Radial saw safety guards and barriers

#This is a copending application to Ser. No. 08/031,345 dated Mar. 15, 1993 entitled RADIAL ARM SAW GUARD WITH OPERATIONAL INTERLOCK, and Ser. No. 08,038,681 dated Mar. 15, 1993 entitled INDEPENDENTLY AND JOINTLY OPERABLE RADIAL SAW GUARDS.

#The present invention relates to a radial saw with safety guards and barriers for rip cutting and cross cutting of workpieces, and more particularly, to a radial saw which incorporates blade guards and barriers to enhance the safety and operation of the radial saw.

#Typically, a radial saw is mounted on a supporting arm that overhangs a worktable. The supporting arm is mounted at an upper end of a base or column that extends upwardly from one end of a worktable. A motor driven saw blade is pivotally and slidably mounted to the supporting arm for operating the motor driven saw blade in rip cutting workpieces longitudinally along the length of a rip fence or for cross cutting of workpieces transverse to the rip fence.

#In the drawings, FIG. 1 is an enlarged perspective view of a radial saw employing safety guards and barriers which are constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention;

#FIG. 2 is a slightly reduced in size perspective view of the radial saw shown in FIG. 1 when viewed along an infeed side in a rip cutting operation;

#FIG. 3 is also a similar reduced in size perspective view of the radial saw of FIG. 1 as viewed on an outfeed side in a rip cutting operation;

#The following detailed description illustrates the invention by way of example and not by way of limitation. This description will clearly enable one skilled in the art to make and use the invention, and describes several embodiments, adaptions, variations, alternatives and uses of the invention, including what I presently believe is the best mode of carrying out the invention.

#The radial saw 1 illustrated in the drawings includes a horizontally extending worktable 3 which is supported by a plurality of legs 5, as is well known. Extending upwardly from one side of the worktable 3 is a base or column 7 which mounts a supporting arm 9, that supports a rotatably mounted yoke 19, for moving the radial saw assembly 11 into rip cutting or cross cutting relationship relative to a worktable mounted fence 13. The worktable supported fence 13 can be mounted in the front fence position illustrated in FIG. 1, in a rear fence position (not shown) where the worktable mounted fence 13 is located adjacent the base or column 7 at one edge of the worktable 3 or in a third position between the front and rear positions where the fence 13 is positioned between the rear most and a second of the three sections, shown in the worktable 3 in the drawings.

#When it is desired to operate the radial saw assembly 11 for reducing the width of a workpiece by cutting along its length, the radial saw assembly 11 is positioned relative to the worktable mounted fence as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawings to enable a motor driven saw blade 15 (see FIGS. 2 and 9) to rip cut workpieces longitudinally along the length of the worktable mounted fence 13. Alternatively, when operated in a cross cutting operation, the radial saw assembly 11 is positioned, as illustrated in FIGS. 4-5 of the drawings, to enable the motor driven saw blade 15 to cross cut workpieces transverse to the fence, for cutting a workpiece to length.