I'm sad to hear the Merlin Splitter is no longer sold. I bought mine about ten years back. It's mounted on my left tilt Unisaw and I wouldn't be without it. Since installing it, I've never had a kick back, but have experienced MANY occasions in which the wood became extremely difficult to push.
It's well built and I've only had to adjust it a couple times. Except for the quick release (a push button), it'd be easy to duplicate. The spliter could be cut from metal stock using a saber saw and the rest of the stock could be fashioned from round stock. Any good machinist could thread it and make the plates.
Anyway, it was a bargain at a couple hundred back then.