Home made jointer guard

[Martin Wasner]

I bought a used SAC FS305 jointer last month, and it didn't come with a guard. Tablesaws with no guarding doesn't bother me in the slightest. Shapers, and jointers make me pee myself with no guarding.

A Suvamatic guard would be sweet. They come with a sweet price tag too.

I stopped in at the Northfield Foundry, they said their guard needs to be anchored in a lot of cast iron, and would likely destroy the mounting bracket the way it is. It wasn't a cheap option either.

Looking for the actual guard for this machine was pretty fruitless. I'd call it dumb luck if I came across one. So I decided to tinker around and see what I could come up with.



The original plan was to make a clamp of sorts to push down on the aluminum extrusion, I decided that was going to be too much of a pain in the rear, so I was digging through a drawer full of miscellaneous fasterners and hardware and came across this threaded knob and figured cutting a slit in the aluminum was the way to go. I guesstimated the center of it, marked a line, and drilled holes where I wanted it to stop on both ends, then just used the tablesaw to cut the slot. It went pretty well, and the holes weren't perfectly on the centerline, but close enough that when I tuned it up with a file a bit, it isn't noticeable. I used a square nut on the bottom side to anchor the threaded knob. I drilled a pilot hole, and used a spade bit on the backside to recess the nut, then I just poured epoxy in to hold it in place. It should be a pretty low torque application, so I think the epoxy I used will hold fine. I also made a little washer from the side of a 1 gallon Titebond glue bottle. I didn't like how the washer under the threaded knob was dragging on the aluminum.




The base is made from a piece of 3/4" thick Richlite. Richlite is basically paper and epoxy smashed together. It's a pretty durable product, and is easily machined with woodworking tooling. Once I had the aluminum for the guard in the shape I wanted it, I just traced it out on the side of the Richlite then made about a zillion passes over the tablesaw nibbling away at it. I used a chisel and sandpaper to smooth things out. It's not perfect, but once waxed up the aluminum slides across it nicely, and it's not really seen, so I'm calling it good enough.







"Where in the heck did you source that piece of aluminum?" It's part of a section of a broken sailboat mast.




I need to figure out how I'm going to mount it. Right now I think I've got two options.
1. Use the existing mount that is back a little bit from the cutter, and use a plug of some sort that drops into the holes in the casting that holds fasteners that hold the bearings.
2. There's a plastic cover on the side that is only there just to dress things up. The holes for that cover are far enough down, and far enough in that I can make a bracket and use those holes to mount it to. It should be plenty stable. I've got a chunk of a Delta Uni Fence that I can whack a section out of, and I think will work pretty well. I would have to have a machinist make me a section of T shaped rail to slide into part of the extrusion to make mounting then Richlite easier. That won't cost much though.

I haven't decided which yet is the better path. I'm leaning towards the bracket on the side though.

Everything is just kinda roughed out at the moment. Once I have everything the way I like it, I'm going to route the edges on the Richlite then sand and polish it. You can get this stuff to look like a black mirror if you really go crazy sanding and buffing. The aluminum I'm just going to scuff up the face of it, and rattle can it Yellow. I'd like to make a foot of some sort for it, but I haven't directed any effort in that direction other than; "that'd look nice". I think I'd also have to whack a recess out of the Richlite mounting plate so the foot recedes into it and I have full access to the entire head.


I do not understand how the Suvamatic guard works. I'm pretty sure it's dark magic making it move the way that it does.

[Darcy Warner]

I run my 30" without a guard, I should make a back guard for it, I have a tendency to pile stuff up behind the fence.

[Andrew Hughes]

I also have no guard for my jointer.But if I wanted one it would be like the one your making Martin it looks good.

[Warren Lake]

not using a guard is probably not the answer but I dont have a guard on any of them. I dont like stuff sticking out like that but then I have a combo machine where a whole whack of machine is there so much for me making that hypocritical statement.

Youve done a great job so far Mcgiver would be proud. I like the knob to locate it, the way I joint I dont like a spring usual style guard I want to drop a board on anywhere I want and they are in the way.

I can just pull my fence over for say an 8" board then have 8 1/2 inches exposed but then you run on the same place on the knives all the time, your thing you can put the 8" spacing anywhere on the head you want so that solves that aspect You dont have the spring back of the guard so after the board passes its open, ive seen fingers lost on the spring back ones so that is not a perfect system either. I was in a shop that had no guards on any machines and kinda had to think a certain way, his knives were poorly maintained as well, that place was intolerable most people lasted a week to two weeks with him. Id say a guard you can put in place where you want but is hinged and just drops over the left would be pretty good then no thing there to block you. I probably never walk past the center of the cutter head its more just reaching down the outfeed some amount still would be nice to not have stuff projecting out but not so easy.

and youve learned to work your table saw a certain way with no guard ive never used them but there is more kick back chance with a table saw or at least binding potential than a jointer. the material is on top of a machine its not trapped between two surfaces and thats a whole other game. On the table saw dont go behind the blade and you wont get pulled back into it. on the jointer im either in front of the knives or mostly on the outfeed, as much some people talk about jointer kick back its more rare wood is not between two surfaces. Ive jointed tons of material to the point my hands were like leather gloves and I could use them to sand without sand paper. havent had kick backs The chances probably go up on deeper cuts and how you work the material. Id have to watch myself on a video to see what I do exactly,

[Darcy Warner]

My favorite guard was on a 25" German jointer. It was yellow and you just folded enough of the sections back to expose how much you needed.

I also despise a guard that swings out into my way. I feel that's more of an issue for me.

[John TenEyck]

Yes, these type guards are very nice:

IMG_0607_1_.jpg

Effective w/o being intrusive, at least not to me.

John

[Darcy Warner]

Mine was not that style, no pivot arm.

[Warren Lake]

yeah not intrusive id still want a locking knob. Im still used to dropping on though less the straighter the material is.

[Martin Wasner]

I really want the Suvamatic guard, but holy crap are they expensive. I drop a lot of material in as well for straightening, so I'm not a huge fan of the pork chop, or a spring loaded euro style. The Suvamatic you can lock it partially open. It's a good solution, just not a cheap one.

[Larry Edgerton]

I have a pork chop on my SCM, but I added a knob on top of the pork chop so I can hold it open when I want to drop in, no problem for me but it is what I am used to. I leave the jointer running when I am prepping stock along with the planer and tablesaw with a feeder, so I like the guard on there. shop is tight and well you know, stuff happens. I am as careless as the next guy, but still want a guard on the jointer.

The one on my Porter was probably the best I ever used, big cast brass curve and pulleys and weights and rope parts all over, just cool, and it worked. It was weighted perfect.

You did good Martin. I am a firm believer that if a tool or setup makes you nervous, PAY ATTENTION! There is probably a reason.

[Warren Lake]

one other thought that came to mind after was ive always been a loner doing stuff on my own number of you maybe as well so different for Martin or people that have some employees as the red tape is rolled out. I had a friend once in my shop, he was a safety trainer said you have no guards, I said its just me. he said he would check I said dont bother and he did anyway, message back from him was if you are on your own do as you please on guarding. Good point Larry my stuff is usually turned off and just on one machine at a time odd time an exception. I put together a file of jointer fences, one night looking up jointers I saw about 20 brands ive never heard of whole pile of european ones, its too much to post them and the buik were ones ith hinges that flop over the side. what about crowd funding for a Suvamatic

[Jim Becker]

I have a Euro type on my MM J/P and love it. The one concern I have with yours is that I'm not seeing how you would raise it to float over stock being flattened, but for closing things off for edge jointing (which I don't really do anymore having the slider taking care of the edges) it seems to be a great solution. It was good you contoured that support block to fit the aluminum guard so well.

[Martin Wasner]

There's no up/down. It'll just have to be adjusted for width of whatever is passing through

[Kevin Jenness]

It's interesting how people relate to guards in different ways. At my last gig we had a 400mm Griggio with a SUVA guard and I believe I was the only one of 5 guys who used it for facing as designed (guard extending to the fence and raised up just above the stock.) I say as designed because there was a cartoon in the manual showing that technique. My colleagues said they preferred to maintain a continuous push as their hands went over the knives. I was nervous about having the exposure, especially on wide material. To each his own.

I use a spring-loaded porkchop on my own 400 mm jointer and drop on without any real problem. The tambour style porkchop is a nice upgrade that I might get around to.

Interestingly, Martin, your guard is essentially the same as on the first big jointer I worked on 35 years ago, an old iron 12" with a home-made wooden guard.

[Marty Schlosser]

I'd be scared to death to run any jointer without a guard, and am happy to hear that you're considering to at least make a back guard for it.

I run my 30" without a guard, I should make a back guard for it, I have a tendency to pile stuff up behind the fence.