Belt guard for older Craftsman TS

[Roy Hess]

I am trying to improve dust collection on my old craftsman TS. The first step that I would like to do, is construct a belt guard. As you can see it is quite exposed. After the guard is constructed I was planning on purchasing

http://store.thesawshop.com/catalogu...products_id=88

Any suggestions for a simple guard ?

[Bruce Wrenn]

A piece of sheet metal, bent at an angle, attached to the back of the saw. This would keep cut offs out of the belt / motor. If this was posted in general woodworking / power tools, you would get more responses.

[Thomas Stephenson]

Clear Plexiglass w/slots for belt and motor hinge assembly,Probably could use a dremel to cutout slots in Plex, Just a thought.

[Jerome Hanby]

If it's anything like the guard on my Craftsman, I can guess what happened to it, stupid plastic mounting lugs.

[glenn bradley]

Make one from a bit of scrap and some hardboard? That should be good enough to serve for the "boot".

[Lee Schierer]

I am trying to improve dust collection on my old craftsman TS. The first step that I would like to do, is construct a belt guard. As you can see it is quite exposed. After the guard is constructed I was planning on purchasing

http://store.thesawshop.com/catalogu...products_id=88

Any suggestions for a simple guard ?

Bear in mind that the guard has to move as your raise, lower and tilt the saw. For the large opening, you can make a cheap baffle from magnetic sheeting (magnetic vent covers from the Borgs work ) And hold it in place with some rare earth magnets, which will make it removeable when you tilt the saw.

A mistake many people make with dust collection on equipment, is to seal everything off and connect a hose to a DC. If you don't let enough air in to the saw cabinet, the sawdust will not be removed. Sure it won't pile up on the floor but it won't get tothe DC either. DC's work by air flow. If air doesn't flow, neither will teh dust and chips.

[Ben Hatcher]

I have a craftsman saw with an open back like that. That boot looks pretty slick. I just covered the bottom and back entirely with scraps of hardboard. I cut a slot in the back for the belt and motor mounts, and attached a dust collector port to a hole in the bottom. The slot allows for some additional air flow into the saw which helps collection.

The only draw back with the current design is that I can't tilt my saw, but I haven't needed to in over a year. When that day comes, I'll figure some thing else out...maybe a slip plate or something.

[Roy Hess]

Thanks for the many suggestions. I really would rather not have to disassemble anything at the back of the saw, come time to tilt the blade.

The idea of a metal bracket, mounted under the motor mount, sounds the most useful. I do not have to make a cover for the motor pulley - only really need to cover the belts, at the point that they would contact the "Boot".

I'll give this a try...........