Wood Working

Blade Guard for the PBB

Another post in the series about my PBB. See here for the beginning.

My WORX circular saw doesnt have a brake, so the blade is still spinning when I finish a cut and want to raise the bridge for the next cut. I have to be careful to avoid the blade or wait for it to stop, but am afraid that someday I might forget or get careless, so I designed a blade guard for the bridge.

As usual, I drew it up in SU to help me think about it. Here a few views.



The core is three layers of 3/4" ply, and the guard and front are poplar. The EZ Connectors attach it to the bottom of th EZ Rail.


The knobs tighten the guard to the rail, and clear the hinge arms, cross piece, and bridge.


I lowered the blade to the maximum (cuts 1 1/2" stock, I had to make a slight modification to the blade depth mechanism to achieve this). Note the cord I use to raise and/or keep raised the saws blade guard. Since I now have this guard, Ill probably keep the guard raised when the saw is on the rail.

Note that I rounded over the outside edges, I got tired of banging my hip on the sharp corners of the rail, this is better.



I probably should make a guard on the other side for when I cut in the other direction, but I havent done so yet, so I may never add this guard. I might also put a guard on the other end of the rail, but it will have to be of a different design. Note that the Smart Base hits the end block to prevent the saw from being pushed too far.


Here you can see the saw kerf from the top.