The Excalibur Overarm Blade Cover is a protective device as well as a dust collector. My acquisition of a dust collector was a step in the right direction, but it does not do a complete job. This Overarm for the table saw is necessary to collect all the dust flying off of the top of the blade, especially since my table saw doesn't have an enclosed cabinet underneath the table. This page details some of the assembly steps. The manual that comes with the unit is reasonably good, but there were some steps that left me scratching my head. This article is mostly intended as a supplement to the manual. The unit does not come with any tools, so you must provide your own allen wrenches, pliers, socket wrenches, drill, wood screws for connecting to the extension table, pencil, and some clamps.

Some assembly required...



The first step is to install the support leg. As you can see in the photo, two screws bolt directly to the extension table, and the leg, in our case, rests on the mobile base. In the photo it is temporarily held in place with a clamp.



Next came a complex step which is to attach the diagonal braces between the leg and the extension table. Here is a photo of the final assembly of one of these diagonal braces. The part shown is the part that connects to the underside of the extension table.



The overarm assembly is getting ready to be installed. You can see the diagonal braces of the leg already installed.



This turned out to be the most difficult step. The square tube shown in the photo is firmly pressed against the bottom tube of the overarm. The pressure is exerted by the handle. The problem was that the handle couldn't be threaded up into the square tube. I removed the tube from the table, and using much WD-40 and an incredible amount of upper body strength I was able to finally get the bolt with the plastic handle into the thread welded on to the tube. I suspect that the thread was tapped before the cylindrical piece was welded on to the square tube. When it was being welded, it probably shrank the threaded hole enough to not allow the bolt to thread in easily.



I found it easiest to fully open up the swing arm before connecting the arm to the cover plate.



The last step is to place the blade cover assembly on the overarm and to install the dust collection hose that comes with the unit. The necessary hose clamps are provided as well.



Here are some final photos of the assembled unit.







Here's the final set-up with the dust collector attached.