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Thread: DIY Excalibur style overarm tablesaw dust guard

  1. #1
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    DIY Excalibur style overarm tablesaw dust guard

    I would like to make a Excalibur style overarm dust collector.

    Has anyone done this any opinions or advise?



    I was thinking of using a 4 inch PVC pipe for the horizontal arm portion and aluminum bar stock for the parallel links. The guard would be made up of plexiglass Sharkguard Whaleshark style.


  2. #2
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    More details:

    What I like the most about the Excalibur (and think is the biggest design flaw of most others) is the angle of the parallel links. Pushing the wood through the saw moves the guard up and away following the natural movement of the links. On most other designs you are pushing into the links.
    The guard in the picture is simple to make and is all clear without any unnecessary solid framework.

  3. #3
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    Oakley, CA
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    I realize this is a "DUST" guard, but I think I would try to find something more shatter resistant that plexiglass just for that one in a million. Polycarbonate or Lexan maybe.

    Wayne

  4. #4
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    Thanks Wayne, I meant Polycarbonate.

  5. #5
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    Leland, NC
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    I made one in my last basement shop. But I did not use a horizontal overarm. Instead the thing hung from the ceiling in a pair of dovetails (very crude dovetails mind you). I had a commercial overarm but I do a wide variety of work and the darn thing was always in the way. Hanging it from the ceiling allowed me to just lift it up and move it out of the way somewhere else in the shop. Haven't gotten around to it in my new shop. May never get around to it as a matter of fact. I do the type of work nowadays that a saw guard like that is constantly in the way.

  6. #6
    I don't know if this is what you're looking for but I designed and built an overhead arm guard system for my saw a few years ago. it's modular in design such that it can be built to mount on the left or right side of the saw, on the floor or ceiling. It's designed so it's independent of a particular blade guard, brand of saw or diameter of saw blade, in fact I use both a Whale Shark and the guard portion of a Delta UniGuard on a 10" cabinet saw. It provides for dust collection from both the guard and the saw chassis. If you're interested, let me know. I have a pdf on how to build in any of these configurations which I'm happy to share if you want a copy.
    Couple of nice additions to it vs. some of the others: there's a release on the column so it can be swung 90 degrees to just swing it out of the way when cutting tall stuff. Before I cut down the table, the first one I made was almost 5' long and it was solid enough to support me (before I mounted it to the saw). The last one is made out of 3" pipe so the dust collector works well with it when using the one blade guard. It can be made in a properly equipped home shop (which I did) and the instructions cover how to do pretty much everything though you can hire out work you can't do yourself. The most difficult things to find is the blade guards, most everything else is steel and screws/bolts which I found locally.
    3_inch_Whale_Vented.JPG
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by Paul Haus; 04-27-2019 at 9:43 AM.

  7. #7
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    Thank you but I can’t weld, that’s why I was thinking about PVC.

  8. #8
    NP. That's part of the reason it was designed the way it was. It's possible to farm part of the work out like welding if need be and not cost an arm and a leg. Good luck on your search.

  9. #9
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    Dont have much to add other than the location of the dust port. I had the excalibur for years and the 3" port in the back is way too far from the source of the dust coming off the top/front of the saw blade. I now have a 3" port on a sharkguard and the collection is significantly better. The sharkguard has the port pretty much dead center over the blade, which is much more effective than the excalibur. My felder overarm guard has a 4" port 3' from the blade, but that guard also picks up dust very well. I would put the dust port center or even on the front half of the blade shroud for maximum DC efficiency. Th sharkguard is good, but its pretty wobbly/flimsy on a 12/14" saw. It bounces around and twists as i feed material through the cut. I guess that is the main drawback of having a splitter mounted system.

  10. #10
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    Thanks Patrick,
    I think you are right the front position should be the best for the vac port, the (Aussi woodworking forum agrees by the way).
    The problem is that the potential to interfere with clear view of the cut, and interference with the Excalibur style linkage.

  11. #11
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    I understand some advantage to watching the cut, but 99% of the operations where the guard is in place rely on stops and fence settings. On crosscuts and rip cuts, my fence/stops are set and i only need to focus on the material registering against the fence. I still watch the cut happening from time to time, but its not necessary.

  12. #12
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    Paul,

    Please send me the pdf plans you have.

    Thank you.

    Steve

  13. #13
    Steve
    Send me an email to pch-hcbph@msn.com with your email address and I'd be happy to forward a copy of the pdf to you. It's a little under 6 mb in pdf format. Started off with 2" and later 3" and both are referenced in the doc.

    Hope you like it.
    Paul

  14. #14
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    Paul,
    I sent you an email.

    Stephen

  15. #15
    Steve

    I typo'd the email: it's pch_hcbph@msn.com
    Sorry about that.

    Paul

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