Am I an idiot?

[Dwight]

Hi everyone,

I posted a note to Lee about this, but didn't get a response. I have a new Shark Guard and I can't seem to make it work. For example, it does not appear to be fixed to the top of the riving knife and floats off if the workpiece is thick. Attaching a DC hose to the guard makes the situation even more unstable. In addition, unlike the original Ryobi guard, I am unable to lower the blade so that less than 1/2" or so remains above the plane of the table. Considering that the SG cost more than 1/2 the amount I paid for the TS, I'd like to have it function well. Any thoughts?

Dwight

[afortune]

Are the pins through the holes in the riving knife and the two halves locked together? And then is the guard itself slotted onto the cross bolt bushings? I have never had anything like that happen with my shark guard.

As for lowering the blade below half an inch, you have to remove the guard and clamp from the riving knife. I only need to do that for non-through cuts where you don't use the guard anyway.

[Dwight]

Hi,

The halves are locked together. What I'm curious about is the way the acrylic guard sits on the mount. On mine, there are slots that allow the guard to slide on to the mount; there is no fixed pivot point, as there is on the original guard. The original guard pivots up and toward the rear of the saw; the SG just comes off. Is this at all clear? Thanks for your help.

D

[Bruce Cohen]

Dwight,

Without getting into the technical aspects of your problem, I have had a few versions of the "Shark" guard and his clamps and riving knives. I always found them to function flawlessly. What surprises is the "lack of " response from Lee. He's always on top of the stuff he makes and sells.

Have you tried to contact him by route of his web site, sent him a personal message, and if my mind serves me right, I seem to remember a phone number on the site. He might be on vacation.

I have his phone number and if he doesn't get back to you in a few days or so, PM me and I'll call me and help you rectify the problem.

Bruce

[gjbivin]

Mine has always been solid as well.

You might want to take a close look at the photos on Lee's site at

http://www.leestyron.com/sharkryobi.php

The rear slots on the guard are "L" shaped and hook over the rear pins on the assembled splitter and guard mount. Then pull the guard forward until the front slots drop onto the front pins of the mount. Adjust the blade until the bottom of the rear end of the guard, and the guard mounting blocks, clear the wood to be cut. The guard pivots up and down around the rear pins as the wood feeds under it. As long as you don't lift the front off of the front pins, it will be secure. Conversely, to remove the guard, just lift it up and slide it back, and then up and off the rear pins.

Do you have the spacers in the right order on the screws? The larger spacers are on the inside, next to the mounting blocks; the smaller spacers are where the slots on the guard fit, and are outside of the larger spacers. The screw head and the washer keep the guard from sliding off. See Lee's page above for a diagram.

No, you can't lower the blade all the way with the guard mounts on the splitter; but they come off in a few seconds (don't take the knobs all the way off, just spin them open until you can pull the little pins in the mounting blocks out of the holes in the splitter). The splitter is left on the saw for non-through cuts, as mentioned, because the top should be lower than the top of the blade. I only have to take the splitter off when I change to my dado set.

[maxparot]

If you post some picture of the problem I think we could probably be of more help. The angle of the slots in the tail section of the SG should keep the guard on unless the blade hight is to low for the thickness of the material to be cut. That would cause the guard angle to rise up high enough to slide off. The easy removal and reinstallation of the SG is one of it's features. this allows to switch between through and non-through cuts easily within a matter of seconds.

[lkazista]

Me too!

Dwight,

I must admit that I have been having ALL of the same issues that you are speaking of. I have not contacted Lee yet, because I kinda figured that I would realize what it is that I have been doing wrong.

My guard has 'fallen off in the middle' with thick boards, and I also have to remove the guard if I lower the blade enough. I always try to have the blade as low as possible, so the guard has been coming off a lot.

But I also agree with everyone here that Lee is terrific when it comes to supporting his product, the guy answered like 1000 of my emails before I bought the guard, I am sure that if I asked these questions directly, he would respond, but I figured I would let you know that you are not the only one.

Lee must be away or something.

Good luck and happy safety,

Lee

[wreckwriter]

Mine has never fallen off, I just make sure its in the slots all the way. As for having to remove it, that's just a part of the design. I'm very pleased with mine over the stock guard.

[Thom2]

As VP of Northern Operations, I'll have to step up in Lee's absence. There is absolutely NO reason that the guard should be able to come off in the middle of a cut if it's installed properly. It's nearly impossible with the design of the guard.

If both of you that are having problems will PM me with a phone # to reach you at, I'll call this evening after 6pm EST and walk you through to get it rectified as quickly as possible.

Thom

[Dwight]

My thanks to all of you who have, as usual, responded with details, clarifying questions, and further offers of help. My feeling is that my guard works _exactly_ as it should and it is just my inexperience with it that led to my initial post. I would like to emphasize that I too have had excellent interactions with Lee and I, in no way, meant to suggest otherwise. Guess I just need to use my saw more !!

Thanks again to all. Dwight

[Stytooner]

Hi Guys and thanks. Sorry about my lack of response. I had a slowing of my DSL to below 1 KB per sec. This has happened before and even though I tell the support guys that its a setting on thier end, the continually make me go through all the typical checks, pings and settings. Rediculous. I don't have much of a choice though.
At any rate, I missed this thread and think that some of my emails may have been effected as well.
The link should clear up a lot as far as how the guard should work. If its coming off in use, it isn't installed coreectly or isn't at the right height or you may be lifting the stock in front of the blade. All of these things would need to be corrected.
I am not sure that I can add much more than what has already been said. If you have sspecifics or photo's that help to illustrate the issue, there may be others that have this as well and this thread would help them.
As stated, the guard should never fall off in use. As a matter of fact, when set right and you are feeding stock under the guard at the correct blade height, the guard gets locked onto the studs by the stock not allowing the guard to even raise up enough to remove it.
We'll get this sorted out for y'all.