I'm making a table saw guard out of Lexan and am going to use a plate of 6061 aluminum to act as a splitter and support. The
blade cuts an 1/8" wide kurf and the aluminum is a 1/8" wide. The guard fits around the splitter and slides up and down.
The surface area is about 2"x3" on both sides of the aluminum and should be moving loosely.
Anybody have any thoughts as to the strength of the aluminum and/or the wear of the Lexan to the aluminum?
R. Wink
"R. Wink" <[email protected]> wrote
> I'm making a table saw guard out of Lexan and am going to use a plate of
6061 aluminum to act as a splitter and support. The
> blade cuts an 1/8" wide kurf and the aluminum is a 1/8" wide. The guard
fits around the splitter and slides up and down.
> The surface area is about 2"x3" on both sides of the aluminum and should
be moving loosely.
> Anybody have any thoughts as to the strength of the aluminum and/or the
wear of the Lexan to the aluminum?
> R. Wink
AL is too soft and will move out of alignment and wear, leaving you with a
splitter thinner than the blade. I can't tell from your description how you
will enable the lexan to slide. It sounds like it rides on your splitter,
in which case it won't be transparent for long. Your blade will trash it in
short order. You will need spacers wider than the side to side play in the
lexan.
I like the powermatic blade guard, and if I were going to reverse engineer
one I would start there. Not that I condone that sort of thing.
Good luck,
mw
6061 is a far cry from the beer can stuff you are likely thinking of. It
will work fine.
"M Wingett" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> AL is too soft and will move out of alignment and wear, leaving you with a
> splitter thinner than the blade.