SawStop has been very careful to be accurate in their representation of the machine. The blade brake acts to reduce the severity of injury that occurs when an operator's body contacts the spinning blade. Anyone who has witnessed the demo - and it's worth noting that independent parties such as the FWW staff have tested the brake and found it to work as claimed - understands that this "reduction in severity" is substantial. SawStop cannot, however, make specific performance claims for several reasons:
-- Claim a maximum depth cut of 1/16" (the actual max. typical cut that they mentioned in early product development discussion) and then they get sued if someone gets cut 3/32" deep.
-- Claim a maximum depth cut of 1/4" and people say "what's the point?".
-- How fast the blade stops depends on blade material, tooth count, tooth geometry, blade body coatings, sharpness, and other factors. They can't guarantee a particular performance. If they did there would be plenty of lawyers with high speed cameras waiting to figure out some qualification they forgot to list and then sue them.
You may be thinking "why buy the product if they can't be held accountable?" Believe me...there is plenty in the Owner's Manual for which they will be accountable. They have set up the saw so it won't operate (unless in Bypass Mode) unless configured properly and the brake is fully functional. If the spinning blade touches a person and the brake doesn?t release then SawStop will have plenty of responsibility. That's good enough for me, and was part of my logic in buying the saw.
Anyone out there have an owners manual for their car that claims exact airbag sensing and activation speed? How about claims for how fast the car can be moving, or what it can hit, without injury to the driver? They just say that the airbag will activate and may reduce injury. I don't think they could say more, and I find SawStop's similar approach honest and straightforward.