Thread: Replacement Blade Guard

The guard on my CarbaTec 6" is a fairly simple affair - a curved piece of pressed metal with a slot so you can move it across the blades and lock it. It is fixed to a round steel bar that provides height adjustment. I had a sprung guard on another machine and I did not like it at all. You could check with Carbatec and see if they'll sell you a spare guard assy.

I agree...have a look at the Euro style guards before you buy one of those sprung swing-away guards. The Euro style are much safer; the sprung ones will expose the entire cutter at some point in every pass, while the Euro style are only retracted enough for the width of cut. You can also leave them in place, but elevated above the cutter-the work is passed below the guard in this case, and at no time is the blade exposed.

Originally Posted by gregoryq

The Euro style are much safer; the sprung ones will expose the entire cutter at some point in every pass, while the Euro style are only retracted enough for the width of cut. You can also leave them in place, but elevated above the cutter-the work is passed below the guard in this case, and at no time is the blade exposed.

On the contrary, I'd say they are nowhere near as safe. You expose the cutter before feeding the work through, and after it has passed. The blade is left fully exposed (as much as you have chosen) and running until such time as you shut down the machine and slide the guard back.

Whereas, the sprung one only exposes as much of the blade as the width of stock, and only while the stock is pushing through. It does not expose the entire cutter every pass - what a crock of .....


As to the spring - you just need to purchase a torsion spring - shouldn't be hard to find. To get the spring strength, you literally wind it up.

Originally Posted by Stuart.

On the contrary, I'd say they are nowhere near as safe. You expose the cutter before feeding the work through, and after it has passed. The blade is left fully exposed (as much as you have chosen) and running until such time as you shut down the machine and slide the guard back.

Whereas, the sprung one only exposes as much of the blade as the width of stock, and only while the stock is pushing through. It does not expose the entire cutter every pass - what a crock of .....


As to the spring - you just need to purchase a torsion spring - shouldn't be hard to find. To get the spring strength, you literally wind it up.

OK, another opinion for you. As for the crock of...
Maybe you haven't seen ALL of the various sprung guards out there, Stuart, as I have not. The one that I was injured on sure did expose ALL OF THE KNIVES on every cut.

The European safety people won't give a sprung guard the CE approval for a reason.

And thanks for the tone.

If the sprung guard is made properly then it won't expose all of the knives. It is more than likely that there are many out there that are sub-standard.

I personally prefer them as the euro style guards either have part of the knives exposed at all times or if you set it so the timber goes underneath, then you momentarily loose full control of the timber you are surfacing.

The best way to make one for your surfacer is to make a cardboard template and try shape it so that the guard always covers whatever part of the knives is not in contact with the knives, but ensure that the timber can easily push it aside.

Basically what you need is that the guard has a sufficent curve so that the contact point is always above the knives. Have a look at pictures of surfacers and try get an idea of the shapes that guards have to give you some ideas of what is needed. If I get to the old boys on the weekend I'll try take some photos of his surfacer guard for you.

Perhaps I haven't seen ALL the different types out there, only those sold in H&F, WW Warehouse, Carbatec etc (which is quite a few), so no, I haven't seen every single type there is out there.
etc etc etc

But then, you inferred that all sprung ones were dangerous, and that sprung ones expose the whole blade which may be true for the one you used, but is not true for the vast majority on the market.

You then offered up an alternative that I have never liked from a safety point of view, so yeah, I called your statement

Originally Posted by gregoryq

the sprung ones will expose the entire cutter at some point in every pass

a crock.

Just a word on jointerguards,if you use your jointer only as a surfacer the swing guards work well, but if you use it as a multi tasking machine then the swing is a bloody danger to have on the machine if you are doing stopped and reversed shamfers or any type of drop on work with a swing guard lookout,you must find some way to lock it in a semi open position and thats not easy on most machines,just the truth.

[quote=Stuart.]Perhaps I haven't seen ALL the different types out there, only those sold in H&F, WW Warehouse, Carbatec etc (which is quite a few), so no, I haven't seen every single type there is out there.
etc etc etc


Just to clarify.... the Carebatec 6" guard assy I am referring to is not those shown. The guard on my machine (purchased mid-2005 is a curved piece of black sheet metal. I had it off for a while and had a near miss with a bit of MDF I had on edge (slippery surface) so now it is back where it is supposed to be.