SawStop Blade Guard

[Birdhunter]

I’m not sure why this came to mind, but several years ago, the blade guard on my SawStop Industrial table saw became, essentially, a plastic fragmentation bomb.

I had the blade tilted to 45 degrees and was preparing the feed a piece of walnut into the blade. I turned on the cyclone vac and then flipped the saw switch. There was a loud bang and something hit my hand hard.

The SawStop blade guard is segmented into 2 parts on either side of the blade. Somehow, one of the plastic segments became in contact with the blade. My hand bled a little and I was finding plastic fragments for weeks later.

Now, I always make sure the blade guard isn’t close to the blade.

BTW, I was wearing eye protection.

 

[ChuckM]

The loose "fins" hold their position well in the blade guard even if the guard is tilted. I suspect that one of the fins got pushed into contact with the blade before the saw was turned on.

 

[jeffinsgf]

I have a love/hate relationship with that piece of gear. I know I should use a blade guard, and the SawStop is one of the few I've been able to keep in place for more than a day or two. I love the dust collection efficiency of the guard. I have it hooked up to an extractor with the 4" lower outlet connected to a dust collector. The first problem I have with it is, when you lift the guard when the vac is running the port seals itself. With a direct connection to the vac, it just makes a funny noise (the same one it makes if you put your palm over the end of the hose). But, if you have a Dust Deputy attached, it will collapse your 5 gallon bucket in a hearbeat.

Next is offcuts being trapped within the guard. If your rip offcut is less than about an inch wide, it's captured between the blade and the guard with no way to retrieve it without shutting off the saw. If it's long enough,  you can reach behind the saw and pull it out, but that's dicey and usually pushes the offcut into the back of the saw.

Finally, the thing is worthless if you're trying to rip something narrower than 1-1/4". Wait a minute...when am I most likely to NEED a blade guard?  Right...when I'm ripping something narrow.

I will say that in just shy of 50 years of using table saws the SawStop guard is the only one that has ever made it back onto my saw after the first time I took it off. I'm pretty sure that has more to do with dust collection than safety, though.

 

[ChuckM]

Snip.
Finally, the thing is worthless if you're trying to rip something narrower than 1-1/4". Wait a minute...when am I most likely to NEED a blade guard?  Right...when I'm ripping something narrow.

Snip.

If you want dust collection and thin ripping at the same time, you need to use some kind of a ripping jig. In practical terms, the operation is pretty dustless.

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[Birdhunter]

I have had to take the blade guard off the saw and disassemble it to retrieve small offcuts that have been sucked up but not gone all the way through. Unless absolutely necessary, my blade guard stays on the saw all the time.

 

[ChuckM]

I've done the disassembly once since owning the SS PCS about a decade ago. At all other times, I could retrieve the off-cuts without taking the guard apart.

 

[cpw]

I have gotten an offcut stuck; but was able to take it apart and retrieve it.  I did I broke one of the small wings on the side of the blade guard about 6 years ago and paid the $19 + shipping to get the replacement part.  About a year or two later, I broke it again and have a hard time paying the $26 + shipping to actually fix it again.

 

[ChuckM]

I had a close call with one of the fins because when I placed down (or lifted up?) the blade guard, I was squeezing the lower part, causing it to make some contact with the spinning blade. I now make an effort to hold the blade guard only by its top part.

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