There used to be two designs of blade guard, there may still be, I don't know, I haven't been looking for a long time. One sort, the earlier type had a slot with a knob through it. You raised the guard to be just high enough to clear the top of the board being cut then locked it there. Many users just raised it full height and left it locked there but it leaves lots of room to run a hand in along with the wood.
The second sort just drops over the blade and has a curled up nose which your board is supposed to raise as it engages the guard. They are supposed to work a lot like the spring loaded sort on hand-held circular saws. One less obvious advantage to the guard is the support which acts like a splitter or riving knife to keep the saw kerf from closing up and jamming the saw along with the kick-back preventers and the obvious value of guarding the blade from accidentally wandering hands. I have treated a number of hands over the years injured on table saws both with guards in place and without guards in place. By the way, none were blind people so far. There are all sorts of hold-down devices out there some better than others. You probably should be careful about using them much until your skills require their use for those sorts of tasks requiring them. I just bought a load of ball bearings, hopefully I will find time between Christmas and New Years to construct an outfeed table for my saw, one I can fold partially down out of the way when I don't need it. I don't much like trying to capture the leading end of a long piece on saw horses or roller stands because even a slight dip causes the end to bump directly into the horse or stand either arresting it's progress or pushing over the roller stand. Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada [EMAIL PROTECTED] Skype DaleLeavens Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat. ----- Original Message ----- From: John Schwery To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2007 10:37 AM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] tips, tricks, and knowledge When I bought my table saw, the guard wouldn't stay up out of the way because it has a metal strip that prevented it from staying up. I took pliers and bent that strip so I could raise the guard for measuring and put the guard down when I am ready to cut. My guard doesn't flop and stays centered so I don't cut holes in it. earlier, Matt, wrote: >Hi dale. >You use the fence, and the pusher, which most sighted people will throw aside. >I am not great with large sheets of wood, but they have roller >stands, saw horses and all that which you can try as props for the wood. >I have two roller stands which someone gave me. >I haven't used them enough yet to tell you if they are good, but the >man who gave them to me is an experienced wood turner and he gave >them to me because he didn't like them. >If that's any help. >You use your fence, and pusher, and you learn to keep your hand away >from the blade. >Set up your wood, and bring it up to the blade and figure out where >you are going to cut and all that before you hit the power button. >Of course, don't have the wood against the blade when you power on. >I am on my second table saw now and it has a nice fence which clamps >onto a moving piece, so that you can roll it or push it up to where >you want it, then lock it down. >My first saw had a clamp on piece which was really lousy! >You can experiment with the blade height. >I read a good message on here about that already. >I took my blade guard off, it kept flopping around, and getting >pushed up, then dropping and things like that while I was cutting >and it got on my nerves. >I cut a hole in the first one, because it fell down over the blade >in the middle of a cut. >I find it easier to gage my cuts when I am setting them up if that >thing is not in the way. >If this is wrong of me, I am open to discussion and slapping it back >on there though. >My band saw was more dangerous for me, because the big table saw >demands respect and the little band saw looks so easy to deal with. >hahahahah, >Always respect all power tools I guess! >Emergency room desk people are not at all funny when you are sitting >there with a cut finger trying to explain what happened. >What do they know? >hahahahah > >Matt > >[Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG Free Edition. >Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.17.4/1187 - Release Date: >12/16/2007 11:36 AM John ---------- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.17.4/1187 - Release Date: 12/16/2007 11:36 AM [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
