Riving knife for Unisaw

I feel your pain, but as another poster noted its likely a products
liability issue with the riving knife design.

However, if you go to a delta dealer, there is a removable splitter
that is a part of the overhead Uniguard assembly and works
wonderfully. I bought one from a Delta service center when I lived in
Charlotte NC; they can look up the part number and will sell it to you
for about $25 or so, and it works really well, and removes with a
knurled knob for dado use, etc. It has anti kickback pawls as well.

[email protected] (Eric Anderson) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> I just put together a Unisaw this week and part of the effort involved
> the installation of the guard and splitter.
>
> It now amazes me even more that a riving knife has not been designed
> for this saw. The hardware for the splitter and guard appears to be
> much more involved and has more pieces than a riving knife and guard
> (that could be mounted to the top of the riving knife) would have.
>
> Has anyone ever talked to the Delta management to see what it is that
> prevents the use of a riving knife on the newer designs?
>
> There have been numerous design modifications to this saw in other
> areas to both improve the design and lower the cost. I am going to
> remove the blade guard after I tune the thing up and install my zero
> clearance insert with an integral splitter which I find safer and more
> convenient to use. A riving knife would be a nice addition. I have
> not examined the trunion area sufficiently to see if it could be
> modified in its design to use a riving knife.
>
> Has anyone ever found an aftermarket riving knife (I DON'T mean the
> numerous splitters of various designs by aftermarket people and
> Delta).

As a followup to my prior post, the splitter assembly is Delta Part
No. 1349941, see the following link:

http://media.ptg-online.com/media/dm/Parts%20Lists/20021115200000_CS4K12.pdf


Mutt

[email protected] (Eric Anderson) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> I just put together a Unisaw this week and part of the effort involved
> the installation of the guard and splitter.
>
> It now amazes me even more that a riving knife has not been designed
> for this saw. The hardware for the splitter and guard appears to be
> much more involved and has more pieces than a riving knife and guard
> (that could be mounted to the top of the riving knife) would have.
>
> Has anyone ever talked to the Delta management to see what it is that
> prevents the use of a riving knife on the newer designs?
>
> There have been numerous design modifications to this saw in other
> areas to both improve the design and lower the cost. I am going to
> remove the blade guard after I tune the thing up and install my zero
> clearance insert with an integral splitter which I find safer and more
> convenient to use. A riving knife would be a nice addition. I have
> not examined the trunion area sufficiently to see if it could be
> modified in its design to use a riving knife.
>
> Has anyone ever found an aftermarket riving knife (I DON'T mean the
> numerous splitters of various designs by aftermarket people and
> Delta).

"Bob" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<F%[email protected]>...
> <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > For a complete guard w/riving knife type splitter go here:
> > http://www.leestyron.com/sharkunisaw.php
>
> That's a splitter, not a true riving knife. A riving knife moves up and down
> and tilts with the blade, keeping a constant distance from the blade. This
> requires an under-the-table mechanism that mounts to the arbor and is linked
> to the height adjustment of the blade. Its not trivial and virtually
> impossible to adapt to an American table saw. Its a machine shop job.
>
> Bob


Hi Bob. The guard you see on my site started life as a true riving
knife. The saw it was designed for is the Ryobi BT3100. You won't find
that same riving knife ability on many saws in the US. There are a few
of the lower priced ones. I think the Hybrid saws may incorporate a
riving knife design. Then of course there are the Euro Saws.
In this regard, the Shark Guard actually comes with a riving knife,
but the saw, such as Grizzly 1023 isn't setup to utilize it as such.
Lets put the blame on the saw and not the guard. Its fully prepared to
work as a riving knife. :)
You are correct when you say that making a standard saw adapt riving
knife technology is difficult. There are limitations to what you can
legally do that also narrows any attempts. I think something could be
done electronically, perhaps. Maybe an electric eye of sorts.
In the mean time, I think the design that I have landed on works very
well. It is a full fledged blade guard that is actually easy and
convenient to use . It also offers great dust collection and
anti-kickback protection. Possibly the best I have ever seen on a
non-riving knife table saw. The splitters are full thickness for
thinkerf and thick kerf blades as well. I don't think you will find a
better guard setup anywhere that is as complete and easy to use for
the Grizzly's or Uni's. Enough tooting my horn.
Give it a close look and tell me what you think. The first 5.0 version
has just shipped yesterday and I will have some photo's of it in
action on both a Uni and a Grizzly 1023 in about a week.
Thanks for letting me run on.
Lee

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> For a complete guard w/riving knife type splitter go here:
> http://www.leestyron.com/sharkunisaw.php

That's a splitter, not a true riving knife. A riving knife moves up and down
and tilts with the blade, keeping a constant distance from the blade. This
requires an under-the-table mechanism that mounts to the arbor and is linked
to the height adjustment of the blade. Its not trivial and virtually
impossible to adapt to an American table saw. Its a machine shop job.

Bob

[email protected] (Mutt) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> I feel your pain, but as another poster noted its likely a products
> liability issue with the riving knife design.
>
> However, if you go to a delta dealer, there is a removable splitter
> that is a part of the overhead Uniguard assembly and works
> wonderfully. I bought one from a Delta service center when I lived in
> Charlotte NC; they can look up the part number and will sell it to you
> for about $25 or so, and it works really well, and removes with a
> knurled knob for dado use, etc. It has anti kickback pawls as well.
>

Another option, although I don't think it's a true "riving knife," is
the Biesemeyer removable splitter. I have one (not on a Unisaw), and
like it a lot.
http://www.biesemeyer.com/safety/splitter.htm
Lewis

For a complete guard w/riving knife type splitter go here:
http://www.leestyron.com/sharkunisaw.php From the description it sounds
like you get 2 separate riving knives, the regular one to use with the
"easy off" guard and a shorter one to use when you remove the guard. No
connection to seller, just a happy user of one of his earlier versions of
the sharkguard.

"Eric Anderson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> Has anyone ever found an aftermarket riving knife (I DON'T mean the
> numerous splitters of various designs by aftermarket people and
> Delta).

I chased this for several months and gave up. My conclusion was that the
difficulty is not technical. Its regulatory. It may be related to OSHA, but
I'm no lawyer.

For example, Jet makes a very nice riving knife/blade guard setup for their
Supersaw and sells it in Europe. But they won't sell it in the U.S. I can't
even buy the parts to convert my US made saw to use it.

You're wasting your breath trying to convince US manufacturers to adopt it.
I use shop made inserts and splitters, too. After a while, I convinced
myself they are simple, cheap and work pretty well.

Bob