Ahh, but does it take a hard shove of a finger or just a light touch? From the description of the sawstop, it just takes a light touch. With that in mind, it's not as unbelievably stupid as one would know they are only risking a slight piece of fleshy skin.
Yeah there is ... it's called "manufacturer's liability insurance".
cost of cartridge was about $80 and replacing it was a DIY project of very short duration. (they could do it in a few minutes - they did a demo every hour on the same saw). Sawblades were said to not be destroyed - maybe loose a couple of carbide teeth. If it were to happen with my WWII, then I would hang it on the wall as a reminder and gladly shell out for a new one. (now if it was a misfire, then it would be a different story)
Since my day job invloves keeping people asleep while the hand surgeons try to sew fingers back on, I can easily justify this device for my shop. About once a week I see someone cut off fingers. (My worst week ever I personally took care of 8 severe hand injuries in 5 days) If you think a couple hundred dollars is too much for this product, and that $80 for a cartridge is out of line, then you would really be shocked at the hospital bill if you ever have the misfortune to have a bad accident and you and your fingers go to the hospital in different vehicles. My insurance.... $150 for the ambulance ride, $150 ER copay, surgery would be free, $40 copay for each specialist, each visit (think of a couple of months of physical therapy @ $40 a pop), $25 for each prescription; then add in a pain factor, loss of wages, loss of use, and the 20% copay that I almost forgot about for several days in the hospital. Sawstop is pretty cheap insurance after all (IMHO - YMMV).
and if/when I do get a SS, I'll still be super careful around it - as I am now with all of my shop tools.
BTW... I keep a picture of a mangled hand right next to the on/off switch on the TS just as a reminder. (posted to APW or APBW a few years back)
I guess with that in mind that is not as unbelievably stupid for a person to point a loaded gun, with his finger on the trigger, at his foot as to look down the barrel.
The better way to demonstrate the saw stop is to simply touch the "SIDE" of the blade. The part with no teeth. ;~)
Certainly $200 for a new cartridge and blade is EXTREMELY cheap insurance to guard against a "serious" injury. You or your employeer pay way more than that monthly for health insurance.
Exactly. And the scary part is that the people that believe that proper use of your brain is going to prevent these kind of accidents are the ones that probably need the Saw Stop the most. There are countless ways to be seriousely injured with a TS while "not" cutting wood and IMHO that is when your mental guard will be less effective.
No argument there, but then the demonstration wouldn't have near as much sales impact and that's the whole purpose by doing it, isn't it?
Hell, if I could float a business advertising campaign by slicing a little chunk of skin from a finger while recording it for posterity with an on camera record, then call me crazy, but I'd probably do it. Just don't ask me to do it repeatedly. :)
IMHO I believe it would have the same impact.
Yeah, showing a recorded vidio of a finger being nicked would be good along with a live demonstration of touching the side of the blade. I would not recomend doing either very often. Eventually something terribly wrong might happen.
CRNA or MD?
My wife is a CRNA, although no longer practicing.
- - LRod
Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite
Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999
Upscale responds:
If it works as expected.
Charlie Self "He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." Sir Winston Churchill
Leon responds:
It's also going to get expensive with a cartridge and blade for each "test". Not to mention any other damage to the saw the SawStop might cause by being repeatedly put through its paces.
Charlie Self "He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." Sir Winston Churchill
Great quantification to justify the real-world cost of this product. If and when it ever becomes available for my Jet cabinet saw - it will be installed.
Bob S.
Neither - I'm an AA-C (Anesthesiologist Assistant) Closer to a CRNA than an MD. We have about a dozen CRNAs in our group though, along with about 45 AAs.
Are you claiming that you can brake better in bad conditions than ABS can? Can you describe specifically what condition you believe this to be true for?
My biggest problem with the SawStop folks is that they continue to not sell something that they also want to force everyone to use, while locking others out from making it. That and I'm not convinced it'll work.
I doubt that there's ever going to be a retrofit kit available. If that was doable at reasonable cost and effort I'm sure the Sawstop people would have gone that route rather than trying to break into an established market with a new line of saws.
From what I've heard of the SS, that might be risky. Doesn't the blade drop under the table at the same time it stops? If that's true, you could get cut from the edge of a tooth as it's on it's way down.
David
Le>
Perhaps we've actually found a good use for those Harbor Freight saw blades. There's nothing that says he has to use a $200 Forrest blade for the demo.
Is that what they actually done? My understanding is that they've tried to license the technology, and no one was interested (the reason for that could be a long topic in itself). That's hardly keeping others from making it. Yes, the thing is patented up the wazoo, but I assume that most people here believe in capitalism and the right of an inventor to make money on an invention.
As far as forcing everyone to use it, they demonstrated that the technology exists and asked for legislation to make such a safety device be mandatory on table saws. Assuming that such a law was passed, it seems reasonable that the manufacturers of table saws could find alternate methods of accomplishing the same thing. If you remember, the auto companies claimed that they could not raise gas mileage on their vehicles until they were told that they had to.
Whether it works or not, only time will tell. If you've seen the videos, they are very compelling. Going back to the auto industry, there were a lot of doubters about air bags when they were first introduced, but their reliability has been remarkably good, and there are a lot of people walking around today who would be dead or crippled without them.
So are you saying that airbags are causing people to drive more recklessly?
My impression is that there have always been idiot drivers. Increased congestion makes them more noticeable, and the frustrations of congestion make more people do stupid things. I doubt that removing airbags and seat belts and forcing everyone to drive in Hyundais would be an improvement.
I haven't personally seen the phenomena of people thinking that the SUV makes them invulnerable, but I have heard of it.
Since the airbags are hidden, I don't think they affect me much one way or another. But if anything, when I first started using seat belts, it reminded me that driving was inherently dangerous. Of course, now, buckling up is to automatic, that I don't even think about it. But it certainly doesn't make me less cautious.
How much is the maunfacturer's per-unit liability insurance ?
I think that it's a combination of people having to drive more and more to accomplish basic things, in traffic that is increasingly worsening, as well as bloated pig SUVs (they have quite a bit in common with those early 60's Caddies).
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