royjcouvillion

Ok guys, I know you're not shy, go let me have it.

I designed this blade guard and am presenting it to a few
manufacturers.

Please give me your opinion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs9HhNVVQk4

Handyman

Well Royjcouvillion all in all I like it. It's out of the way when you don't need it, and easy to access when you need it. I only have one neutral or negative thing to say. In most shops I have seen or been in, the shop power tools are portable, so you can move tools around to make room from time to time. Your arm being mounted on the ceiling would limit the use of it, not being able to move with the tool. In a shop where the tools are bolted down to the floor, you arm would be better than sliced bread. I do think it is worth a patten and pushing the product. You may be onto something there. I think a mind is a terrible thing to waist. You asked and I am but one oppion. Good luck

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Fixer of all things broke
Expert = Drip under pressure

GeorgeC

My garage door and the guard would have an immediate collision.

I think that you may find some interest in the industrial community where the safety aspect could possibly outweigh the costs. Building and marketing a device like that would not be cheap. I would expect that the minimum retail price would be $200 to $250. Not many home users would pay that much.

Hopefully you will find a market.

I wonder how many people actually use a blade guard. I would have to think long and hard and do a lot of searching to even find the one for my table saw.

Good luck.

George

Shamus

I've moved into a new home with a dedicated shop next to the garage. Been moving things around for a few months trying to decide where the best placement of all the woodworking tools should be. Not quite there yet.
Once I have determined the final position for everything they will be bolted to the floor. That's when the vac system will be installed.

I like your innovation but it's to mechanical for me. Seems like I'd always be moving it much as you do in your vid showing it's uses.I very seldom set-up and just make cuts using one guide or fence. Just the type of work I do.

Maybe it's because the whole thing seems to massive. It's just a vacuum. I hang a 6" hose from a retractable reel over the top and a dedicated 4" under the saw/router/lathe, etc. I'm not trying to collect all the dust from just one hose and maybe thats the issue.

My guess is for production purposes and sale price you'd need to take as much weight and cost out of it to get to a marketable price. Maybe thats when you scale back from your proto-type a bit.

Just my ol 2¢ and good luck. Necessity, as they say, is the Mother of invention. Everyone should have a vac system in their garage shop. You just need to make yours the one everyone wants and can afford.

Tony B

Generally I am a very safety conscious person. I usually take every precaution practical when in the shop and at work.
My only 'unsafe' practice is on my table saw. I, like GeoegeC, dont use my table saw guide. I am constantly changing between a regular blade and a dado blade. Also, I need to see my cut. I can cut a pencil line in half If I want to. I cant do this with a saw guard. So to offset this unsafe practice, I am very well aware of my blade and my hands at all times and use up a lot of push sticks and make a lot of jigs.

__________________
Tony B

http://www.thetexaswoodworks.com

dbhost

I wouldn't use this. My workshop is based on mobile equipment shoved into a small space, and moved around a lot. The ceiling mounted articulated arm would get in the way of the garage doors pretty quickly, as well as most likely not be able to reach where I am setting up...

Now for those with a larger shop, and say a cabinet style saw, I can see a LOT of advantage to this device...

Overall it looks like a good idea. Just not well suited to where I am in the market...

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-- Trying to follow the example of the master...

royjcouvillion

Hey! Thanks for all of your responses. I belong to several woodworking sites and have received a LOT of responses and questions. Let me try to respond to some of those questions here;

I don't use a blade guard. Why would I want this?
I, like many woodworkers, remove the tablesaw's stock guard because it is too awkward to use. I like my view of the blade unobstructed. I designed and made this as a dust collection accessory because I have a very difficult time with fine sawdust. It makes me sick. This guard is VERY effective at removing dust. And, because it is so easy to use, I find myself using it, not only for the dust removal, but as a blade guard. After using it for several months, it has loosened up a bit and it moves into place and back almost effortlessly.

Why do you move it around so much?
Yes, I was actually asked this more than I thought I would, so I'll answer it here. I moved it around a lot in the video just to show the flexibility. Usually, it resides suspended over my saw and I just pull it down to make a rip. When I use my crosscut sled, I suspend it just over the sled. I have a vacuum hose installed under the router table and usually don't need to hang the guard over the bit.

Is this a prototype?
Nope, this is the production model.
It was not my original intention to design this just to have something to sell. Like many of you, I have a real job. I made the first version of the guard to address a need I had that wasn't solved by any product on the market (that I know of). The cantilevered arm guards work well, but they consume the extension table. I like my extension table unencumbered and use it as a router table.

I spent the $ required to pretty up the design and patent it because of the unanimous clamor of visitors to my shop. After using it for several months, I've identified several minor improvements to tighten it up, but the basic design is extremely simple. It's just a system of 4-bar links.

How well does the guard work at guarding?
Just this weekend, a kickback shot a 1/2" thick piece of mahogany into the front shield of the guard. It scared the crap out of me, but the guard didn't flinch. Who knows what would have happened if the guard was not there, but I would at the very least had a major bruise. By the way, I HATE catching kickbacks in my gut.

How well does it work at dust collection?
As I mentioned, I am sensitive to fine dust. Yet, I was working late one night on my daughter's dining room chairs and decided to rip mahogany without the guard in place. Later that night, my wife threatened to kick me out of the bedroom and commit me to a TB ward because of all my coughing. I keep the guard in place now and even my air filtration paper filter stays cleaner.

My machines are all on mobile bases. This mounts to the ceiling. Can I use it?
I designed this specifically to accommodate my PM2000 which IS mobile. Yes, I can move the saw out of range of the dust collector, but the guard has three degrees of freedom with respect to the base within the radius of the arms full extended length. If my saw is moved to one side or the other by a foot (more or less), the guard can be moved to still fit right over the blade. This works for the extension table mounted guard.
Bottom line, my table saw doesn't move much, but it is NOT necessary to place it directly under the guard when I put it back in my 'favorite' place.

What ceiling height can I use this on?
It's designed for and used on a 9' ceiling, but we'll market it with 8'-10' options. For taller ceilings, the user will have to make a stand-off.

What's this thing made of?
The arm and guard are made from anodized 0.125" thick aluminum. The clear parts are Lexan. The guard has a unique (and patent pending) blast director to pull air from the front of the guard. This prevents the guard from just sucking clean air from the back of the guard.

And, to set the record straight, I am a mechanical engineer. I appreciate well made and well designed tools. My stationary tools are Powermatic, Woodmaster and MiniMax. I bought most of them 3 years ago. If I were purchasing tools right now, I would seriously consider Steel City Tools. I think SST machine quality is at least as good as PM in spite of the fact that the cost is significantly different.
My portable tools favorites are Milwaukee, Bosch, Makita and my old Rockwell and Porter Cable routers.

This guard will not be for everyone. It will be expensive. Most good tools are. I spent several thousand $ on my dust collection system and am constantly improving it. This was just one of the most significant add-ons. Obviously, the more I make, the less expensive they will be. In fact, I could design the thing to be made entirely of plastic.

Again, thanks for all of your interest. I'll keep you posted on developments and public release.

Roy

allthunbs

I was cutting my first 4' x 8' sheet of plywood on my brand new Ridgid Contractor's table saw. I had set it up according to the manual and felt confident enough to try a piece of plywood.

The blade guard was in place and operating according to the instructions. I turned off the tunes, put on my bulletproof apron, my silencing ear protection, my vision enhancing protective eyewear, my green patch certified food protection, my appropriately coloured (white = dangerous newbie) legally required propoerly adjusted hard hat and started the saw.

I started to feed the plywood making sure that the plywood was tight to the fence and then it happened. It jamed at the pawls. The blade stopped and the motor too. The pawls lifted the way they were supposed to but it just jamed. I managed to stretch my leg out and kick off the switch. I examined the situation carefully. I removed the guard with difficulty, (the plywood had become welded to the guard) and eventually was able to remove the plywood. I checked the location of the fence and how true the blad was running. It was sufficiently close that I couldn't measure either difference with my combination square.

The only thing I could figure was the guard was the source of the problem. I removed it, sucked up my courage and tried it again, this time, eventless. Ever since, I'm loathe to cut anything large on the table saw without the guared removed and a "safety" at hand. It's almost like "security in numbers" -- the gods of the table saws need to be fended off by large numbers of by-standers.

Allthunbs

declan

I just bought a table saw used and think would love a dust collector guard, but like others have said, I am limited on space and have already tended to move around the saw (rockler base) on a regular basis and I've only had the saw for two weeks.