Shopsmith Forums

paul, you ask - "555518? Where can I find this?"

http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/item ... =Find+Item

I look at this 555518 insert and it makes me wonder if the slot is long enough to cut anything over 1/8" thick!

Next thing I look at is it appears to be a zero clearance and it is for the 510 only, maybe I have the wrong guard but I have no problem even with my homemade zero clearance plate.

Back to my original post - for those of you / us who do sometimes take the guard off consider the use of a seperate splitter/riving blade to keep the wood from closing and causing kickup / kickback.

IMO the SS guard is not going to prevent kickback as the kick back pawls do nothing that I can see,, ie,,, if I rip a 3' board half way through then turn the saw off, I can pull the board back to me with no problem, yeah that is great in that it does not mark my wood but on my Craftsman TS the pawls would bite right in to prevent me pulling it back.

Although I have had bad habits in the past I promise to mend my ways!

paul heller wrote:555518? Where can I find this?

Direct link:
http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/itemfind.htm?item=555518&Submit=Find+Item

ON SALE NOW.

The 505/510/520 are all the same insert.

Just like the other zero inserts you cut the slot by lowering the table into the blade per the instuctions you will get when you buy it. The advantage is that it has the cut out for the upper blade guard. You can also do homemade ones and add the same cut-out so no reason to not use the the upper guard for thru-cuts.


Ed

All this talk about saw guards you might want to check out Sharkguard. They now make one for the SS 510/520. With it you can remove the actual guard but keep the riving knife in place. Plus you pick up the added vac port when you use the guard.

http://www.leestyron.com/sharkguard.php

Here is one mounted on my SS
[ATTACH]386[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]387[/ATTACH]

Alright Nick Here We Go..............

1. If 20 or 30 old woodworkers jumped off a cliff would you? YOU BET ! ! !
There's more collective knowledge among this kind of group than a library
of woodworking books.
2. NO! This idea is not "horse Puckey" as you say. I can find a STUDY to
prove almost anything I wish to prove. There's good common sense
reason for non-use of upper blade guards.
They block your view of the operation
They tend to impede to flow of small material
Thay tend to instill a feeling of false confidence about finger safety

3. Yes, I know, you teach woodworking. I also do likewise. When I am
teaching I put the old guard on.. It's called CYA.

Bill G.

PS. Tell Jan I said hi.

popstoyshop wrote:Alright Nick Here We Go..............

1. If 20 or 30 old woodworkers jumped off a cliff would you? YOU BET ! ! !
There's more collective knowledge among this kind of group than a library
of woodworking books.
2. NO! This idea is not "horse Puckey" as you say. I can find a STUDY to
prove almost anything I wish to prove. There's good common sense
reason for non-use of upper blade guards.
They block your view of the operation
They tend to impede to flow of small material
Thay tend to instill a feeling of false confidence about finger safety

3. Yes, I know, you teach woodworking. I also do likewise. When I am
teaching I put the old guard on.. It's called CYA.

Bill G.

PS. Tell Jan I said hi.

Bill G
I will agree to a point. The upper saw guard can be a blessing and a curse.
However to me the a riving knife is essential. I have seen too many woods bind the saw blade causing kickback.

On the blade guard itself I would say to anyone cutting sheet goods without their saw guard in place is looking for a major kick back. I have personally never known anyone that regularily cuts sheet stock without a saw guard in place that doesn't have a "war" story to tell about the sheet of material that came flying back at them.

To me anyone that cuts on a table saw without a riving knife is asking for it, because sooner or later it is going to happen.
Ed

Hi again Ed,

You're right about the riving knife. I need one for my table saw. It's one of those things I'm going to buy, but other things came first. The best one I have found is Jet. The thing that slows me down is the $100.00 price tag.

I solve the sheet goods problem by pre-cutting the 4 X 8 sheets oversize with my clamp & saw system and then doing the final cut on the table saw.

Bill G.

muncyjohn wrote: ...

IMO the SS guard is not going to prevent kickback as the kick back pawls do nothing that I can see,, ie,,, if I rip a 3' board half way through then turn the saw off, I can pull the board back to me with no problem, yeah that is great in that it does not mark my wood but on my Craftsman TS the pawls would bite right in to prevent me pulling it back.

Although I have had bad habits in the past I promise to mend my ways!

I was thinking how to address this.... what comes to mind is your cars safety belts. First they were just belts that had to be pulled tight, they they went to the really bad ones with the self locking that were a real pain to use then they went to the more modern ones that let you have the belt on and in place but if you lean forward or backward they travel with you. How ever when they are needed they lock. This is much the same as the shopsmith version of the pawls.

If you slowly pull the wood back in your example the wood moves back. If how ever you try to jerk it back it is a whole new story. Give it a try. If it doesn't lock up then you have something wrong.......

Looking forward to your test results.

Ed

Well Ed I think you did a very good job addressing this, and I respect your opinion.

I immediately went out and tried what you said, cut a little more length into my test piece so I could get a little more jerk length, of course the piece I used had to be white oak:D .... I lifted the guard for the pic....

Maybe there is something wrong with my setup, I don't know but as hard as I could push or pull it ... no catch

Well Ed I think you did a very good job addressing this, and I respect your opinion.

I immediately went out and tried what you said, cut a little more length into my test piece so I could get a little more jerk length, of course the piece I used had to be white oak:D .... I lifted the guard for the pic....

Maybe there is something wrong with my setup, I don't know but as hard as I could push or pull it ... no catch