Belt Guard

New woodworking machines these days come with guards around the drive belts to protect the user from harm. But when you find a used machine it may no longer have one, if it ever did. It's quick and easy to make one if you have a band or scroll saw. The stack laminated, brick laid design of this guard is very sturdy and looks good too. The weekend or so it takes to make it is little price to pay for security of mind you'll get for the safety of your fingers- and those of others.

Photo 1-Measure the distance between pulley centers on your machine, as well as the pulley diameters.

Knotty pine is a good choice of wood to use to make your guard because it's inexpensive and works easily. But this is also a good project for making use of all those short cutoffs you've gathered. For the flat face 1/4" Baltic birch plywood is a good choice because it's strong, but it's expensive and any scrap plywood will fill the bill.

Photo 2-Locate the pulley centers on plywood, then draw the pulleys and the guard walls that surround them with a compass.

Custom design the dimensions of your guard to match your machine. Measure the distance between shaft centers (photo 1), as well as the diameters of the pulleys themselves. Then, on the plywood that will be the face of the guard, locate the shaft centers and draw three circles around each with a compass (photo 2). The first circle is the diameter of the pulley. Make the second circle at a one inch greater radius; this represents the inside of the guard wall.

Photo 3-Connect the outer circles to complete the shape of the guard.

Make the third circles at 3/4" more in radius than the second; this represents the outside of the guard wall. Draw tangent lines between the outside circles (photo 3) to complete drawing the outer perimeter of the guard face.

Photo 4-Cut out the guard face from the plywood on a band or scroll saw.

Cut out the guard face on a band or scroll saw (photo 4). Use it to determine the lengths of straight pieces you will need to build the layered walls of the guard. Make these pieces a few inches long at first so that you can overlap them in bricklaid fashion with the intersecting curved pieces. Rip out the needed straight pieces on the table saw (photo 5) at 3/4 inches wide.

Photo 5-Rip 3/4" wide strips for the straight portions of the guard walls.