Initial impressions of Leeway Shark Guard

[John Durscher]

This past week I received my Leeway Shark Guard for my old Ridgid TS2424. I purchased it to replace an older style Excalibur over arm guard/dust collector.

The Shark Guard went on very easily. The hardest part was finding where I put the original Ridgid guard it had been off several years - The shark guard uses part of the Ridgid mounting bracket.

The shark guard provides better visibility than my old Excalibur. It also does an excellent job of collecting sawdust - much better than the old Excalibur. I hooked the shark guard to the same duct that the Excalibur so this was a fair test.

The Shark Guard looks to be well made and the splitter seems to be a far better design than the splitter/guard that came with the old Ridgid. It also comes off pretty easily so it is out of the way when I don't want it on the saw. The old version of the Excalibur was fixed above the saw - I think the new Excalibur will swivel out of the way.

Standard disclaimer - I am in no way associated with either Leeway or Excalibur, just a customer.

John

[frank shic]

that pretty much summarizes my positive experience. it was well worth the $100 i paid last year. i'm surprised that none of the major saw manufacturers have started copying it!

[sascha gast]

i still have a few weeks until I get mine, then I can finally say that I work safer. until then...................waiting

[Brad Townsend]

i still have a few weeks until I get mine, then I can finally say that I work safer. until then...................waiting

Yes, the only frustrating part of these things is the wait. But Lee makes them to order, and they are definitely worth the wait.

[John Thompson]

Good design.. excellent quality.. fair price as they are hand crafted an a fine, responsible gentlemen standing at the bench making these things!

Sarge.. john thompson

[Dave Dionne]

Lee is a great person to do business with, I remember when he was starting to design them for the Ryobi saw.

I need to order one for my exacta next

[Chris Dodge]

I have had mine for about six months and love it! It does everything that it is advertised to do.

If I may make a suggestion for an improvement though, I would like to see a wheel added to the front of it. Sometimes a board will catch on the front if there is the slightest scratch from a previous board. A wheel would elimiate that problem.

My Dewalt mitersaw blade guard has the wheel and it helps a lot.

The Shark Guard is a great product as is and well worth the cost!!

[Bill White]

Have been in email contact w/ Sarge about the Shark, and I sure would like to see one of those critters in action. Any thoughts?
Bill

[Al Willits]

I've had mine on for a couple of weeks and it works pretty well, the splitter does what its suppose to, and the guard itself goes on and off very easily, unlike the one that came with my Delta Hybrid.
Only problem is it interferes with my rollers, but I think if I spread them apart a bit more they should work better, not a problem with cuts that the fence is a little further away from the blade though.
Still fine tuning to get both the rollers and guard to work together.

Have to admit, Lee was a pleasure to deal with.

I'd buy one again, fwiw.

Al

[Ray Dockrey]

Still waiting on mine also. Should have a few weeks to go.

[Mike Pierson]

thanks for sharing...never heard of the shark till trolling around SMC....so need to investigate further and (sounds like) get in line

[John Thompson]

Have been in email contact w/ Sarge about the Shark, and I sure would like to see one of those critters in action. Any thoughts?
Bill

Evening Bill...

As I promised I will post some pics for you but.. I do not have the "Shark Guard" from Lee. I was only endorsing his Shark Guard as well designed and quality built. The pics you saw in another thread of mine are indeed that.. my home-made guard and short fence. I suppose I could call it the "Sarge Guard".

I have a factory Reco Uni-saw that I built this for and added a Euro style "crown guard" to replace pawls which I won't personally use. The "crown guard" is more efficient than pawls as I see it. This saw is a dedicated Rip Saw with a 24 T flat grind blade that stays on-board as I cross-cut and angle with a SCMS.

The splitter is a duplicate of the stock splitter with the exception of I had my BIL who is a machine shop foreman at Delta Air Lines mill me a steel blank which is slightly narrower than the standard kerf blade I run. I added some vertical slots in the splitter to allow my "crown guard" to move up and down with the release of the the two removal star knobs and bolts that attach it. This keeps the blade closer to the splitter similar to a riving knife which I have on my other TS now used as dedicated dado saw.

The Crown Guard can be removed in about 10 seconds along with the modified plastic sheild. I used a Penn State plastic shield (with 2 1/2" dsut port) and put a curvature on the front so it will ride up easier when stock is moved into it. The crown guard will allow the top of the blades teeth to ride inside it slightly and not expose the teeth to hands.. etc. as I raise the blade a full gullet depth above stock for quicker waste removal.

I replaced the rear removal bolt on the Uni-saw as it required about 6000 turns with a socket or wrench and took forever. Replaced with a star knob and hex bolt. The removal nut inside the saw that attaches the splitter in the front is a major PITA to get to and release also. It got replaced with a T knob that I down-sized the handle on and requires two quick turns to release the splitter. My splitter.. plastic guard and crown guard will come off the saw in under 30 seconds in what we could call Semi-Quick release or pretty quick in laymens terms. ha.. ha... ha..ha..ha..

So.. with crown guard.. short fence.. home-made pring-board left of blade.. extensions from my work-bench rear.. rear extension table and doors open with Rigid flip-top support stands placed outside.. A safe as possible (without a power feeder) One Man Operation is possible as I have capability of cutting 22" wide and 16' lenghts without assistance.

Total Cost.. About $35 Total Worth oriented to safety... PRICELESS!

Any questions or clarification.. ask here or e-mail..

Sarge..