Rhossydd
Established Member
I've just bought my first table saw and am a little puzzled;
In ignorance, most of my reading about table saws in the past has been with American articles and books, there they use cunning jigs to make the table saw incredibly useful for all sorts of cutting and jointing tasks, all very appealing. However now I've started to look into the subject with more scrutiny European style high riving knives and blade guards seem to be an after thought in the USA, and here anyone suggesting taking a guard off seems to be regarded as a potential suicide case.
So I look at my Axminster TS200 and see a small plastic box that looks like it would disappear if it touched a rotating blade and seems to offer all the protection of a wet paper bag. It's main virtue seems to be as a dust extraction hood, rather than a credible safety device, so what real use is it ? Am I missing some hideous unforeseen danger that the yellow plastic box saves me from ?
It strikes me that the utility of the saw will be greatly improved by making a second riving knife that's a tiny bit lower than the top of the blade to allow housing cuts to be made and ditching the plastic box in favour of a more substantial custom made Perspex guarding system that might offer a modicum of protection in addition to dust collection.
Am I a fool to even consider this ? If so why ?
Please understand that I do appreciate the potential dangers of this tool and use push sticks, decent PPE and stand out of the line of fire when using it.
Paul
In ignorance, most of my reading about table saws in the past has been with American articles and books, there they use cunning jigs to make the table saw incredibly useful for all sorts of cutting and jointing tasks, all very appealing. However now I've started to look into the subject with more scrutiny European style high riving knives and blade guards seem to be an after thought in the USA, and here anyone suggesting taking a guard off seems to be regarded as a potential suicide case.
So I look at my Axminster TS200 and see a small plastic box that looks like it would disappear if it touched a rotating blade and seems to offer all the protection of a wet paper bag. It's main virtue seems to be as a dust extraction hood, rather than a credible safety device, so what real use is it ? Am I missing some hideous unforeseen danger that the yellow plastic box saves me from ?
It strikes me that the utility of the saw will be greatly improved by making a second riving knife that's a tiny bit lower than the top of the blade to allow housing cuts to be made and ditching the plastic box in favour of a more substantial custom made Perspex guarding system that might offer a modicum of protection in addition to dust collection.
Am I a fool to even consider this ? If so why ?
Please understand that I do appreciate the potential dangers of this tool and use push sticks, decent PPE and stand out of the line of fire when using it.
Paul
