Idea for a modular riving knife, pawls, & blade guard?

[spicano]

First post, bought first table saw, 20+ year old Craftsman 315.228110 for $50 last month.
Replaced 2 elevator shims, lubed, aligned fences, used about 6 times so far, and very satisfied.

However, "not satisfied" with the unified riving knife, pawls, & blade guard. I want to
use these as much as possible but I already seem to fiddle too often with it (i.e., wasting time,
nuisance factors).

I could replace the one holding pin & 2 nuts, so I can independently remove the pawls &
blade guard "quickly", when all I need is the riving knife, however there are some
springs in there too, which I am sure will frustrate me long term. The pawls are sharp,
scratching throat pieces & materials & limit downward travel (i.e., I could tape, file,
remove them when working on fine materials, but again, a nuisance).

Seen some discussions on "Shark Guard" but this is already 6x the price of my saw to-date.
I've also seen some people make integrated zero-clearance throat plates with a splitter
alone (different problem set). I've seen the "Low fences" & "shop made riving knife" post
(mpc member from 09-14-2021) that adds several solid woodworking practices.

So finally my question Wondering if anyone has come to a reasonable set of "changes"
to keep these safety features but make it more time-convenient (i.e., modular) to change
over when temporarily needing to remove knife, pawls, and/or blade guard?

Regards,

[LCHIEN]

Welcome to the SDZ forum.

If you haven't, I recommend you get and read the BT3FAQ linked in the tag line of this reply post.

One thing I did early on is to make just a riving knife (and there are plans here for that) without the blade guard.
I eventually got a shark guard, but frequently I use just the riving knife of the SG without the blade guard for doing grooving.
I am careful to keep top pressure on my work so it doesn't kick back and the Riving knife helps prevent any work from "closing up" on the blade.

[capncarl]

Look at the SawStop accessory blade guard, dust collector with Irving knife. It looks like it might be a suitable replacement for the BT

[spicano]

Welcome to the SDZ forum.

If you haven't, I recommend you get and read the BT3FAQ linked in the tag line of this reply post.

One thing I did early on is to make just a riving knife (and there are plans here for that) without the blade guard.
I eventually got a shark guard, but frequently I use just the riving knife of the SG without the blade guard for doing grooving.
I am careful to keep top pressure on my work so it doesn't kick back and the Riving knife helps prevent any work from "closing up" on the blade.

Thanks. Ultimately, I may come to the same conclusions on another modified riving knife & associated grippers for top-pressure.

Pondering the situation better last night, and as a beginner, I'd like some feedback:
1. replace the (2) nuts holding the riving knife assembly (below the throat plate) with (2) wingnuts, or simply use a crescent/ratcheting wrench (my stock wrench technique lacks).
2. via LCHIEN, get a modified/new shorter riving knife where the grooving knife-height/removal problem is solved.
3. use an "over arm" mechanical when needing [a] blade guard, [b] pawls, and/or [c] dust collection hose mount.
[a] mounted to right-end of table? (best stability)
[b] mounted to the rip fence top slot? (okay, but could be less stable on wide cuts or interfere with tall jigs).
The overarm would be something I just saw this morning (e.g., DIY Overarm Table Saw Dust Collection - Simple effective upgrades ..., over on youtube).

Advantages:
1. Shorter riving knife (solving problem #2) stays put almost forever, possibly only when changing-over saw blades, which solves problem #1.
2. An overarm breaks the cut angle dependency of [knife needs to be on the same cut angle] & [pawls, blade guard do not need to follow the cut angle].
That is, the blade guard & pawls need not follow the cut angle. These two features handle some pressure and protection where blade is exposed on both sides of the workpiece.
This also depends on me setting saw blade height appropriate for the workpiece cut.
3. Separate the pawls thru-bolt position from the blade guard thru-bolt position.
[a] allows me to pivot pawls to an above horizonal position, secured with a thru-dowel, when I do not want the pawls engaging the workpiece.
4. Adds optional above-blade dust collection technique, as capncarl points out.

I had some doubts of creating such a long overarm, until I saw this one video this morning.

Curious if someone sees a significant disadvantage to such a setup?

Regards,

[d_meister]

I've thought about a homemade version of this, but haven't proceeded:

https://www.amazon.com/SPLITTER-Safety-Splitter-Alternative-Clearance/dp/B00L7KT6PM/ref=asc_df_B00L7KT6PM?tag=bngsmtphsnus-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80882941400099&hvnetw=s&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584482468295047&psc=1

[LCHIEN]

if you don't have this drawing down load it.
Its a PDF, so print out at 100% (no scaling, check that the 1" square is exactly 1"



This is the splitter that fits the blade guard mount of the BT3s. You can make it from mild steel or aluminum, you need some stock that is.090" thick, or just less than the blade kerf you use.

You don't need the three cutouts along the top, those are for accepting the shark guard quick removal guard.

This will give you a full riving knife that rises and falls with the blade. Make sure you set it up so it clears the blade, and the top sets just below blade height so you can make grooving cuts without removing the RK.

[spicano]

LCHIEN, Thank You.

[LCHIEN]

My pleasure.