SawStop?

[rcook5]

And your proof that they would not have become standard is. . .?

Again, disc brakes were well on their way to becoming standard because they offered significant design advantages, no appreciable increase in cost and they had a very positive public image.

While manufacturers undoubtedly do take credit for government mandated safety features, it is a fallacy to conclude from that that such safety features would not exist without government intervention.

--RC

Projects expand to fill the clamps available -- plus 20 percent

[JMartin957]

I'm not sure if tungsten carbide conducts electricity, but it really doesn't matter. The carbide tips on a saw aren't pure tungsten carbide - there is a metallic binder (nickel or cobalt, I recall) mixed with the carbide grains. So, it will conduct.

John Martin

[GregP]

I didn't say that they would not become standard, only that it would be a long time before they would have, as opposed to the idiotic claim that they would have been within 2 years.

[GregP]

Disc brakes "were well on their way to becoming standard" because of the European manufacturers. The Detroit folks dragged up the rear as usual.

[GregP]

You are a prime example of why we have seat belt laws for kids.

[rcook5]

Yep. Competition at work. Ain't it wonderful?

Actually both European and American automakers were pretty much isolated from each other during the 40s and the 50s and both of them produced sub-optimal products as a result.

That perception is the result of a limited (American-centric) perspective. In the 60s and 70s there was a lot of cross-fertilization as imports on both sides of the Atlantic opened these worlds to each other. Cars all around the free world vastly improved as a result.

I remember reading in the British press in the late 60s wondering articles about American engines that could cruise 'flat out' all day without seizing up or overheating. That was an exaggeration, of course, but the fact is that British and European engines benefited enormously when the public in those countries were exposed to American technology.

Sadly, we lost a lot of that in the 1970s and 80s when American government regulation pretty much closed the US market to European cars not specifically designed for export to the US.

--RC

Projects expand to fill the clamps available -- plus 20 percent

[J. Clarke]

I see that since you don't have a refutation for the argument you instead resort to a personal attack. Thank you for letting me know the depth of your commitment to reasoned discourse.

[DarylRos]

The real problems Saw Stop creates are the ones they didn't forsee.

First, OSHA will probably require that type of technology sooner or later.

Second, the blade makers will get on the band wagon if they see a new market created for them when the stop activates

Third, clumsy people like me will have to find whole new ways to get hurt in the shop.

Seriously, that is what will happen in a non-factory setting. CAre around the woodshop generally starts with the tablesaw, and with that removed from the danger list, tired, clumsy or careless woodworkers will need to develop yet another mindset. The last time there was such a shift was when round cutterheads supplanted square ones in jointers.

So I think in the years to come, there wil be a host of accidents using other tools in SawStop equipped shops.

Therefore, I resolve to never do anything that will constitute any kind of risk. That includes eating, breathing, drinking, walking in poluted air, lying in bed (see Cristopher Reeve), reading newspapers too liberal, too conservative, or anythign else.

[Tom Veatch]

I continue to be amazed by the apparent perception of so many people that "government is omniscient".

"Government" is a legal entity that knows nothing and does nothing except through the knowledge and actions of people. People who, in the vast majority, are faceless and anonymous to the general public. Elected officials are so grossly outnumbered by the appointed and/or otherwise employed functionaries that they, the elected, could almost be considered insignificant. No, I don't have numbers readily available, but I think you'd agree that the number of elected officials in this country divided by the total number of government employees is a very small fraction.

The point to this is, why should I automatically substitute the judgment of those faceless, anonymous people - a mix of good, bad, indifferent, competent and incompetent people - for my own judgment? I have not been certified as legally incompetent by a court of law. At least, not yet.

Tom Veatch Wichita, KS USA

[GregP]

I don't see a reasoned discourse in your post, more of a Rushian-style diatribe. If there is some substance behind it, good, but it sounds very much like afternoon talk show noise.

[ted harris]

Okay then how's this for discourse... That's the reason why your not supposed to put children in a child seat facing the airbags, or not put them in the front seat at all...but you probably knew this already, right?