Safe Table Saw

[Neal Moore]

I was at our local Woodcraft Store signing books this weekend and saw a live demonstration of a really great table saw. Just thought some of our members might be interested. Check out this link and click on the "hot dog" video. This thing works just as advertised!! http://www.sawstop.com The blade stops, and drops below the plane of the table within a fraction of a millisecond upon contact with skin. The blade is destroyed as is the electronic module that activates it.....but the finger or hand is barely nicked!!! I saw the actual demo and this thing really works!!!

[owler]

I must be really cheap because my fist thought was "wow - that would be expensive to fix the broken parts".

Reasonability set in shortly thereafter.

[Jediscroller]

Neal,
I've read about this saw for several years. One of the magazines did a test run on it and it did in fact work as advertised and then some. Seems wood with a high moisture content would occasionally trigger the mechanism. Considering the cost of a blade at $100+ and a good Dado in the range of $300 I think I'll stick to being cautious, hehehe. One thing that does bother me about the company is that before they actually introduced it to market they approached the government to try and make it mandatory.

[sheltiecarver]

Owler,
I saw one of those saws about a month ago demonstrated at an open house. It worked really well - I saw the demo 3 times - twice it didn't even nick the hot dog, and once it barely cut the skin. That would have been a bit bloody, but no digits would have been lost. I, too, immediately thought about what a large cost! (Although losing a finger or two is an altogether rather large cost!!) I spoke with the demonstrator (a very able and knowledgable woman) and she said that so far, the company is replacing the module free, if you tell them your story. Apparently, it doesn't happen as much as I might have imagined, but maybe that has to do with the caliber of woodworkers who would spend that much on a table saw in the first place. The gizmo doesn't work as a retrofit to any other saws, and their saw itself is pretty expensive. She was using a cheap blade - but those can get pretty pricey, too - I've seen some as expensive as my whole saw! (Well, not my SCROLL saw - but that is a different animal!!)

[lucky788scroller]

If you search on line a little, there is a demo on this saw using a hot dog instead of a finger. One other thing to note, since its costly when it does stop the saw, is that the moisture content in the wood can also trigger it to lock up the blade. I can see that being not only costly, but a real PITA. The best safety feature with any tool is common sense. And, no, Im far from perfect, I also have plenty scars, and had a mishap on a TS once too. Dale

[CanadianScroller]

The same saw was demonstrated at the woodshow I just attended.
I am not sure of the cost of the saw, or the replacement aluminum brake, which is self destructive.
There is also the blade that is lost .
What amazed me more than anything was all the people complaining that the saw blade was ruined and it was expensive to replace the blade.

I could not believe that people did not see the benefit of keeping fingers.
My brother in-law works in a mill where the cost of compensation claims is really high. This is where I could see this being practical. Where people are under pressure to meet quotas and neglect the safety precautions.

Stereotypical comment goes here:

If computer shows are full of nerds with pocket protectors and toilet paper on their shoes, then woodwork shows have galoots with flannel shirts and bandages on their fingers

I think the concept of the saw that will stop when body capacitance pulls a charge off the blade is a wonderful idea. Oh I think Nerd just met Galoot and we have achieved nirvana.

[Marcel in Longueuil]

Yes the saw is expensive, but my fingers are worth a hell of a lot more to me! Just in future salary loss, not including the pain and therapy and emotional as well as physical scars .

And the saw is well engineered to boot (I would likely get one if I was in the market for a saw).

If you visit the website and read the comments about the people that actually have had fingers saved by the device you will see why it actually makes good common sense as a safety device.

It should be mandatory on all new saws but the lobying is too strong right now: manufaturers would rather have you loose your limbs since they don't pay your insurance coverage, but they would have to spend money to modify their assembly lines if it did become a mandatory safety requirement.

And if you think you don't need this kind of safety because you're too smart... then you're not as smart as you think: accidents do happen, for whatever reasons, and many people get hurt every year severely. Some of these injuries could be prevented with this device.


As for Kevin's comment on the false positives detected:
Two simple solutions you can combine
1: get a moisture meter they are around a 100$ (or less) and are actually usefull in the shop
2: there is a switch on the saw if you find that the content is too hign that lets you turn off the safety temporarely

[lucky788scroller]

[quote=
It should be mandatory on all new saws but the lobying is too strong right now: [U]manufaturers would rather have you loose your limbs since they don't pay your insurance coverage[/u], but they would have to spend money to modify their assembly lines if it did become a mandatory safety requirement.


Come on, do you honestly think ANY company would rather you lost a limb then provide a safe piece of equipment?At the costs this feature involves,they would not be able to put tablesaws in the shops like mine, because I simply cant afford it. What I can afford is common sense, and the time to think over real well each cut I make, something that should be done with any tool, every time! edit :One other note.. What did you do with your blade guard/holddown on your scrollsaw?What would stop you from doing the same with this safety feature?

Our local Woodcrafters has one on display. $3500 - $4000, I'm for safty... but not at that price.

[bearfretworks]

Gotta go with lucky788 on this one.......

I've seen Sawstop in action and it is pretty neat! BUT, it would have to come down substantially in price for me to even consider it. No matter what built in safety features there are, my most important "safety feature" is the one atop my shoulders........