Today, July 30th, It has been almost exactly four months since I tore my Rotator Cuff and it has been three months today since the surgery.

Last night was the first time I have pushed a board through my table saw since it happened. Let me tell you it was great to be able to do something again. Not completely healed and still got a long way to go, but I am getting there. I have seven more therapy sessions to try to build my strength in the arm and they have told me it will take me a year to be to the point I don't think about it. So enough of that.

While I was unable to do an woodworking I purchased some things to make some changes on the dust collection in my shop. I already had tools connected to the dust collector with PVC drain pipe as my transport pipe. But when making cutting board I was making a lot of dust from the top of the table saw blade. I would be covered in dust and the floor in front of the saw was covered in dust and even things behind me were covered in dust.

I have dust collection coming off the bottom of the UniSaw and even with a ZCI I still got dust up in my face. The blade guard was long gone from this saw when I purchased it so there was nothing on top. I thought about making one and one of our members did so and it looked great. Since I was at a point I couldn't make anything and I wanted it to be ready when I could I decided to purchase one.

When you are looking at collecting the dust from the top of the table all kind of things get in the way so where do you put this thing. I have the 52" fence on the UniSaw so that means it has be way over there. Well I didn't give a lot of thought to bracing until it got here and we started to remove it from the box. This think is heavy. Metal, not PVC pipe. So I added a 2" angle iron under the end of my extension table to bolt the unit to and add some support to spread the weight around. It has two support arms that go up under the extension table and mount there. I have them mounted now, but I intend to change out this piece of Melamine so I did to a lot of extra there except add a couple of blocks of wood to be me a longer screw and more thread to hold.

I would advise you have an extra set of hands when you to to mount this so you can get it good and square. The nice part is the unit has a lock on the back side you can loosen and swivel it out of the way, or lift it off completely and the post are below the height of the table so you could cross cut and be wider than your 52" table.

I put in a 4" "Y" at the base of the table on the dust run that was going to the bottom of the saw and took a 4" flex hose up and connected it to the bottom of the Excalibur. It come with the clear piece of flex to mount to the other end and connect to the guard.

By loosening the tension on the head it allows it to float. So it is sitting on the table top, but as you feed the board it it lifts and rides on top of the board. You get the best dust collection in this mode. The closer it is to the board being cut the better it picks up. You can raise the hood and lock it in a position above the blade. The arm also can be moved in and out to accommodate different size cuts. That was the only place I really had a problem with it. I was cutting a piece 3/4" wide and squaring the edges with the table saw. being able to get your push stick through the small gap and not push the cover over into you blade can be tight. I didn't get it into the blade but I could see that you could do that pretty easy. Wider cuts were no problem.

So how did it do on the dust. Well it didn't get 100% of it, but I didn't have dust in my face and very little out in front on my clothes and on the floor. Most times in the past I looked like at sawdust figurine.  

The Excalibur is available from WOODCRAFT and the cost is 399.99. I believe it is well worth it for me. I know I may never catch all the dust at every tool, but the more I catch and don't breath, the better my lungs will be.

I have a little bit of tweaking to do on mine and I think it will get even more than I was pulling off last night.

Everything you need to connect it is in the box except for the extra bracing you might need to do depending on your extension table setup. It also listed wrenches you needed, but the bolts and nuts in mine box were not standard but metric and it didn't list metric. No problem but I got out what it called for and then had to go back and swap for the metric sizes.

---

John Moody
Site Administrator


John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

That is a great looking set up you got there John. After seeing your shop in person, I know that will really help to keep the dust down. That and the other changes you have made to your drop down collection at your other tools is really going to make things much nicer when you get back into production mode.

---

Allen Worsham
Corona, CA

allenworsham@earthlink.net

'Graze in every man's field, but always give your own milk.'
J. Vernon McGee

“Our greatest fear should not be that we won’t succeed,
but that we will succeed at something that doesn’t matter.â€
D.L. Moody

Thanks Allen, it really did make a difference last night. Beth was with me in the shop and I did cut some boards, just took it easy.

She is helping me still and making sure I don't do anything that I shouldn't.

She makes a really good helper and good company in the shop!

She's not a yuppie wife.

---

John Moody
Site Administrator


John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

You know, John, you gotta stop putting up pictures and comments that your wife Beth is helping you in the shop. Now Tami is asking to help in the shop as well since you let Beth do it. That is really not cool bro!!

---

Allen Worsham
Corona, CA

allenworsham@earthlink.net

'Graze in every man's field, but always give your own milk.'
J. Vernon McGee

“Our greatest fear should not be that we won’t succeed,
but that we will succeed at something that doesn’t matter.â€
D.L. Moody

Allen,

Allen Worsham said:

You know, John, you gotta stop putting up pictures and comments that your wife Beth is helping you in the shop. Now Tami is asking to help in the shop as well since you let Beth do it. That is really not cool bro!!

---

Allen Worsham
Corona, CA

allenworsham@earthlink.net

'Graze in every man's field, but always give your own milk.'
J. Vernon McGee

“Our greatest fear should not be that we won’t succeed,
but that we will succeed at something that doesn’t matter.â€
D.L. Moody

Great review John, excellent writing.

The overarms are the way to go, for the folks who are non believer's in blade guards, there really is no excuse not have one with the overarm, unless of course cost is a factor.

But I love mine, as you said John, just swing it out of the way or telescope it back into the larger housing to get it out of the way for taller cuts.

I'll get this review up in our tools review page tonight.

Great job John!!!

---

John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

Now that's one sweet piece of equipment!

---

Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time Traveler and Purveyor of the Universe's Finest Custom Rolling Pins!

The dust collector or my helper?

Lewis Kauffman said:

Now that's one sweet piece of equipment!

---

Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time Traveler and Purveyor of the Universe's Finest Custom Rolling Pins!

John,

Which do you think?

John Moody said:

The dust collector or my helper?

Lewis Kauffman said:

---

John Moody
Site Administrator


John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

John - you got me all excited for a minute - thought you had gotten into scroll sawing ! ! ! !

That is some setup.  With only a hose on the bottom of mine, it keeps 90% of the dust away - your setup could get that other 10%.  If I was doing a lot more table saw work, I would go for it.  As it is, I don't do enough to justify the cost - but - will keep it mind.  Thanks for the update

---

Fred
aka Pop's Shop
www.pops-shop.com
'Soooooo many patterns - sooooo little time'
Scroll Saw Forum Host

Sorry I busted your bubble Fred. I didn't even think about the Excalibur Scroll saw with I titled this.

Fred Wilson said:

John - you got me all excited for a minute - thought you had gotten into scroll sawing ! ! ! !

That is some setup.  With only a hose on the bottom of mine, it keeps 90% of the dust away - your setup could get that other 10%.  If I was doing a lot more table saw work, I would go for it.  As it is, I don't do enough to justify the cost - but - will keep it mind.  Thanks for the update

---

Fred
aka Pop's Shop
www.pops-shop.com
'Soooooo many patterns - sooooo little time'
Scroll Saw Forum Host

This great review can now be found at Tool Reviews. Thanks again John!

---

John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker