Well in the case of the DeWalt combo SCMS/TS, DeWalt does know that with our idiot court/attorney system that surely someone in the US will harm themselves by removing the guard and and cutting something off of their body. And although the machine was modified by the operator the attorneys would paint the picture that the saw is capable of serving two purposes therefore it is twice as dangerous.
Seems to me with the Florida judge, no one except SS should make/sell saws. The moron judge thinks all saws need flesh eating tech, another court thinks SS owns the tech, so all saws except SS are unsafe, and open to law suits. Probably not a good time to be selling any saw in the US other than SS.
Seems to me a good attorney could sue SS for a bunch for not licensing their technology for the well being of all peoples. As it is they are suing DeWalt for their "better than SS" system, as well as a less costs to get back in operation.
Actually SS offered the technology to many manufacturers and IIRC all but one turned them down. If I had to guess which one it would be Powermatic. IIRC I saw a SS they looked like a PM2000 way back when.
High price is relative. SS in general is high priced so why would any one expect to pay less for that technology than the patent holder? And SS offers their blade brake technology at no cost to the consumer also when you buy a SS saw.
No American manufacturer was willing to sign up for the deal as offered by Gass for various reasons, licensing cost being only one. There was a pretty thorough synopsis in FWW a number of years ago.
I think any resemblance to any particular other saw on the market is mostly coincidental; that it looks more like a PM2000 than some of the others is likely owing simply to what was in style at the time of design...
I really don't know the route SS used to get to manufacturing; whether he hired in-house talent entirely or sublet design; either way one can be pretty certain that the competitors' products were thoroughly studied in the process. :)
I would agree, what is under the hood of the SS is way different than what any American manufacturer has. The "look a like SS PM2000" only showed the cabinet and table top. That really means nothing as the guts of the SS could probably be put in any cabinet with minor modifications. But one manufacturer originally signed with SS and then later backed out. I would be willing to bet that it was PM.
The SS set up is more European IIRC, the blade moves "straight" up and down guided by a couple of large diameter steel dowels, at least that is how the industrial version is built.
I suspect that the majority of the cost for the competitors would have been more heavy on redesign of the workings of the saw. The SS has dealt a serious blow to the competition. The gamble was a double edged sword for the competition. Spend the money to sell a competitive saw with this technology and hope that this is what the public wants or sit tight, do nothing, and see if the SS can survive.
SS absolutely survived but it is quite iffy for some, especially Delta. Delta drastically changed the Unisaw a few years back and it appears to be a flop. It seems to me that if they were going to do a total redesign that they would offer something other than what many seem to think is less. That redesign would have been the time to pony up and offer SS technology. Unfortunately they and others may have burned some bridges with SS.
I don't recall ever seeing/hearing negotiations ever got that far along with anybody...suppose it's possible; I wasn't invited to the various parties... :) Not that it really matters in the end as nobody did bite.
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Delta's problems are _FAR_ more deeply-rooted than simply SS--they're simply not what they were before the sale-off to Delta PEC. They've become only a slightly more expensive HF imo as far as quality compared to vintage Delta-Rockwell vintage gear.
Exactly. I kept a pretty close eye on SS from the very beginning, Having lost half my thumb on my first TS I had a great interest. But yes, that is all in the past and does not affect anything now.
There is that too. I understand that the new Unisaw has not filled the big shoes of the much earlier Unisaws.
The presence of SS cannot be discounted even for/against the better brands sales. I just do not see the variety of TS's in the WW stores these days. As litigation happy as this country has become I can understand even the retailers being leery of selling saws with out the technology. Not saying that they will not sell other than SS but SS is in most serious WW stores but not the variety of 15 years ago.
When I was still in the automotive business we sold wholesale AC/Delco/3M parts to GM dealers. We had a healthy insurance policy to protect us should there be a lawsuit involving a GM part that we sold to be resold.
About all I see these days are PM, Jet, and SS. Gone from most stores in Houston are the Unisaw, the Dewalt hybrid cabinet saw, and Steel City.
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