Mike M wrote:
On Sun, 22 Dec 2013 19:11:18 -0500, Bill
wrote:

Bill wrote:
I never claimed to by a physicist or engineer, but I have found myself
trying to think like one in recent days.

By borrowing from numerous sources and integrating a couple ideas of
my own, I drew up a blade guard design and assembly which suits my
present purposes.

It relies however on a short vertical beam being supported ("hung") by
a short supported length of 2by4. The shot vertical beam may consist
of a short length of square steel tubing, a short length of 2by4
material, or similar.

I would like to be able to MOVE the beam along the length of the 2by4
(for horizontal adjustment). My question is: Is there a familiar
hardware item that will help me with this? All it needs to do is wrap
("hook") around the 2by4 and provide a means to attach what I want.
It seems "definitely related" to a joist hanger, but seems to be
something different. The joist hangers that I have seen do not have
"hooks to wrap around the top of the support" (probably because that
would not evenly distribute the "load" in general).

BTW, I AM striving to be mindful of "torsional" forces.

Bill
It occurred to me that a regular joist hanger slung over the supported
2by4, sort of fits my request--but would not be nearly strong enough
(to have things hanging from, without screws, nails, etc.)
Just a question as it seems like your planning to mount your guard to
the ceiling,
I am not planning to mount it to the ceiling now Mike, but perhaps
eventually. I am presently planning to attach it, via linkage, to a
2by4 supported between two A-Frames (no "rocket science" going on
there). I'll start with a four or five foot 2by4 and see how that
works. That will make it easy enough to move a few feet to the left or
right, as necessary. The TS does move easily on it's mobile base, but
the whole floor does not lie in a plane. I haven't had the TS long
enough to say exactly where it is going to stay. In fact, I'm still
eager to turn it on for the first time! Besides tuning (a side-table
fell out of alignment), I still need to install the appropriate type of
outlet (it was 4-degrees F. last week). At some point, I may bring-in
dust collection, or a jointer, and I would probably adjust the location
of the saw for that. Eventually, I can imagine attaching the guard to
the ceiling, and that would not be a huge issue. It appears that most of
the time will go into making the hood of the blade guard. I've observed
that I could buy one for $30--but not nearly as nice of one (see
below). I've learned a shop is, or would do well to be, a dynamic
animal--especially a small shop. My 20' by 24' space is looking smaller
all the time (especially due to the squatters!) I think DadiOH taught
me that expression, and it always makes me smile (sort of).

I borrowed (i.e. took) the idea for the blade guard itself from Jason
Beamer. Each of its 4 sides slide-up under *appropriate* directional
force. But his guard appears to be 23" long! Before I start cutting, I
will build a prototype (out of cardboard, etc), and see if I can shorten
it and still capture its desirable features. The design for the linkage
was basically a function of it's constraints. One of them is that the
top of the guard needs to be held firmly in place to offer the most
safety. Another is that it needs to be "easily tunable" (so that it
rests squarely on the table). I sort of enjoyed the 20 or 30 minutes it
took me to work those features out (in the design). What I really mean,
I guess, is that I enjoyed it after I was finished! : ) And surely, I
didn't think of everything. In earlier posts, I went into detail about
how I would like to adjust the location of the guard horizontally (by
sliding along the beam). As you know better than I do, sometimes the
blade needs to be pretty close to the fence.

Since you went to great trouble to get the mobile base
under the saw, are you planning on moving the saw regularly?
Most of the trouble was re-attaching the 4-inch sub-base to the bottom
of the cabinet. Although the saw tipped (almost over) in the process,
moving it (dropping it?) into the mobile base was very little trouble.
It is quite easy to manage the weight via the long rails, and by using
shims. We had the saw 7 1/2" off the ground (using two stacks of five
24" 2by8s). Some of those pieces are soon be transformed into push
sticks! : )

Cheers,
Bill



If so
you might be ahead to look at how Biesemeyer does there overhead
guard. If I read correct your copying their gurard but mounting it to
the ceiling. If you can weld it would be easy to fabricate one that
attaches to your table, other wise when you move the saw out of the
way you have an obstacle to walk into. If you don't plan on moving
the saw again then it wouldn't matter. I just checked the price on
the system now and I can understand why you don't want to just buy
one. Starting to realize what a good deal I got when I bought my used
unisaw.

Mike M