" Jet cabinet saw, and am happy with it. The newer model Excalibur is very nice - has a feature to swing the arm away for dado and other non-through cuts. The Biesemeyer removeable splitter is flawless, IMHO.

[John Miliunas]

Ditto to what Dave said on my Bridgewood. 50" saw w/Excaliber (@4 years old) and the Biesy splitter. Great combo, IMHO.

[Steve Kohn]

Do you have any pictures of your homemade setup?

[Allen Bookout]

Steve,

I am probably going to catch it for this but I have a pretty good shop built one but it dosen't get all of the dust anyway so I find that most of the time I just have it swung out of the way. There is not that must dust on top of a saw anyway. As far as safety goes, ninety percent of my crosscutting is using a crosscut sled so the guard is of no benefit there and for ripping I use the delta removeable splitter with antikickback pauls (the Beisemeyer splitter is excellent and will fit your saw I think) and large push sticks. I never get my hands within ten inches of the blade. For small stuff I use the Gripper but I wish the handle was higher up on that thing. So for me the whole thing was pretty much a waste of time. The way I use my saw now I would not waste my money on an overhead guard.

This is just another perspective and maybe some day I will regret it but it seems plenty safe to me now. I cannot emagine anything safer than using crosscut sleds or sliding tables, at least with a table saw.

Here is the plan that I ordered to build mine. It is pretty basic but works well. As you can see from the picture of mine that I made a clear guard out of Lexan rather than the one that is shown in the plans. I also changed the mount to the saw and a couple of other things but the plans were very helpfull. Most of the materials you probably already have so the cost is minimal.

http://store.woodstore.net/tabduscolbon.html

Here is a picture of mine.

[Paul Kinneberg]

I'm with Jay I have a Excaliber on my PM66 and am forcing myself to use it but I really dont like anything that obstructs my view of the blade and although its plexiglass it does IMHO obstruct my view of the blade. I do like the dust collection. As far as a splitter the Bies is fantastic I love it and would not give it up for anything.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, I have a General 650 Table saw with the Excalibur overarm guard. I'm pleased with it, it has good dust collection and is easilly moved out of the way for setting blade height, changing blades etc.

I also installed the Merlin removable splitter, and it does an adequate job. I wish that there was a riving knife for left tilt saws that tracked the side of the blade near the fence, that would be useful for dadoes.

Regards, Rod.

[Kelly C. Hanna]

I am going to make my own soon. I saw a picture in a plan booklet somewhere [but of course no plan in the book for it], But I think I can muddle through it fairly easily. I will hang it from the ceiling instead of from one side.

[CPeter James]

This is my Exactor mounted on my PM66. Because I pushed the table out beyond the normal distance, I put in a piece of 2 1/2" conduit to replace the original extension. I keep the stiff leg under it just to take some of the strain, but it is not necessary and I remove it when I need to use that space, either on the saw or router. I have since put my Exactor sliding table on the near side. I do like the blade guard and it just swings out og the way if I need to do something real high like a tenon or panel.



CPeter

[Jeffrey Makiel]

I have a homemade one. It does really well with dust extraction. However, I find that it's in the way about 50% of the time. My primary complaint is that it gets in the way when perfomring narrow rips. It also prevents me from using my Grrrippers to safely feed the stock. This complaint is inherent of any overarm guard or hood whether is is commercial or homemade.

However, when cutting sheet goods, like MDF, it's fabulous for its dust collection. As far as being a safety device, I don't believe so. I put my trust into my splitter and pushing devices. My biggest fear is sudden kickback, and an overarm doesn't prevent this.

If you are interested in the plans for my gizmo, send me a PM.

cheers, Jeff