Prazzi beam install

I just bought a skilsaw mag 77 worm drive. I also bought a prazzi beam cutter attachment for it. A note with the beam cutter said that the skilsaw blade guard must be removed for install which looks to be a pain. When fully covering the blade, the guard swoops up towards the foot plate and this small section of the guard is in the way of the beam cutter sitting flush. Can I trim a little off the guard instead of removing to allow the attachment to seat properly? Will this somehow affect the performance of the saw when the regular blade is used? Thanks for any input.

That saw is awesome. I have one and it rocks. I have never used a Prazi before, but have heard good things about them. I would like to know how you like because I want to get one.

Personally I would remove the blade gaurd instead of trimming it. It will not effect your work when you use the saw with a regular blade, but it also will not provide as much safety when using the 7 1/4″ blade. Not sure if your union or not, but some sites will not let you use a tool that has been tampered with in regards to the safety. Again it will not affect the useage of the saw as long as the gaurd can still move freely.

You should be able to trim the gaurd with no problems. See if you can find a scamatics of the saw, if not email Skil. Sometimes it looks harder than it is to remove something. Looking at the layout might give you a better idea of how to remove the gaurd easy.

You should be able to remove the lower guard on the Skil HD77 with no problem. Here is how I do it.

Take the blade off.

Take the snap ring off (on the arbor hub). Figure #36

Take the guard bumper stop off. Figure #35

Release the foot lever all the way down.

Pull up on the guard, twisting it back and forth.

Should come right off.

Remove guard spring.

Here is the schematic for the Skil HD 77 for additional help and a visual. http://www.toolsandmachinery.com/index.php?cPath=3210_3232_3287_3678.

Good luck!

Thanks for the replies.