I have recently purchased and been refurbishing an old DW125 Powershop.

As part of the work I removed the blade guard. There's two parts to that guard - what I think of the 'outside' bright orange / grey guard that sits on the left hand side of the saw as you use it, and the 'inside' guard that is a semi-circular arc of black metal that rides up and over the fence as you make a crosscut.

I also built a new table/fence as the old one was in need of replacement.

I'm finding that as I start the crosscut, the inner blade guard rises up on the fence and strikes the underside of the arbor housing. Sometimes it moves to the right hand side of the arbor and the cut completes smoothly, but other times the blade guard jams as it rises and prevents the saw from moving, or acts as a lever and pushes the saw blade to one side (usually the left as you view it). This can also happen as the saw is being returned at the end of the cut.

I'm wondering what I have done wrong in assembling the saw that is causing this.

One possibility is that I have somehow reassembled the blade guard incorrectly, and that is forcing the inner guard into a unnatural path. That seems unlikely, as there seems to be only one way to assemble it.

The second possibility is that the fence is just too high, and that if I lower the fence height it will stop the blade guide from hitting the arbor. That seems unlikely, as even if I reduce the fence height the same problem will occur when I try to crosscut a piece of wood that is as thick as the current fence.

Anyone got any ideas? I've tried looking for clear pictures/diagrams of the inner blade guard setup, and for dimensions of the fence, but to no avail.

Advice appreciated.