Having trouble with my upper saw guard.

navycop · Post by **navycop** » Sat May 23, 2009 2:18 am

I bought my ss a couple years ago. I saw the live demo before I bought it. Since I was in the Navy I didn't have much time to use it. Now I am retired I tried making a shadow box. I cann't remember how they had the demo set up. The board was hitting the bar that screws into the lower saw guard (dust collector). So I discontinued using the upper saw guard. Big mistake I know. {Since I already lost a left index finger to another saw}. Speaking of dust collector. That is another problem of mine. It doesn't seem to catch the dust. I adjust the screws on the side. I don't know how far to extend it out or how close to have it. I know enough to not have it touch the saw blade atleast. I live in VA Beach if some one can show me on my saw or thier's?? Thank you.
Sorry this is so long.

RobertTaylor · Post by **RobertTaylor** » Sat May 23, 2009 6:41 am

since you are in virginia beach i suggest you look up jacob anderson. he knows shopsmiths inside and out. there can't be very many (jacob anderson's) in the area. or you could find him on ebay selling shopsmith videos for doing your own repairs.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Repair-your-Shopsmi ... 7C294%3A50

fjimp · Post by **fjimp** » Sat May 23, 2009 1:59 pm

navycop wrote:I bought my ss a couple years ago. I saw the live demo before I bought it. Since I was in the Navy I didn't have much time to use it. Now I am retired I tried making a shadow box. I cann't remember how they had the demo set up. The board was hitting the bar that screws into the lower saw guard (dust collector). So I discontinued using the upper saw guard. Big mistake I know. {Since I already lost a left index finger to another saw}. Speaking of dust collector. That is another problem of mine. It doesn't seem to catch the dust. I adjust the screws on the side. I don't know how far to extend it out or how close to have it. I know enough to not have it touch the saw blade atleast. I live in VA Beach if some one can show me on my saw or thier's?? Thank you.
Sorry this is so long.

Navycop,

Sorry I am a couple of hours away from you. Perhaps if you adjust the lower saw guard about mid range from blade both front and rear you will be able to easily attach the upper guard. You will also find this enables the adjucting height of blade to work smoother. Then I suggest using scrap boards with the dust collector running and adjust the guard in or out in small increments until you find the best spot. Generally I have mine slightly closer than midway. May I also suggest that using only one hose length between DC3300 and the Mark V enables the best rate of collection. Use care that there are no kinks in hose. I also take the cap of off one of the closed ports on the dust collector. This enables better rate of collection and helps pull airborne dust particles from the air. After I finish a project and turn my saw off I usually open two or more ports on the dust collector and allow it to run about 15 minutes open. This does a terrific job of cleaning the air. Good luck. The folks here will help in a lot of ways. fjimp

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Sat May 23, 2009 3:43 pm

I don't disagree with any thing said about dust collection but - I do believe that there is some room for improvement in the saw guard with respect to dust collection. I have spent many hours looking at that thing and have consumed a couple rolls of duct tape trying to improve the collection ratio.

After all of this work and staring, I think the area that needs improvements is immediately below the table. I just have yet to figure what might be done.

The DC3300 works great, the gathering system, IMHO, is lacking.

iclark · Post by **iclark** » Sat May 23, 2009 4:00 pm

navycop wrote:The board was hitting the bar that screws into the lower saw guard (dust collector). So I discontinued using the upper saw guard.

navycop,

I am closer to you than fjimp, but I haven't set my SS up in table saw mode yet. (just haven't gotten to that setup yet. when I needed a table saw at a worksite, it was easier to take the contractor saw)

that aside, the bar is the splitter plate as well as the support for the upper guard. it stops the kerf from closing up on the blade to reduce wood burning and binding of the blade. SS does not sell a riving knife for when we are not cutting all the way through. my understanding is that you mount the lower guard and blade, slide the carriage up against the rubber ring on the way tube, put the table down over the blade, install the splitter, and then use the quill extension to line up the blade with the splitter. sounds like you just missed the last step of tweaking the quill extension to line up the blade and splitter and then locking the quill in place.

<soapbox mode>even if you are not cutting all the way through the board, remember to use push blocks and push sticks. a kick back can mean that you suddenly find yourself with no board between your fingers and the blade. even when using a push block, remember that a tall blade setting will let it slice through the push block and position yourself accordingly or find a push block with a very high handle. I may be alone in this, but I believe that to provide true safety that the handle on the push block should be high enough that you could set it on the saw table and cut it lengthwise at your current blade height and not cut your fingers while they are wrapped around the handle. of course, that may just be my opinion - your mileage may vary. <soapbox mode /off>

using the upper guard should help some with the dust collection. taking the small cap off of one of the plugs on the dust collector seems to help the collection also. having one inlet connected to the lower guard, one plugged, and one partially open seems to help the draw through the hose. it has definitely improved the pick-up for me when using it with other tools/modes.

Ivan

iclark · Post by **iclark** » Sat May 23, 2009 4:19 pm

dusty wrote:I don't disagree with any thing said about dust collection but - I do believe that there is some room for improvement in the saw guard with respect to dust collection. I have spent many hours looking at that thing and have consumed a couple rolls of duct tape trying to improve the collection ratio.

After all of this work and staring, I think the area that needs improvements is immediately below the table. I just have yet to figure what might be done.

The DC3300 works great, the gathering system, IMHO, is lacking.

Dusty,

have you considered that the square bottom of the gullets does not encourage the sawdust to fall off the blade while it is below the table?

I've been wondering what would happen if one set up a small tube to blow air across the gullet and into the DC port. would it blow the sawdust out of the gullet and entrain it into the DC flow? (could use an air compressor or the output of a shop vac depending on how small the tube is)

alternatively, on a blade with an even number of teeth, what would happen if one beveled the bottoms of the gullets in alternating directions? would it risk packing the sawdust in the kerf or would it still carry it below the table and shed it there? if all the bevels were in the same direction, it could act as a fan to help blow the sawdust toward the DC pickup, but it could also risk flexing the blade into a cup shape if the fan is too effective. I think it would take someone better than me to try this without messing up the balance of the blade.

of course, I may have spent too many years staring at CFD models.

Ivan

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Sat May 23, 2009 4:43 pm

iclark wrote:Dusty,

have you considered that the square bottom of the gullets does not encourage the sawdust to fall off the blade while it is below the table?

I've been wondering what would happen if one set up a small tube to blow air across the gullet and into the DC port. would it blow the sawdust out of the gullet and entrain it into the DC flow? (could use an air compressor or the output of a shop vac depending on how small the tube is)

alternatively, on a blade with an even number of teeth, what would happen if one beveled the bottoms of the gullets in alternating directions? would it risk packing the sawdust in the kerf or would it still carry it below the table and shed it there? if all the bevels were in the same direction, it could act as a fan to help blow the sawdust toward the DC pickup, but it could also risk flexing the blade into a cup shape if the fan is too effective. I think it would take someone better than me to try this without messing up the balance of the blade.

of course, I may have spent too many years staring at CFD models.

Ivan

What we need is someone to develop a flow model for the movement within the saw guard.

I'm going to try to inspect a blade without disturbing settled sawdust to see where it is collected. Don't know what that will teach me but....you never know.

shydragon · Post by **shydragon** » Sat May 23, 2009 8:58 pm

I thought when you move the quill, the blade and guard travel at the same time.

I use the adusting screw on the inside of the guard to adjust the riving knife to the blade.

iclark · Post by **iclark** » Sat May 23, 2009 10:56 pm

shydragon wrote:I thought when you move the quill, the blade and guard travel at the same time.

I use the adusting screw on the inside of the guard to adjust the riving knife to the blade.

oops! my bad. you are correct. don't know what I was thinking.
thanks for the correction.

navycop · Post by **navycop** » Wed May 27, 2009 6:11 pm

[quote="bettyt44720"]since you are in virginia beach i suggest you look up jacob anderson. he knows shopsmiths inside and out. there can't be very many (jacob anderson's) in the area. or you could find him on ebay selling shopsmith videos for doing your own repairs.

I did give Mr. Anderson a call. He told me about a set screw on the lower saw guard. I adjusted it a little bit. While I was putting the lower guard back on something accord to me. Does the LS guard go behind or on top of the silver collar thingy? Maybe I had it behind. That could of pervented it from doing its job.