My Sawstop Blade Guard DC Solution...

[Roy Wall]

I have had quite a few PM's regarding my blade DC over the last year+....so here are some photos showing my Blade DC.

The guard is a Hammer/Felder 10" blade guard. It is about 1.5 " wide, and has a 50mm DC port on top. It attaches nicely to the SS riving knife. I believe the price was around $50 with shipping. Felder also makes a guard for a 12" blade -- I mention this because when the Blade IS ALL THE WAY UP.......it just nicks into the front of the guard....creating a little groove about 1/2" deep.

This still a THIN guard! THe standard SS guard lets you rip within 3/4" inch....so this still gets you to 1 1/4 ish......


The first few photos I used my Fein shop vac and it was very effective. After a while, I thought is was silly to have to turn on the vac And the Oneida Dust Gorilla, so I modified the 6" drop to run a 4" wye above the table. About 8' of 4" flex hose is used to get to the guard. The suction is excellent with very little dust (if any) on any CC or rip using the guard.

These photos are from last year....the top is still the same.....but the lower DC run to the cabinet is mostly 5" metal duct directly to the back of the cabinet -- then choked down to the 4" port. Most of you know the SS has a dedicated "DC Shroud" undeneath and goes directly up under the blade - a very good system.

One advantage of having some extra "slack" from the drop.....you can pull the hose off the guard and vacuum around on the TS top for general clean up when you're done for the day.

I'll try and show the shop vac photos first:

[Roy Wall]

Now here are more photos showing the Oneida hookup. I have the 2HP Super Gorilla system....

The 4" flex is capped with a 4-3" reducer. Next, a 3 - 2" reducer is attached. This black plastic reducer has a bit of taper in it....so I' used a Hacksaw to cut back enough to get it to slip OVER the Blade DC port - I did not want to reduce air flow any more!! Honestly, you are probably pushing the limit of and DC system by choking it down so much.....but at this point it is RIGHT AT THE SOURCE...and there is good "suction". Certainly the equal of the Fein Vac as I remember it...

[Per Swenson]

Roy,

Pretty slick.

I would steal it right now...but then my son would be out of a job.

Per

[Roy Wall]

And a couple more shots showing the upper and lower DC splits.

The upper is a 6x6x4 wye branch......the lower a 6x6x5 branch....I run both gate wide open for DC.

Also, I now run a full 5" metal duct directly to the back of the saw port...choked to 4" and clamped. These photos are a little dated....

[John Bush]

Hi Roy,
Thanks for your followup from the earlier BB post. I have ceiling DC drops as well and I was concerned for the need to "counter balance" the hose so it wouldn't create too much tension on the guard. Also, when making very thin cuts, I have found that the guard freguently moves laterally into the blade instead of vertically on top of the stock. This chews the plastic a little and I was wondwering if you have had any problems with your set-up. Thanks again. JCB.

[Jim Becker]

Thanks, Roy. This is about the same way I'll be hooking up the guard on my new machine for overhead dust collection. Due to positioning under the slope of a stairway, I can't use an overarm type guard, but the OEM guard has a dust port on it nearly identical to the Felder attachment you are using. I have a 3" drop available for the guard when it's in use.

[Roy Wall]

Hi Roy,
Thanks for your followup from the earlier BB post. I have ceiling DC drops as well and I was concerned for the need to "counter balance" the hose so it wouldn't create too much tension on the guard. Also, when making very thin cuts, I have found that the guard freguently moves laterally into the blade instead of vertically on top of the stock. This chews the plastic a little and I was wondwering if you have had any problems with your set-up. Thanks again. JCB.

John, The only issue with thin cuts ....if they're so thin the push stick would hit the guard and "slant" it into the blade....at that point ....its time for me to just use the riving knife without DC.


Jim B - you will enjoy having the DC hose directly behind the blade and then straight up( well, virtually...). I like this for unobstructed "push through" of stock when ripping.

[Don Bullock]

That's a slick setup you have htere. I'll have to save some of your ideas so I can use them once I have a DC system in my shop.

[John Petsche]

great idea. I have a sharkguard and it works well but it is wide and takes considerable airflow due to its size. I plan on looking at this item. Thanks for the post and pics.

[Pete Janke]

Hi Roy,
Thanks for your followup from the earlier BB post. I have ceiling DC drops as well and I was concerned for the need to "counter balance" the hose so it wouldn't create too much tension on the guard. . JCB.

I had the same problem. I retrofitted the SS Blade Guard to my Grizzly G0691. I cut a hole in a 4" cap which fits securely to the guard and a dust collection hose coming down from my ceiling. This setup works well for me.
G0691 SS 3.jpgG0691 SS 4.jpg

[Roy Wall]

great idea. I have a sharkguard and it works well but it is wide and takes considerable airflow due to its size. I plan on looking at this item. Thanks for the post and pics.

John,
I think if you can get a 4" diameter hose to the choke point you will be fine. As I learned from Jim Becker, DC is all about Volume of air -- so keep large diameter pipe/hose (typically 6") to all your machines the best you can and then choke at the end.

This system has been working nicely for WOW…. 7-8 years now. Can't believe I logged on and saw this thread all of the sudden!! The beauty of it is how you can disconnect the hose and clean the TS top and such with the extra slack in the hose. It's been good for me anyway.

[Terry Thillemann]

I'm trying to connect my 4" flex hose to my guard ... Can you elaborate on the pieces you used?

[Dan T Jones]

I have a different complaint about my SS PCS guard and that is the very difficult process of getting little pieces of wood out of the upper part of the guard. They quickly obstruct air flow. The Hammer guard looks like it would eliminate that problem.

Are you saying that the Hammer guard fits into the riving knife holder or did you bolt the Hammer guard to the SS riving knife?

Thanks for the help.

Dan

[Chris Padilla]

This thread is quite old but Roy does check in now and then. He last visited in early December so you might want to PM him to get his attention.

[Roy Wall]

I have a different complaint about my SS PCS guard and that is the very difficult process of getting little pieces of wood out of the upper part of the guard. They quickly obstruct air flow. The Hammer guard looks like it would eliminate that problem.

Are you saying that the Hammer guard fits into the riving knife holder or did you bolt the Hammer guard to the SS riving knife?

Thanks for the help.

Dan

Dan -

I just bolted the Guard (I believe it is a Felder) to the larger "riving/splitter" of the Sawstop. I used one of the existing holes.
There are a couple different sizes of guards: This has 50mm top port and blade opening is 300mm (12") long at the base against the table. When the blade is all the way up for max cutting depth - it will score a mark on the tip of the guard just a bit. I believe there are different sizes of these guards (300, 400, 500,etc mm) to accommodate the larger blades on the Felder sliders. This was a good fit for me.
STILL working well all these years later! Built a lot of furniture and just finished a new modern kitchen and its been a pleasure (both the Sawstop and the DC).

Photo attached.