Re: Remember SawStop? They gave up the market, now it's force....

[trolltaker]

Do you remember the SawStop - a device which sensed a change in the

> resistance of the material being cut and STOPPED the blade in > milliseconds, the better to avoid injury? You recall the dramatic > demo for SawStop? They ran a hot dog into the whirling blade, the > SawStop device stopped the saw with barely a nick to the hot dog. > Think safety, think mangled fingers forever prevented, think Progress. > > Even at the time, people mentioned they thought the royalties demanded > were so high and the potential liabilities so bankbreaking, there > might be trouble getting any tool manufacturer to adopt the device. > What would this lawyer do if they refused? I remember that people > wondered if the attorney who owned the patent wouldn't try to FORCE > companies to pay him by pushing for safety legislation setting > standards which, of course, no other device could meet. > > Well, WATCH YOUR WALLETS - it's about to happen. > > I was interested in the device, signed up at the company web site for > news. Today I got an email with an attached petition, "...we have > decided to petition the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to > require saw manufacturers to include something like SawStop on table > saws." > > First they couldn't make manufacturers pay billions to make a device > that could explode their liabilities. When that failed, they set up a > company making saws that included the device. I guess they're not > making enough money from that, now they want to FORCE companies to pay > them off. > > Get real, "something LIKE SawStop" means THEM, only THEM, not anybody > LIKE them. They mean to make an end run around the free market. What > they cannot persuade us to buy, they will SQUEEZE from us by > legislative coercion. > > Can you IMAGINE what adding $150 "tax" would do to those who must buy > saws at the bottom of the market? Would YOU like to pay $150 extra for > your next saw, whtever level of the market you shop in? DO you think > Uncle Sugar needs to be your nanny to the point where they know better > than YOU do what dollar value you put on your safety? > > I urge you to talk to fellow woodworkers about this rising danger to > our freedom of choice. I do not like Consumer Safety being used as a > ski mask to hide a holdup. > > --

Well... here we are, 17 years later

[Leon]

Yeah, and as I have said all along, you will not have to buy a SawStop if you want to buy a TS. Although SawStop is dominating the market and most people actually want the SawStop. I have owned the industrial version for, Gulp, almost 7 years.

[Bob La Londe]

A few more years and I just might look at a SawStop "like" device.

[krw]

I bought my only table saw for this lifetime a decade ago. Sawstop was twice the price. Not an option.

[Bob La Londe]

My thought was their patent will be expiring in just a few years.

[krw]

True, in fact I think it already has. My point is that the saw (Unisaur) is already in my basement (and it was a cost decision). They haven't invented a table saw fairy that's going zap it into a SawStop either.

[DerbyDad03]

Feed it hot dogs and see what happens. Who knows?

[Leon]

And a loaded Powermatic, or a loaded Delta, or most any European brand were not options either. I shopped all of those when shopping the SawStop. Give or take all were within 10~15% of each other in price. I almost went with the Euro style Laguna with the scoring blade and sliding table but then I remembered the only reason I was upgrading was to buy a safer saw. ;~)

It certainly helped me swallow the pill considering the amount of woodworking that I was selling 7 years ago.

[Leon]

YES! But they can renew their patent but that is another matter. It will be interesting how the owner of SawStop, now Festool, will address this.

[Leon]

Feed an ordinary saw a hot dog and you get the smell of rotting meat in the near future. It will be splattered all over, under the table.

Well maybe, hot dogs may not rot, depending on the brand you buy. ;~)

[Leon]

Ah, I responded to you too early on the other post. You bought the now, "previous version Unisaw. That one was still reasonably priced. I was only looking at the newer one with the two adjustment wheels on the front side. It was pricey and is probably already dead.

[DerbyDad03]

When my kids were growing up we had a running joke in the family. Whenever we had hot dogs, someone would always exclaim "10% other!"

It was listed right there in the ingredient list. ;-)

I introduced my kids to one of my favorite things to eat when I was growing up.

Cut a groove down the middle of the hot dog, insert pieces of cheese and heat it in the toaster oven until the cheese melts. Maybe add a little mustard, but never ketchup.

[krw]

Well, even I know that much. ;-)

[krw]

Stick a wire in each end and plug it into the wall outlet.

[krw]

Agreed. If I bought now I'd likely buy a SawStop but it wasn't an option then and I can't go back in time (nor would I want to!).

[krw]

Can't renew a patent after its 20 years (from the time of application, not patent) has run out. It costs money to keep a patent in force during that 20 year period but after, nope, the monopoly is over. Whether someone wants to spend the money to clone it is another issue.

[krw]

Mine was the previous model, with the wheels on the front and side (36-L31X). I bought it just as the one with the wheels on the front came out, so it was being cleared out. I paid about $1600 for it, which, as I said, was about half the cost of the competing SawStop.

Sure, a lot of decisions change if you're in the business. SWMBO would have a cow if I bought something as expensive as a SawStop, even now. The Laguna bandsaw was enough that I wore a helmet when I broached the subject. The lathe is next (this summer probably - going to retire later this year) but what she doesn't know (yet) doesn't hurt me.

[J. Clarke]

You know what that means? In another 3 years their patents start going away.

[Leon]

Unless they renew them.

[Leon]

Cant they make a change and reapply?