Hasta La Ideas

Inventor Dino Makropoulos, who has spent years working on his Eurekazone Track Saw system, has recently developed a pair of new product designs that potentially obviate the need for the track. His new UEG, or Universal Edge Guide, is an attachment for a circular saw that enables the quick, safe breakdown of sheet goods, via a rail that rides along the factory edge of the sheet. And not only that: As Makropoulos is obsessed with user safety, he’s introduced a design element in the saw base that makes kickback just about impossible.

Don’t believe us? Watch this insane video (and please kids, do NOT try this at home) where Dino purposely tries to create kickback with a circular saw, both with and without his UEG attachment:

Now in the first two attempts in the video, where the saw is not fitted with the anti-kickback base, the only reason the saw doesn’t fly out of Dino’s hands is because he’s a pro carpenter and has been for years. NONE OF YOU SHOULD EVER ATTEMPT THAT—he’s done it for demonstration purposes only. In the hands of a novice or even a pro that’s just not paying close attention, a kickback can cause grievous injury.

As the latter half of the video demonstrates, by fitting the base of the UEG with a stiff plastic fin well aft of the blade, he has made it virtually impossible for kickback to happen.

Here’s another example of something you’d never try with an ordinary circular saw:

For those that don’t understand why cutting a plywood sheet sideways without a UEG would be insane, I’ll explain: As you make the cut across the sheet, the sawblade leaves a kerf—a slot the same width as the blade thickness—behind it. As your cut progresses, the weight of the top part of the plywood will sag towards the lower half—closing the kerf and causing a potentially vicious, saw-hurling kickback. With the fin that Dino’s installed, it is impossible for the kerf to close around the blade. Which means no kickback. (For those of you saying “riving knife,” read the Q&A below.)

The other thing you’ll spot if you watch that video closely: During the last cut, as Dino gets towards the end, the wood accidentally shifts sideways. Ordinarly that would be a recipe for disaster, but the steadying effect of the edge guide working in conjunction with the fin precludes any potential kickback.

We caught up with Dino for a quick Q&A on the new design:

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