For those of you in the know, you know Lee's Shark Guards are probably the best guards on the market, certainly they are unbeatable for the BT3x00 saws. Well with the new SGK1 being out, I snagged one, and it came in last night. While I haven't had a chance to use it yet, I have installed it. So the before and after pics... Please forgive the dust on the saw and in the 10.4, that is NOT the fault of the SG, it is the fault of the operator forgetting to open blast gates...
The 10.4 as installed on my BT3100
The SGK1 with 4" port as installed on my BT3100
The 104. riving knife (sorry about the lousy photo, I only took one and it came out blurry...)
The SGK1 riving knife. Very similar in design, but uses slots instead of holes to mount the clamp. This is certainly more convenient, but I have some concerns about durability with this arrangement. The tabs are just really thin... Time will tell. I suspect my concerns are probably unfounded unless the knife gets abused.
The guards side by side. You can see how much narrower the SGK1 is compared to the 10.4.
Other notable features that I did not capture photographically is that the top piece with the dust port, appears to be removable and replaceable. This could mean the ability to buy new top pieces with different port sizes, or no port at all from Lee, giving you even greater flexibility for your dust collection, so for example if you have a 4" port upper like mine, and decide at some point that the 4" duct is too big, and you want to change to 2.5, you should be able to just get the 2.5" top piece and swap it around...
I have to take my blade off tonight and clean it (dummy me, forgot the blast gate remember?) as I was doing a LOT of cutting on PT pine. Thank GOD I was using a respirator and the overhead air filter at the time!
There is so much to say for the 10.4 being just about the best blade guard out there on the market, and with the updates that are done here, it is purely an example of how the best just got better.
The 10.4 as installed on my BT3100
The SGK1 with 4" port as installed on my BT3100
The 104. riving knife (sorry about the lousy photo, I only took one and it came out blurry...)
The SGK1 riving knife. Very similar in design, but uses slots instead of holes to mount the clamp. This is certainly more convenient, but I have some concerns about durability with this arrangement. The tabs are just really thin... Time will tell. I suspect my concerns are probably unfounded unless the knife gets abused.
The guards side by side. You can see how much narrower the SGK1 is compared to the 10.4.
Other notable features that I did not capture photographically is that the top piece with the dust port, appears to be removable and replaceable. This could mean the ability to buy new top pieces with different port sizes, or no port at all from Lee, giving you even greater flexibility for your dust collection, so for example if you have a 4" port upper like mine, and decide at some point that the 4" duct is too big, and you want to change to 2.5, you should be able to just get the 2.5" top piece and swap it around...
I have to take my blade off tonight and clean it (dummy me, forgot the blast gate remember?) as I was doing a LOT of cutting on PT pine. Thank GOD I was using a respirator and the overhead air filter at the time!
There is so much to say for the 10.4 being just about the best blade guard out there on the market, and with the updates that are done here, it is purely an example of how the best just got better.
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