Fully adjustable tablesaw blade guard and dust extraction

**FlaminGunz** · 26th September 2022, 01:28 PM

Pics - Imgur: The magic of the Internet

Decided to DIY a blade guard with dust extraction after not finding anything suitable that had the ability to fully adjust position relative to the blade and 100mm dust extraction.

Materials:

4mm thick Polycarbonate
12mm & 16mm MDF
Offcut of 90mmx45mm pine
Various bolts and brackets
100mm PVC/Flex hose

The blade guard is built from Polycarbonate, glued together. The butt-joint doesn’t seem particularly strong, but has held up to general wear and tear over the last few weeks. Anticipating a joint break at some point..

The ‘telescoping’ ability is the pine offcut riding up-down within the MDF tube. The pine has an M8 insert nut embedded, with a matching through bolt that tightens in the routed channel on the tube, allowing it to be held at any height.
The tube can then shift side-to-side on the top panel, which itself can slide front-to-back on the brackets attached to the roof.

So far it’s working well, quite easy to change the height and when cutting MDF panels there’s no visible dust flying out towards me at the front of the saw like before.
When cross-cutting using the slider, dust escapes out the front due to the height needing to accommodate the sliding fence.
When ripping, the guard is fairly wide so it does tend to get in the way when using a MicroJig and a lot of dust and chips come out the front as I have to raise it fully out of the way. Maybe opening up the saw dust port will help..

**FlaminGunz** · 27th September 2022, 10:35 AM

Pictures are linked on the top line - Much better accessing them through Imgur than embedded!

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

**Greg Q** · 20th October 2022, 07:22 AM

Thanks FG.

I plan to do something similar when I am next working in my shop on my shop. Is that a door brush seal you have used on the bottom of the guard?

And…do you get any static shocks from the pvc ducting?

**FlaminGunz** · 20th October 2022, 08:29 AM

Originally Posted by Greg Q

Thanks FG.

Yep, basic door brush seal from Bunnings. When I cut them to length, the brush hairs started to slide out, so I taped up the ends...a bit janky. The adhesive backing didn't stick well to the polycarb so I used strips of acrylic body mounting tape and that is sticking super solid.
I think the brushes do help when cutting sheet goods, so the guard can go right down to the table. But as I mention above, cutting anything with some height like most timber, the guard isn't low enough to capture all the dust and the brushes don't do anything.

I haven't noticed any static shocks - I've been using the ducting on tablesaw, drill press, jointer/planer, bandsaw, moving everything around plenty and haven't noticed anything.

**pippin88** · 20th October 2022, 09:01 AM

Nice work. I'm planning similar.

I have seen a design where each side has an independent adjustable height side plate - when skimming the edge of a board this stops the sideways spewing of dust.

When cutting within a board / panel, both sides of the blade are within the work, sending dust upwards, and the dust guard sides are both adjusted equally to kiss the work.

Hard to see from the photos - is the back of your guard fully open?

**FlaminGunz** · 20th October 2022, 10:20 AM

Originally Posted by pippin88

Nice work. I'm planning similar.

Hmm design sounds interesting, but complicated. I certainly find most dust comes out the front. And when using the sliding crosscut fence, it has to be high enough to clear it.

Yes the back of mine is fully open. It does seem to help airflow, especially when lowered down to a board and dust doesn't come out of the back

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