Guard and control apparatuses for sliding compound miter saw

A cutting device for performing cutting operations on a workpiece, said cutting device comprising:

• a base assembly for receiving the workpiece;
• a support assembly interconnected with said base assembly;
• a drive assembly including a motor, an arbor shaft rotatable about an arbor axis, and a cutting tool driven by said motor about said arbor shaft, said drive assembly being pivotally interconnected with said support assembly for selective pivotal movement of said motor and said cutting tool relative to said support assembly between an at-rest position wherein said cutting tool is out of engagement with the workpiece when the workpiece is on said base assembly and an operational position wherein said cutting tool is in a cutting engagement with the workpiece when the workpiece is on said base assembly;
• and
• a guard assembly including a fixed guard partially surrounding a cutting periphery of said cutting tool and a movable guard, said fixed guard being fixedly interconnected with said drive assembly, and said movable guard being pivotally interconnected with said drive assembly for pivotal movement about said arbor shaft between a closed position surrounding a predetermined portion of the cutting periphery of said cutting tool and an open position covering a lesser portion of the cutting periphery of said cutting tool than when in said closed position, said guard assembly further including a linkage assembly for drivingly moving said movable guard between said closed and said open positions as said drive assembly is moved between said at-rest and said operational positions, respectively, said guard assembly further including a return spring resiliently biasing said movable guard toward said closed position, said return spring being a torsional coil spring surrounding said arbor shaft, said torsional coil spring having one end interconnected with said drive assembly at a fixed location thereon and an opposite end interconnected with said movable guard at a fixed location thereon, said torsional coil spring radially expanding when said drive assembly is moved toward said operational position and radially contracting when said drive assembly is moved away from said operational position, said torsional coil spring being circumferentially contained within a spring enclosure on said drive assembly, said spring enclosure surrounding said arbor shaft and being radially offset relative thereto with a larger radial portion of said spring enclosure relative to said arbor shaft being oriented toward an opposite side of said arbor shaft away from the workpiece when said drive assembly is moved into said operational position and a smaller radial portion of said spring enclosure relative to said arbor shaft being oriented toward the workpiece when said drive assembly is moved into said operational position, said spring enclosure thereby allowing for greater radial expansion of said torsional coil spring in a direction away from the workpiece than in a direction toward the workpiece when said drive assembly is moved into said operational position.