I have a Delta CS. I almost always used the splitter and the
anti-kickback pawls that came with the saw (minus the shield which broke
fairly early in the life of the saw). Recently, I wanted to rip some
5/4 x 6" boards in two and without a BS figured I could do it on the TS
by flipping the boards over and making several passes per edge. I did
not want the board to close up on the spinning blade while it was buried
in the board so I made a new splitter out of some 3/32" flat metal stock
purchased at the BORG. The splitter is about an inch shorter than the
max height of the blade. That way I could make two passes per edge and
spare the load on the blade and saw. Worked so good I do it all the
time now (still hankering for a BS though ...)

Anyway ... the splitter I made worked out such that I now use it almost
exclusively. And while it probably makes sense to use the factory one
with the anti-kickback pawls on it this "mini-splitter" works so well
with a zero-clearance insert that I don't worry about it very much.

So go get yourself a piece of 3/32" x 1 1/2W" metal stock, make yourself
a splitter and mate it with a zero-clearance insert and see if my
solution works for you ...

Ray wrote:
I haven't used the guard or splitter for my Jet Contractor saw since
I bought it. I didn't think it was needed because I primarily cut
plywood and smaller pieces and rarely needed to rip any lumber. Last
week I needed to rip some 8' 2x4s so I thought it would be a good
idea to install the safety device. Worked fine and probably saved me
from injury since the 2x4s twisted and bowed like crazy as they were
ripped.

After that I went out and bought a decent blade (Freud finishing blade)
because I was installing a new kitchen and had to cut finished
materials - fillers, toe kicks, etc. This is when I noticed a problem,
even though the splitter was lined up with the blade, the wood would
bind between the splitter and the fence. The finishing blade is the
same width as the splitter.

I want to keep the splitter and guard so what do I do? A few thoughts
I have a

Sand the splitter to make it thinner
Add an auxiliary fence that stops short of the splitter
Aftermarket splitter and guard
Zero-clearance insert with 'splitter'
Adjust the splitter further away from the fence side of the blade

I like to hear any thoughts on these or any other ideas. I want to
keep the safety of the splitter and guard.