RE: T/S Inertia

I had not thought of it as a safety precaution, but have been doing that for years to protect the blade.

As you move the fence, change miter gauge, etc. there is always a chance that the blade will get whacked, unless the practice is to lower it when done with one set up.

Reply to
knuttle
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From first posting I see in this thread...

Those two don't correlate. It's hard to imagine the CC insurance company inspection allows them to operate w/o guards; I know certainly in the cabinet shop in the local community college they are very proactive in safety procedures and equipment. AFAIK in the 39 years' existence there has not been a tablesaw accident.

If I were on the board of that CC as on this one, there would be an immediate review after any incident and steps taken immediately...

As for the PM66 vis a vis Unisaur; I've had/used all the aforementioned and while don't have anything except the PM at the moment to actually measure, there has never been significant-enough difference between them that I'd ever in roughly 40 years noticed it...I'd surely like to see some measured data and post mortems that really indicate the time itself is a major factor in these accidents.

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Reply to
dpb

dpb wrote: ...

...

And, actually, even more than the insurance folks who are generally more of the "helpful in spotting problems types" in their reviews, it's the regional accreditation team that's the real stickler and the ones can't see how any institution would be able to get around...

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Reply to
dpb

These are not mutually exclusive. The problem is that safety equipment and ease of operation do seem to be mutually exclusive - except for the SawStop. Then it's safety and affordability are mutually exclusive. For now.

It's the same as seatbelts in a car. As a kid I used to bitch and moan when my Mom would insist I put on the seatbelt. Then it became a habit and I didn't even think about it. I'd be dead twice or thrice over if it weren't for seatbelts

R
Reply to
RicodJour

You know, I used to be about like anyone else, in that I never used a guard on a table saw. That all changed 18 years ago, when I took a job teaching carpentry at the local high school. It was made very clear to me that any and all safety devices available were to be used, at all times.

For the first year or so I fussed under my breath, any time I had to run the table saw with the guard in place. Slowly, I began to realize that they really were not all that bad, in nearly all cases.

Now, I seldom think a second thought about the guards. The obvious exception is when using a tenion jig, or dado blade or other or other cuts that do not go all the way through the workpiece. Even then, there are guards available for the second class of cuts mentioned above.

So really, if everyone just made up their mind to keep with a guard until they got used to it, you would find that it is a rare case where the guard slows them down or prevents accurate cutting.

Reply to
Morgans

Most of the cuts I've done in the past month have used a sled of some kind--for that the guard provided with my saw is not workable--while in some cases the sled will slide under it various pieces raise the guard so high that it might as well not be there.

At the same time, on repetitive cuts, I find myself losing focus on the blade--I know that if I don't put some kind of guard in place I'm going to hit it eventually. You do 20 or so of the same movement and a conditioned response starts to form that takes the higher brain functions out of the loop ("wax on, wax off"). So project for the week is figuring out how to guard the sled.

Reply to
J. Clarke

Years ago I was attempting to create a CD rack (bored) using an old 3/4" piece of oak. I was going to dado some exact width slots in it for the CD's to stand up and tilt in, using a table mounted router.

After about the third or fourth dado slot I found the router bit came right up through the top (backside) of the piece. The router depth locking screw came loose (or I forgot to tighten it) and the vibration from the table made the router gear rack screw itself right up through the 3/4" depth of the wood instead on holding a 3/8" depth slot. I never figured that was possible until I was staring at the 30K RPM bit by my fingers.

Wasted piece of wood (made it shorter) but the lesson was a good one learned. Nobody got hurt but I never (If I ever did?) put my hands over top of the router bit, anymore, no matter how thick the piece is. Pusher sticks and distance became paramount.

For the first year or so I fussed under my breath, any time I had to run the table saw with the guard in place. Slowly, I began to realize that they really were not all that bad, in nearly all cases.

Now, I seldom think a second thought about the guards. The obvious exception is when using a tenion jig, or dado blade or other or other cuts that do not go all the way through the workpiece. Even then, there are guards available for the second class of cuts mentioned above.

So really, if everyone just made up their mind to keep with a guard until they got used to it, you would find that it is a rare case where the guard slows them down or prevents accurate cutting.

Reply to
Josepi

That's an oddball one. I would have figured the weight of the router would have caused the whole shebang to drop, not rise. I could see a loose collet causing the bit to rise. Either way, it's like Sancho Panza said, "Whether the rock hits the pitcher, or the pitcher hits the rock, it's bad for the pitcher."

R
Reply to
RicodJour

"Morgans" wrote in news:9zC7o.61765$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe18.iad:

I think a lot of the problem is home table saw guards aren't good enough. The first table saw I had was a Craftsman entry-level saw, and the guard did not align with the saw blade at all. My current saw is a Ridgid, and the guard takes a few minutes to adjust to be behind the blade exactly, and has to be removed to allow trimming 1/8"-1/4" off one side to get a decent edge.

There's better mounting mechanisms (behind the blade on the blade height riser [riving knife style]) and new guard designs to allow trimming cuts (each side of the guard moves independently) but I haven't used either of them yet to say if they're really better.

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper

That is what got me about 10 years ago and it wasn't a PM66. If was an old Craftsman contractor's saw that I used to own. Shut the switch of and started to walk away with a handful of small spaces I had just cut off. I looked over my shoulder and noticed one on the table next to be blade. In a brain-dead moment I over-reached the blade and got nicked, to the bone, on a fingertip. Even the clunky old Craftsman was still spinning down.

Stupid but it sure taught a lesson.

RonB

Reply to
RonB

Watch what happens if the SawStop technology is forced on high school and smaller tech schools. Our high school just dropped the woodworking program because the lawyer told them to add SawStop technology or close the program. They had finally upgraded to a couple of new Powermatics after nearly 30 years with now worn out Unisaws. Couldn't afford to upgrade again so they sold the shop off.

RonB

Reply to
RonB

SawStop is a game changer, no doubt about that. Losing high school shop programs is totally unacceptable. My HS sucked - we didn't have any shop programs at all. I used to drool over the things my older brother would bring back from shop class at his high school. I wonder sometimes how different my life would be if there had been a wood shop. Maybe nothing would have changed, I don't know. Maybe I would just have had better training and several more years of experience.

R
Reply to
RicodJour

"Josepi" wrote

Yep, I have had the router bit getting loose, too. No scary moments, though. I always teach that just like a gun not being ponted at anyone, to body parts above spinny cutty things, ever.

Reply to
Morgans

"J. Clarke" wrote

No problem. Put a guard on the sled. With tools and bits and pieces around, it takes about 30 seconds.

Have a tall fence on the sled, front and back, with a piece of plexi drilled and screwed onto the sled fence, front and back. The plexi is only wide enoug to cover past where you would never put your fingers, anyway, so it does not impeed use, at al.

Have some blocks around of different height, for different thickness workpieces.

Too wide for your sled to have a block on each side? Put both blocks on one side, and let the plexi cantilever over the cutting area.

My point is, if you _ _have_ _ to have a guard on your saw, you _will_ be creative and think of a way to get the job done, as you want to do it, and still be safe.

Reply to
Morgans

If it was just a sled that would be fine, but the sled holds various jigs and fixtures and the trick is fitting the guard so that they all still work properly.

Yep. But it's not going to be trivial for this particular case.

Reply to
J. Clarke

Upcut spiral? If so that's common. When I use one of those I clean the collet and the bit _every_ time using a .50 caliber bore brush, a .50 caliber jag and patches, and lacquer thinner as solvent. So far haven't had one come out since I started doing that.

Yeah, I was fortunate enough to not get bitten by it.

To paraphrase Melville, I will not have a man in my shop who is not afraid of a router.

Reply to
J. Clarke

Agree - As the original poster noted most good schools press safety. We will have more folks starting off with little if any training.

Ron

Reply to
RonB

WOW! That is an exceptionally long time. I wonder if it is because of the type belt that is used, not the typical v-belt rather the less resistant serpentine belts.

That may be more to do with lighting. I recall 40 years ago my shop teacher warning to be careful around the blade during spin down as it went and out of phase with the floresent lighting. Basically working like an automotive timing light. It did indeed appear to be paused a few times when shud town. As it would slow to near in phase timing the blade would appear to go backwards, stop, spin forward, etc. If the blade takes an exceptionally long time to come to a stop the "in phase" periods with the lighting would last longer.

Reply to
Leon

Take a look at one to understand what I am about to explain. ;~) The Unifence fence slides left, right, forward, and backward. Because you can slide it backwards the end near the back of the saw table can be situated in front of the blade.

Reply to
Leon

Sawstop

Reply to
Leon

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