Shopsmith Forums

Freedomlives;
I was confused by your response until I saw your location, Laughs are on me.
The upper saw guide is to help prevent contact by fingers. Not an absolute but it does help.
Last year I was making some toys for kids here in the states and I was breaking some rules for safe operation when I had a situation that could have been a lot more serious. I was making a few last minute cuts and was in a rush to get finished and did not have the top plastic guard in position. I finished a rip cut on a component and when I pushed the piece through and the cut was finished I lifted the piece clear of the table and brought it back to me. In doing so the piece, about 20" long and 4" wide, caught the top of the blade. I was holding the piece in my left hand. The piece spun around and hit me just below the rib cage and the pain in my left hand made me not want to look down. I thought that I was going to see my thumb missing>:eek:
Fortunately just a bad sprain and a very visible bruise on my abdomen about 12" long and 3/4" wide.
I was also home alone at the time and after I was able to straighten up I realized that it is not good practice to use high power equipment with no help around.
As I said before, I was lucky, some others may not be so.
Always use the safety guards. ( I do now).
I also insist that the members in our woodworking group ( I live in a retirement area) use the safety equipment but many of them will remove it because they think it is an inconvenience.
Accidents happen in a few milliseconds but the results may last a lifetime.
Again " Don't make red sawdust" it is the unofficial motto of our woodworking club.
Bill V
P.S. I will be in your general area of the world in late October

wa2crk wrote:Freedomlives] making a few last minute cuts and was in a rush to get finished[/B] and did not have the top plastic guard in position. I finished a rip cut on a component and when I pushed the piece through and the cut was finished I lifted the piece clear of the table and brought it back to me. In doing so the piece, about 20" long and 4" wide, caught the top of the blade. I was holding the piece in my left hand. The piece spun around and hit me just below the rib cage and the pain in my left hand made me not want to look down. I thought that I was going to see my thumb missing>:eek:
Fortunately just a bad sprain and a very visible bruise on my abdomen about 12" long and 3/4" wide.
I was also home alone at the time and after I was able to straighten up I realized that it is not good practice to use high power equipment with no help around.
As I said before, I was lucky, some others may not be so.
Always use the safety guards. ( I do now).
I also insist that the members in our woodworking group ( I live in a retirement area) use the safety equipment but many of them will remove it because they think it is an inconvenience.
Accidents happen in a few milliseconds but the results may last a lifetime.
Again " Don't make red sawdust" it is the unofficial motto of our woodworking club.
Bill V
P.S. I will be in your general area of the world in late October

Ingredients one and two.

1) In a hurry.

2) Inadequate thought process(see #1).

Like most 'accidents' it was 'caused'.

The guard protects less than coherent thinking individuals.

Yes I agree re the millisecond/lifetime analogy, but that is justification for coherent thinking in the first place.

If I become injured in the future, it will be due to a cockpit problem! That includes the thought process that considers the current need for a guard.

freedomlives wrote:If I get one, I think it would be cheaper for me to score a 510 saw guard and table from eBay, and then bring it back after the next trip to the U.S. to visit family or else ask my mother to bring it on her next visit to us. Do the 510/520 tables bolt onto the 500 supports?

You need to know that the 510 saw guard doesn't fit on the 500. The upper part is OK but the lower part has the dust collection outlet port positioned to hit one of the table supports so there is no way to mount it without major modifications.

Contact Shopsmith directly, I was able to replace my older style saw guard (metal) with a newer clear plastic ver. on my 1979 era 500. I was also able to upgrade to the newer lower guard. I did not do any 510 /520 table change outs.
The new upper guard is lighter and clear so it is easier to use. I strongly recommend you use it and the anti kickback knives / kerf sep are more effective.

JPG
You are 100% keeeerect. Entirely my fault and could have been prevented, as most accidents can.
Additional contributing factors:
Heat. Probably 90 deg or more. Heat causes fatigue to set in quicker.
( Especially at OUR ages ). I hit 73 next month.
Another factor was that I was in the shop for about 9 hours that day which is way too long for me.
I didn't put the top guard in place because I had partially broken down the setup and took a short cut by not reinstalling the upper guard.
ALL my fault and ALL could have been prevented!!
Just hoping that my experience will prevent another from doing the same.
Bill V

wa2crk wrote: . . .
Just hoping that my experience will prevent another from doing the same.
Bill V

Your sharing it will help prevention!

Well, I got the original upper saw blade guard on eBay-- the price was right. In lieu of an original manual, I got "Power Tool Woodworking for Everyone" which provides most info I would need, otherwise I just search here on the forums.

Now all that's left is to buy some carbide blades with 30mm holes and find someone to ream them out to 31.75mm to fit the arbor. One of my neighbors free-hand ground the original shopsmith steel blade which greatly improved cutting performance, but all I was doing was ripping down some 2x2s for lathework under plaster.

WAIT!!!

There is a post somewhere that has saw blade adapters linked for cheap...

I'll look and post

http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showpos ... ostcount=6

They have a 30mm / 1.25" adapter...just checked $5 or so

My cousin-in-law informed me that it isn't possible to ream out the saw blades as the steel is hardened.

I gave one of the 1 1/4 inch arbors to my father-in-law, who works at a plant making auto parts, and he said he would make one for 30mm blades, so we'll see how it turns out.