This is so cool! A 'safety' table saw that detects your finger.

[Leon]

And there are thousands and thousands that have lost their fingers. Have you ever cut yourself ,EVER, with a knife? A lapse of judgement can be quite costly and NO ONE is incapable of having an accident regardless of how safely you think you operate a TS. It certainly is not necesssary but if you can afford it, it's well worth consideration.

I would rather the saw falsely trip 30 times and correctly on the 31st time than not trip at all.

These

Well in your own words, A woodworker exercising reasonable caution has nothing to fear from the tablesaw. With proper caution a kick back is not going to harm you either. That said, the saw does indeed have a riving knife that goes a long way in preventing kickback.

I wish you luck and to remain safe with your wood working.

[alexy]

Kinda reminds me of the logic my son used to use when as a young teen he objected to wearing a helmet and wrist guards while rollerblading "because I'm not doing tricks, so don't plan to fall". And like the thousands of woodworkers who haven't yet been hurt at their saws, he has never been injured in a rollerblading accident

[Upscale]

Ahh, but that could never happen. If your saw tripped falsely 30 times, you'd have hung yourself long before then.

[nailshooter41]

Upscale wrote:

[Upscale]

I was thinking of an accident happening through no fault of your own. The dog comes in and brushes against your leg distracting you. Something falls off a shelf startling you. A power failure plunges you into darkness and you slip against the still spinning blade in the dark.

The more I read about this, the more I'm thinking a Sawstop is a pretty good idea, especially considering that I work from an awkward height ~ sitting in a wheelchair. But, for me anyway, it's way out of my financial reach. Besides, if I cut off a finger, it won't cost me anything up front, except a lot of pain and cursing. One advantage anyway, of our Canadian medical system.

[Joe Gorman]

snip

I don't recall anything about Sawstop still working for any length of time after the power goes out to prevent this. The owners manual

page 11 of 100 says "To prevent loss of Sawstop protection during coast down, do not turn off main power until blade has stopped spinning." UPS for a table saw? Joe

[Swingman]

The reality is that now that the technology is commercially available it will be difficult to legally defend an employer who doesn't take advantage of it to protect employees from the certainty that accidents happen. And insurance risk managers will be mandating it, if they are not already doing so.

So, in effect, even if some don't want it, they may not have really a choice ... a slick position for the patent holder.

[alexy]

All in how you look at it. You can accept blame for just about anything--you could have prevented it. But that's the reason to take all reasonable safety precautions. To me, it's not a question of whether saw stop is a good idea--it's just whether it is reasonable at this point.

You fault. Why didn't you have a door closed or barrier up to prevent this?

You fault. You should stack things more carefully, and anticipate what might happen if they fall.

Your fault. You mean you didn't install a backup power supply on your lighting?

I'm fully ambulatory, but I feel exactly the same way.

[alexy]

Good point. That might be a feature of "SawStop II", to be introduced about the time the patent on SawStop I runs out.

[Leon]

Ahh. The words that come from an open mind. Not getting hurt using a TS and proper technique is the easy part. It's the untontrollable variables that come into play that cause accidents.

Perhaps as production ramps up and or the consumer demands better safety devices from the companies that are waiting to see what happens with the SawStop the competitive pricing will make it more affordable to every one. I cut 1/2 my thumb off in 1989. My insurance covered a majority of the expense but I have had to adapt as you have. My accident happened after I completed the cut and turned the saw off, and began removing the rip fence. Every one that knew me could not believe that I had an accident. It all happened so fast and at a time that you would not dream that something like this could happen. For months I thought that I'd had a kick back but until I almost had the accident again about 1 year later I never knew what had happened exactly. I had been into serious woodworking about 10 years.

[Leon]

Good thought.

[Leon]

I totally agree and apparently so does Robin Lee.

I have never been one that thinks that having to buy something that you do not want is a good idea however this technology is really a good idea. For me personally I see this working out exactly the same way that seat belts, air bags, grounded electrical appliances, the "over the blade" TS guard, the guard on circle saws, the odor added to natural gas, break away hoses on filling station gas pumps, and most any other safety modification all came into existance.

[nailshooter41]

will be difficult to legally defend an employer who doesn't take advantage of it to protect employees from the certainty that accidents happen. And insurance risk managers will be mandating it, if they are not already doing so.

So, in effect, even if some don't want it, they may not have really a choice ... a slick position for the patent holder.

[Leon]

You never think it could happen to you,,,, until it does. Where have whe heard that before. ;~)

I'd like to see a muffer added to these saws. Damn they are loud.

Remember back in the mid 70's when the new cars would not start untill the belt was buckled?

Obviously. ;~)

[Upscale]

I was referring to a residential power failure, not someone turning off the main power. It only takes a fraction of a second to cut off a finger. As far as I know, other than it's safety feature, the sawstop doesn't have a brake, so it will take a few seconds to spin down.

[Upscale]

Aren't you reaching a bit? I know the technology exists for backup power supplies, but honestly, how many people do you know who have set it up. A computer, electronic equipment, ok, but general house or workshop lighting?

[alexy]

Yes. That was my point. Sorry if I was not clear.

[Brian Henderson]

And most of them, if you talk to them, were careless when they had their accident. It's up to people to be careful and know when a particular cut is safe and when it is not. If the cut is not safe, one should not make it regardless of the safety equipment you have on your saw.

I never said it couldn't be useful, I just said it was more costly than it was worth IMO. On the other side, having something like that could give someone a false sense of security and lead to taking more risks than they would otherwise.

That's why most saws come with a splitter as standard equipment, it prevents kickback. Without a splitter, it is difficult, if not impossible on some cuts, to keep the kerf from closing on the far side of the blade.

It isn't all that hard to keep your finger away from the spinning knives of death if you think about what you're doing and you use the standard safety equipment. How much do you want to bet that most of the woodworkers who have lost fingers were working without a blade guard?

[Brian Henderson]

You'd probably have sold the saw by then since you couldn't afford to keep replacing the blade and stop. You know that, even assuming the blade and stop only cost $250 total to replace, you could buy almost

*4* whole new tablesaws?

You could make your shop look like Norm's for that! ;)

[Brian Henderson]

Sorry, there's a reason there is safety equipment. The above is like saying you don't need to use the saw guard or the splitter or push sticks, your finger fits between the fence and the blade... sort of...

The safety equipment we have now works just fine, we don't need another piece of mandatory, expensive equipment, that isn't demonstrated to be any better than what we have, any more than I'm sure rollerbladers would be terribly happy to be told they have to wear full-body baloon-suits, just in case.