On Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:21:20 -0500, Bill
wrote:

Jim Weisgram wrote:

Of course, like any comparable saw, the blade guard/splitter assembly
is total crap.

Jim

So where is the first step where apologies like this don't have to be
made? Does the Grizzly G0690 qualify?

Bill

I haven't seen the G0690 in action so I don't know. Overall the TS
certainly looks like a winner for Grizzly. But as for the blade guard?
Hard to judge what you haven't seen.

What to look for? In my book:

* Can you raise the cover up and have it stay in place while you line
up your cut with the blade? Don't know about the cover on the G0650.

* Can you see through the cover? Some saws with riving knives come
with metal covers. The Griz uses polycarbonate, a good choice.

* Is it mechanically solid? The blade guard on my 1023 is wobbly and
more than once has slid over an contacted the blade, which then
merrily grinds away at the cover. Generally on a miter cut. Probably
to do with the overall size of the metal "splitter" assembly. A saw
with a riving knife system will by it's nature have a smaller and
probably stiffer piece of metal holding the blade guard. Possibly a
safety issue, maybe no more than an annoyance.

* Are the pawls functional? Some pawls won't prevent a piece of wood
from sliding back towards the operator. I've heard some people deal
with this by sharpening them. Hmm, hopefully not so sharp you can cut
yourself on them.

* How easy to put in and remove the riving knife? How easy to
adjust/align? The G0690 looks to have a good system for putting in and
taking off and aligning it.

* It looks like you access the mechanism to unlock and remove the
riving knife through a cut out in the left rear of the throat plate. I
would guess that means an extra step when making a zero clearance
throat plate. Maybe that is a better arrangement than accessing the
mechanism while holding up the throat plate to get access to the lock
under the table topo.