Harvey blade cover

[thewalnutguy]

I love my SawStop table saw, but I've never been overly impressed by the optional blade cover/dust pickup. Big complaint with the unit is that the dust extraction left a lot to be desired, and a lot of sawdust on the table or thrown at me. I've got a 2 hp Oneida Dust Gorilla cyclone, so should have an adequate amount of suction, but the adaptor that comes with the blade cover is a simple "T" connection. Connecting the host for the blade cover to a shop vacuum increases the performance of dust extraction, but then I've got the screaming shop vac adding to the noise level of the Oneida. When tipping the blade to 60 degrees, twice I've had the blade catching the plastic blade within the blade cover. I know, it's not supposed to happen, but twice it has, and the blade makes short work of the plastic.  And a big complaint is that the blade cover/duct collector cannot be used in non-through cuts, such as dadoes.  There's little debris until the dado set starts to clear the trailing end of the material. And when making a second pass, such as when making a dado in exactly the center of the material, the blade will send chips flying out of the open end of the dado on the second pass.  The blade cover can be lifted off the material easily when in use, reducing its effectiveness as a safety factor. 
With the above concerns, I ended up ordering a Harvey blade cover, and so far I've been quite impressed by it. It's effective in dust pickup for all cuts, even non-through dado cuts. First drawback is that it's far from cheap, although I see that the price had been reduced by $100 by the time it was actually delivered, but my cost was not reduced. The installation was fairly straight forward, although it took much of the day to get it installed. The instructions were generally good, although I got a chuckle out of the comments stating "the screws are pre-attached to..." when actually the screws were included in little plastic bags, separate bag for each set of screws.  Some of the components are quite heavy (the entire assembly is 110 pounds), and for some of the installation steps a second person to help would have made the job quite a bit easier. One of the steps directed that the stud be rotated counter-clockwise to make the connection, which would have been correct if it had left-hand threads. And I have nobody but myself to blame for incorrectly placing the connection bolt holes in the table saw's back rail, which will mean that I'll next have to disassemble most of the  unit, drill another set of holes, and then put everything back together.  The unit seems to be very substantially built, and provides a clear barrier to body parts touching the blade which is fully enclosed within the cover. There are two downsides to the Harvey blade cover. The first is that it has no anti-kickback pawls such as on the stock SawStop cover. I've ordered Harvey's universal anti-kickback unit, which has not yet been delivered. It will also provide a firm pressure to hold material being ripped against the fence. And I think the unit should be offered in two sizes. The unit is for both a 30" and a 50" table width from the blade. In my case, this means that the end of the arm extends over part of a nearby lumber storage shelf. At some point I'll be taking the dust arm off the saw and then to a machine shop to reduce its length and tap new holes in the end to attach the hose connection boot.  The unit was securely packaged in a very substantial reinforced carbdoard shipping carton, but somehow one of the small plastic parts inside the boot was broken, although this did not render the unit unusable. I sent an email to Harvey yesterday with a picture of the broken part, and received a reply today with tracking link for the replacement part which they've now sent. Can't ask for quicker response than that.

[Handplanesandmore]

Big complaint with the unit is that the dust extraction left a lot to be desired, and a lot of sawdust on the table or thrown at me. I've got a 2 hp Oneida Dust Gorilla cyclone, so should have an adequate amount of suction, but the adaptor that comes with the blade cover is a simple "T" connection.

The 90* connection is indeed the culprit. sawstop must know about it from user feedback, but clueless why it has done nothing about it.

Changing it to a 45* connection will see immediate improvement. But an effective economical alternative is to hook up the overblade guard tube to a separate shop vac unless one has a 5HP dust collector. With a shop vac attached, absolutely sawdust free cuts........except for edge cuts.

Simon

[Tapper]

Is there a real problem with a coffee cup sitting temporarily on a tablesaw?

Doug

[kurt18947]

Is there a real problem with a coffee cup sitting temporarily on a tablesaw?

Doug

I think the problem comes with condensation and rust. I'd think that a cold drink with condensation on the outside would be more of an issue.

[greenacres2]

I think the problem comes with condensation and rust. I'd think that a cold drink with condensation on the outside would be more of an issue.

Hot will cause condensation as well--especially at high humidity when the cup is picked up.  Then there's the dribbles down the side.  And...at least for me...Murphy's law that says if an item that should not get wet is within 6' of a beverage i'm holding, that item will get wet.  
earl

[Tapper]

Jeez, let's "overanalyze" this coffee cup thing to death! I put coffee cups on things in my shop every day I'm down there. If something spills or dribbles on a metal surface I clean it off. My SS PCS has a few scratches and stains from who knows what? Its a shop and is treated as such.

Doug

[Handplanesandmore]

I once caused a rusty spot on my sawstop because of a water drop left on it (not because of condensation from a cup). The spot mark stays forever.

I bring my cup of tea to the shop but never leave it on any metal surface. Who knows? I could knock down the cup. The workbench is where the cup sits on.

Simon

[camp10]

Wow, a thread on the Harvey Overarm Dust device that spans a couple pages!  Oh, wait, it's mostly about a coffee cup (and I don't drink coffee).

I do have the Harvey and thought I'd add my 2 cents. I had to get serious about dust collection when I went from a standalone shop to the basement.  I added a Onieda V System, but still had a lot of fine dust thrown from the gullets of the blade.  It went back toward the operator and the workbench and tool cabinet had a fine coating.

Overall, I'd give the Harvey a thumbs up.  It has eliminated the fine dust.  And it does protect my fingers.    As you can see, it comes with an extra side 'bubble' clear plastic guard.  It's meant for miters.  But once I installed it, I haven't put the other one back on.  It hasn't affected my cutting and it's a good reminder to keep fingers far away.

Other pluses:  It moves easily out of the way for tenon cuts and narrow rips (I can go down to about 1 1/8" with it in place.)  It moves up and down easily to adjust for the thickness of the wood.  Overall, it's a well made piece of equipment.

Downsides?  It cost around $800, probably more now.  And like the OP mentioned,  it does stick out a ways past the end of the side table.  Even the 50"

During my research, it seemed like overarm guards each had a different set of pros/cons. For me, the Harvey had more pros than cons.

[attachment=42373]

[thewalnutguy]

Do my eyes deceive me, or is that a coffee cup sitting on your table saw?!!!

the cup was holding small hardware parts such as screws and nuts involved with fastening the top of the table behind the saw to the rear rail of the saw. The saw had to be disconnected from the table to mount the support arm of the blade cover to the rear rail of the saw.

[Admiral]

Just checking   


They do make good small parts holders.

Looking good with the new addition to the table saw.

 I like these at HF, cheap and effective:  https://www.harborfreight.com/4-inch-mag...90566.html

https://www.harborfreight.com/6-in-magne...rts+holder