The Exactor EXOA-2 over-arm blade cover/dust collector will add a reassuring element of safety to your table saw. Its built-Inch dust collection capability means you breathe cleaner air while you work. The EXOA-2 blade cover is counterbalanced at the rear so that it does not block your line of sight. The top and sides are equipped with shatterproof plastic panels for clear vision. With the blade cover in place, the saw blade can be as close as 1/4-Inch from the saw's rip fence. To change saw blades or to work on the saw, you can simply swing the boom and blade cover out of the way. The telescopic boom adjusts to allow positioning the saw's rip fence up to 70-Inch from the saw blade. To crosscut stock longer than the distance between the saw blade and the vertical mast, the top section of the mast and the lightweight aluminum boom easily disconnect without tools. Installation is easy. The vertical mast is adjustable to the height of your saw table. The hollow aluminum boom is 4-Inch in diameter for attaching your dust collection system. A flexible hose connects the other end of the boom to the top of the blade cover. With 600 CFM of air this efficient built-Inch dust collection capability will gather the dust and small chips that are thrown into the air by the revolving saw blade.
Owner Reviews, Ratings, Comments and Criticism
In all of my many years of woodworking and struggling to control dust and wood chips from various machinery and tools in my shop, I find it puzzling that my table saw was the last machine on my list to refine. Perhaps I was thinking that somehow the dust port on the backside of my Powermatic 66 cabinet saw was enough? One would think that getting sprayed time after time with fine powdery dust from the top side of the table would be enough to indicate that there was problem and a potential health hazard. Well, the wake-up call finally came just after I finished a large project and I was left to cleanup one of the biggest messes that my shop had ever been in. I finally realized that the table saw was really the biggest dust culprit and that something had to be done to reduce the mess. I had been looking at similar products (Excalibur, Pennstate, etc) on the market for some time, but the high price tag just did not seem to be justifiable. Not to mention the fact that this was something that appeared to be big, clumsy and always in the way. I decided that it was time to take the plunge and to set aside the inconveniences. After reading several positive reviews about the Exaktor model EX0A-2, I decided to give it a try. I ordered the EXOA-2 unit from Amazon and it arrived at my place of business within a few days. I got an excellent price on it and I actually got excited about the purchase despite the fact that this was not a new tool for the shop. That may sound crazy, but cleaning up and dealing with all that wood dust was a proverbial beating. I am a one man shop and the less time that I spend sweeping and cleaning the better! I unpacked the unit and right away I noticed that it had sustained some damage from shipping. There were several parts including the telescoping tube assembly and the support mast that were dented and scratched up. My first thought was that the unit was not packaged correctly and that the blame rested squarely on the shoulders of the manufacturer. I say this because the aluminum tubing assembly was just floating freely with the two steel mast parts which were only separated by some cardboard spacers. I decided to go ahead with the installation and hammer out the dents, due to the fact that I needed to get my shop back up and running. I proceeded with the installation which continued to have some minor annoyances which included having to drill out some of the holes in the square tubing parts which had some burrs and paint preventing the shoulder bolts and button head screws from passing. When I came to attaching the guard basket assembly, I encountered a problem with the angle that the dust port had been secured to the top of the basket. This caused some adjustability issues with the basket which did not permit it to slide up and down the mounting track. Once again, I decided to continue on with the installation and to put Exaktor's customer service to the test come Monday morning. The installation went smooth considering the issues that I had. Tearing apart a portion of the spiral pipe and ductwork on my system and making room for the unit was a time consuming matter. Since I have a 60 inch fence on my Powermatic 66, I had to fabricate a 9" X 28" end panel so that the Exaktor unit could be mounted. They provided a special mounting brace and some mounting hardware which I discarded. I opted to mount the mast to a ¾" piece of plywood and used some heavy duty chain and a turnbuckle assembly to fasten the lower mast to the leg of the saw's table. This worked out great as I have my saw on a mobile base. The saw and the blade guard can easily be moved without any hassles. After I got the unit secured, leveled out and connected to my dust collection system, I was very impressed with how well it worked and operated. This is a very well thought out and engineered piece of equipment. The whole thing is made out of aluminum with the exception of the support mast which is made out of steel. It is very sturdy and seems to be perfectly balanced over my saw blade. I made several test cuts at various widths and angles and the unit is a breeze to operate. It is really nice not to be pelted with saw dust every time that I make a cut. This model has a removable rear panel that allows the guard basket to be used with or without a splitter. I have always been safety conscious and having both the guard and splitter is very reassuring. The guard basket and boom can easily be removed or swung out of the way when necessary. The instruction booklet is very basic and is adequate to assemble the unit, but it would have been nice to see some alternate installation and setup suggestions. If I had it to do over, I would install two separate blast gates on my main 6" pipe run, one for the bottom cabinet and one for the EXOA-2. As it stands now, I am running both connections on one blast gate off of a 5" spiral pipe branch. Although it works just fine, it would probably be more efficient the other way. I sent an email to Exaktor and they promptly responded to my issues and sent me out a whole new unit. Despite the issues that I encountered, I am very pleased with the EXOA-2 and I highly recommend it to anyone who owns and operates a table saw. Wood dust is not something to be taken lightly and this product is an excellent investment to create a dust free shop.
