Thread: SawStop Comes To Australia!

I like this one!

"Sawyer needed a short length of monofilament fishing line from his shop. Unable to find his utility knife to cut it with, he spotted his tablesaw. He wrapped the line around both hands and eased the line into the spinning blade, assuming it would chew the line apart. The line caught in a blade gullet and wrapped around the arbor, pulling both hands into the blade. He lost parts of 3 fingers, and also suffered serious cuts from the line as it was pulled tight around his hands"

You could hardly call that one an accident could you?

Idiots removing themselves from the gene pool.

Not goin' into the whys and why nots, $$s etc.
If I could afford one, I'd have one, even if not for the safety device, but because it is a very nice bit of machinery. As to the safety aspect, as I've said in the past, I just wish the saws that I use to run the beginner woodworking courses on had it. Some of the things I see on the courses (even after an hour just on saw safety), or at woodworking club meets give me the absolute cold willies. Of course, don't think it would have helped the time I saw a hammer handle being used as a pushstick........ (had visions of a hammer being hurled at 200+ km/hr)

The demos are impressive to say the least, and I now have a nice "blade embedded in aluminium block" decoration for my shed wall - thanks Brendan!

Originally Posted by mat

I disagree that the sawstop does little or nothing about kickback.

A lot of design time has gone into the sawstop to maximise safety including reducing kickback. The problem of kickback is amplified in many saws due to poor design leading to users removing guards and splitters. Splitters often don't line up well or tlit with the blade and don't have a close relationship with the blade such is the case with a riving knife. For non through cuts splitters need to be removed whilst riving knives do not. The difficulty of removing guards and splitters on a lot of saws is well known.
The sawstop not only minimises the need to remove the guard and riving knife but also makes it easy with a no tool mechanism to secure the guard and riving knife. It also has a convenient hook to store the guard or riving knife. The guard is also a narrow fully transparent design to maximise vision and space to use push/hold down sticks.

All that was done on European table saws at the 60th~70th.....I mean, the splitter with the anti-kickback pawls was dropped and the riving knife with quick attach / detach blade guard (crown guard) took their place.

In spite of that, the kickbacks continued so, they invented a new "patent" that, considering the fact that it took the Americans 40+ years to adopt the riving knife, maybe, within the next 40 years we shall see it also on American designed table saws.

The kickback can not be totally prevented but only minimized...if you read the accident report on the link of SilentC you probably noticed that even with the riving knife the guy got a kickback (the second "Letter to a British Magazine")

SilentC
I think that this report is very old as they still talk about splitter and especially, Dado blades that are prohibited in EU since 2000 or 2001

Regards
niki

I would like to add....

I down-loaded the Sawstop "Owners Manual" and I found something very interesting about the so called "Euro Riving Knife for safety"....

As I understand, the saw has two options:
1. Riving Knife (pre-installed) without the possibility to install the Anti-kickback pawls / blade guard
2. Spreader - with Anti-kickback pawl and blade guard.

The word "Spreader" is used by OSHA to describe what we call - in slang - "Splitter" (same like the slang - Anti-kickback pawls - is called by the OSHA regulation "Anti-kickback fingers"...industrial terms).

"Spreader" is NOT a "Riving Knife" and it's positioned at fixed distance from the blade and only if the blade will be set at full height, it will be close to the blade like a riving knife but when the blade is set at lower height it will be....well, Splitter...

If I understand correctly, when one is using the Riving knife, he cannot use the blade guard (big no, no in EU) and in case of UFO's - or even one or more tooth of the blade breaks....the operator is not protected......on my table saw the blade is rotating at 50 Meters/second (as per the spec) that is 180 Km/h...

Another thing that catch my eyes is:
"No Warranty of Safety"
http://www.sawstop.com/products-cont...w-warranty.htm

Please correct me if I'm wrong

Best Regards
niki

Actually I don't give a rat's ******* about what went on in the USA between the inventor and the TS manufacturers, that's ancient history and happened in a strange country and as such not relevant to us here in the great south land.

Neither do I care about what is required in the EU, it's also not relevant to us.

I also don't care if it stops kickback or not, or if it's a gimmick but I also saw the demo by Brendan (the sausageman ) and I'm impressed with the additional safety that this machine gives.

If I was in the market for a new TS and I had the money I would definitely buy one. Unfortunately I don't need a new TS and I'm only a poor pensioner so I have to continue to be extra careful when I use mine.

And so should everyone else.

I would rather see discussions on how to use equipment safely than this ongoing saga and ******* about the Sawstop.

Just my humble opinion.


Peter.

Take the sawstop device of this table saw, and it is still a very impressive saw, when compared to what I looked at on the Carbatec or Jet stands. It is extremely solid and well built, makes some of its opposition look like cheap tinny chinese saws.

Before deciding what your opinion of the saw is, you need to look at it in the flesh just to see how good it is. Forget about the "hype" about the brake, you never what to find out if it is worth it. (my guess is, if you did, you would be forever grateful.)

Anyone who bags it out without seeing is just proving to the world how big a dill they are.

If after seeing it you are not impressed, fair enough, everyone has their opinion and is entitled to it, but without seeing the saw, you cannot really appreciate how good it is.

I would have one tomorrow if I could afford it (might have to forget about the bandsaw ), and if I never set of its brake, would still consider it money well spent.

I think that this report is very old as they still talk about splitter and especially, Dado blades that are prohibited in EU since 2000 or 2001

The world doesn't start and end in Europe.

Originally Posted by Geoff Dean

Take the sawstop device of this table saw, and it is still a very impressive saw, when compared to what I looked at on the Carbatec or Jet stands. It is extremely solid and well built, makes some of its opposition look like cheap tinny chinese saws.




I would have one tomorrow if I could afford it (might have to forget about the bandsaw ), and if I never set of its brake, would still consider it money well spent.

I agree and will be looking at the contractor saw when it is available as I do not have room for the big one.

The contractor saw is available in Australia.

Saw the saw in action at the melbourne www show and It looked impressive!!!
something that i will consider in the future!

Originally Posted by mat

The contractor saw is available in Australia.

There is not one in Melbourne yet - Brendan is going to let us know when they have shipped at least one to Melb for display.

Originally Posted by Geoff Dean

Take the sawstop device of this table saw, and it is still a very impressive saw, when compared to what I looked at on the Carbatec or Jet stands. It is extremely solid and well built, makes some of its opposition look like cheap tinny chinese saws.

Before deciding what your opinion of the saw is, you need to look at it in the flesh just to see how good it is. Forget about the "hype" about the brake, you never what to find out if it is worth it. (my guess is, if you did, you would be forever grateful.)

Anyone who bags it out without seeing is just proving to the world how big a dill they are.

If after seeing it you are not impressed, fair enough, everyone has their opinion and is entitled to it, but without seeing the saw, you cannot really appreciate how good it is.

I would have one tomorrow if I could afford it (might have to forget about the bandsaw ), and if I never set of its brake, would still consider it money well spent.

well said that man

km

Video now available on Stu's Shed TV

Bloody impressive in the flesh ( ) I now have 2 of the resulting blades decorating my shed.

Cheers for the demos Ruddigar - I'm sure a contractor's version would be perfect for my woodworking classes!