Overhead Guard for Table saw

[Doug Garson]

I'm thinking of installing the Woodsmith style overhead guard mentioned in another thread on my General 350 with a different twist. Since I have a router table built in to the right extension wing, locating the support post on that side would sometimes get in the way. I rarely if ever expect to rip sheet goods so I'm thinking of mounting the support post to the left of the blade. I'd make it easily removable just in case. The advantages would be it wouldn't interfere with the router station and the length on the support pipe would be shorter. Anyone tried this or think of a reason why this wouldn't work?

[Bill Dufour]

Why not mount to the ceiling?
Bill D

[Matt Day]

I’m not sure but I’d highly recommend Shark Guard. I have overhead DC pipe and have a drop at each table saw to the guard.

[Doug Garson]

Mounting to the ceiling would be a challenge since the saw is on a mobile base and so it's not always in the same spot. I've heard good things about Shark Guard but I'm cheap and I like DIY. Here's the splitter I made yesterday in a few hours. table saw guard.jpgtable saw guard 2.jpg

[Brian Tymchak]

I often cut pieces of hardwood longer than the table is wide with a miter gauge for dadoes, etc. Maybe it would work if you position the post off the back left corner of the table?

[Doug Garson]

I often cut pieces of hardwood longer than the table is wide with a miter gauge for dadoes, etc. Maybe it would work if you position the post off the back left corner of the table?

That's where I was thinking of putting it. I usually cross cut long pieces on my RAS. I also plan on designing it so I can completely remove it by taking out one or two bolts.

[Matt Day]

The splitter is pretty easy, the guard and DC isn’t. I bought mine primarily for the dust collection, but appreciate the added safety of the splitter.

[Doug Garson]

The splitter is pretty easy, the guard and DC isn’t. I bought mine primarily for the dust collection, but appreciate the added safety of the splitter.

Time will tell of course, I have the full plans with drawings and instructions so that helps. While the guard may look complicated, it's made up of relatively easy to make pieces. I made my own overhead guard for my old saw. It was more complicated than this as it included some bending of the acrylic while this one has straight acrylic sides, the wooden parts are a bit more complicated but if I screw one up I'll just toss it and start over. Of course I work slow and we have a three week vacation coming up soon so it will likely be months before I get it done. Right now I'm just doing the research.

[Paul Haus]

Doug
I made my own overhead arm guard for the saw a number of years back. I made up plans so it was like a big erector set. Mount it to the ceiling, either side of the saw on the floor, either side of the saw, pretty much any way you want it. I used a Whale Shark guard cover but the system was designed to allow pretty much any guard you can rig a mount to, should work on it. The other thing is that while the guard in my case is on the right side of the saw, pull a single pin and the whole thing will swing out of the way or could be lifted of.
This is what I've been using and it's worked out well for me.
Hope that gives you some ideas.

[Andrew More]

I've done a similar mount. Never ran into issues with it getting in the way on the left hand side. Making it easy to remove addresses the few times it might be in the way.

[Rob Cunningham]

Mike Farrington on YouTube has a good video of his overhead blade guard.

[Doug Garson]

Thanks for the input guys, I've started building and incorporated a few of the ideas posted. Looking at it further I've decided to mount it on the right side after all, when I post some pictures later you'll see why.

[Jason White]

Grizzly sells a floor-mounted one.

[Michael Drew]

I cut the base off of the Grizzly and mounted it directly to my base and infeed filler. If you use it as shipped, just standing on its own, it's pretty flimsy and I can't imagine using it daily, pushing the guard up or away from the blade when needed.

I'm still trying to like an overhead guard. It's been a struggle. When used with some types of wood, of specific sizes it works great. But, when ripping or cutting others, I find myself fighting the damn thing. I find it more of a compromise than a great solution...... But I have not given up on it, at least not yet.

20230115_070042.jpg

[Greg Parrish]

The grizzly has the same problem as the sawstop. I've had both and they both require you to mount them in the center line with the blade. For the OP, this is a problem due to the router table he has to the right of the blade. The dust tube would block access to the router. I have the same problem now with my current sawstop version so I've had to mount my new router table on the left side of blade, which I didn't really want.

For the OP, you really only have a few options outside of your left mount idea (in my opinion):
> Ceiling mount the assembly as mentioned above. Then it doesn't block either side but you are limited on where the saw has to sit.
> Rig up an off-set mount kind of like the Harvey Alpha series. Would still somewhat block router access, but gets tube further away from saw table and to the extreme rear right point. Still blocks router access too much in my opinion though.
> Left side mount your router table like I've done. Down side is that you can't mount other items on left of saw like a sliding table accessory or the like.
> Turn your router table around. Leave it on the right end of your saw, but rotate your router/plate 180 degrees. This way the dust tube runs behind the router fence. I've considered this on mine, but it would make some of the router access awkward.
> Turn your router table 90 degrees. Rework your table (unless its cast iron of course). If you rework your router table to sit to right of blade but at 90 degrees to your blade, you can access and the dust tube can possibly be out of the way.
> Lastly, move router to stand alone cabinet.

Good luck what ever your solution.