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Mechanical safeties, how much do you trust machinery? VIDEO

SFCRetired

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2008
Messages
1,764
Location
Montgomery, Alabama, USA
I don't!! If it fails, and anything built by humans can fail, then you're minus a digit.

Why, oh, why are so many willing to put their faith in gadgets rather than in common sense? But then, someone once said that common sense is not that common.
 

Citizen

Founder's Club Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2006
Messages
18,269
Location
Fairfax Co., VA
I like it.

Would I stop being very careful and attentive around that spinning blade? No way!

For that one moment of forgetfulness or distraction? I'd take the additional layer of safety.
 

KBCraig

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2007
Messages
4,886
Location
Granite State of Mind
In the woodworking community, SawStop was met with some interest, but a lot of skepticism. Everyone supports safety, but there were a lot of concerns about false triggers when sawing wet wood. There's a good reason for that concern, since SawStop is a totally destructive system -- the cartridge and the blade are both destroyed, and replacing them will cost a couple of hundred bucks, minimum. Assuming you aren't using high quality blades that cost that much themselves, of course.

When SawStop failed to persuade the free market, they tried to enlist the Consumer Product Safety Commission to mandate "similar technology" in every new saw sold. Since they owned the patent to the only "similar technology", they were seeking a monopoly. That's when then woodworking community went from curious but skeptical, to downright hostile.

To put it in gun terms, it's just like the inventors of various "safe guns" designs (fingerprint recognition, coded rings before the gun will fire, etc.) trying to get the government to mandate their product. Also in gun terms, no safety device can take the place of the Four Rules: if you don't want to lose it, don't put it in front of either a muzzle or a spinning blade.
 
H

Herr Heckler Koch

Guest
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SawStop

SawStop has provoked opposition from the Power Tool Institute (PTI),[8] which represents Black & Decker, Hilti, Hitachi Koki, Makita, Metabo, Bosch, Techtronic Industries and WMH Tool Group. In April 2008 they told Congress that SawStop's braking system is:[10]

dangerous because it requires the user to come in contact with the blade before activating;
unproven, particularly in terms of durability;
prone to false trips caused by commonly available wet and green wood;
potentially vulnerable to latent damage that cannot be inspected and may cause a hazard;
costly to the user because once activated, saw blade and cartridge must be replaced; and
significantly more expensive, ranging from a minimum of 25 percent and ranging upwards depending on saw type

The PTI objects to the licensing necessary due to the "more than 50 patents" related to SawStop's braking system;[10] such costs "would destroy the market for the cheapest, most popular saws, adding $100 or more to the price of consumer models that typically sell for less than $200."[8] In response, their members developed "new plastic guards to shield table saw users from the dangers of a spinning blade" and began selling models with that feature in 2007; as of May 2011, PTI says "its member companies have received no reports of injuries on [the 750,000] table saws with the new guard design."[9]
 

rodbender

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 23, 2008
Messages
2,519
Location
Navasota, Texas, USA
I wonder if it would work if someone slipped and fell into the blade. I would like to see them drop or throw a piece of meat at the blade.
 
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