Thread: Amazing invention

Not the bloody SawStop again.

This bloke is great at promoting this thing.

Sorry Craig, how about ' old amazing invention'
Zelk

I'm not in favor of it... You let your guard down. Assuming the gismo will work 100% of the time and you don't have to be careful, follow procedures, respect the cutting teeth of the saw. If man makes it, it will fail one time or another, I don't want to have my hand in there when it does.

I am as safety consious as anybody and probably more than most but I appreciate what a saw can do and plan my procedures accordingly. I will not rely on electronics to protect foolish activities.

I agree Hickory, as someone said ' the saw is the queen.....treat her with respect'.

You let your guard down. Assuming the gismo will work 100% of the time and you don't have to be careful, follow procedures, respect the cutting teeth of the saw. If man makes it, it will fail one time or another, I don't want to have my hand in there when it does.

Someone likened it to airbags on a car. The thing is, if you have airbags, do you drive recklessly believing you will be safe if you have a prang, or do you just drive as you normally would, recklessly or otherwise?

I have a driver-side airbag but hardly ever even give it a thought. I don't drive along thinking "I'll be OK, because I have an airbag". It's just something that is there and one day if I ever need it, I hope it works, but if it doesn't then I'm no worse off than I was without it.

I see this thing the same way. If I had one, I don't believe my attitude to my tablesaw would change in any way. I'm not going to stick my fingers into the blade trusting the gadget to do it's job. But if an accident happened, and despite our best intentions, they do happen, and the thing worked, then you would obviously be better off with than without it.

As a meat slicer I think it could be improved.

Amazing news, from the Land of Litigaton:
"Saw blades that spin at 4,000 rpm are dangerous!"

Thanks, would never have guessed. Now what are you selling.... oh, a SawStop?

As usual, 'statistics' will more than likely determine the value of it.
Zelk

Originally Posted by Hickory

I'm not in favor of it... You let your guard down. Assuming the gismo will work 100% of the time and you don't have to be careful, follow procedures, respect the cutting teeth of the saw. If man makes it, it will fail one time or another, I don't want to have my hand in there when it does.

I am as safety consious as anybody and probably more than most but I appreciate what a saw can do and plan my procedures accordingly. I will not rely on electronics to protect foolish activities.

Well said Hickory! I'd much rather be fully aware of what I'm doing (and of what might happen if things go awry), and plan my actions accordingly.

Having said that, we all get a little complacent, especially when doing repetitive tasks - so always have a mental note to not do more than three or four of any one task before I take a "mind re-set". Probably not so easy to do in a production environment though.

If I could afford it, I'd buy one without question. (Assuming it does its primary job as well as other cabinet saws)

If the #### hit the fan, and my hand (or whatever part) was forfeit (ie I've totally ####ed up, and I have impacted the blade), then even the chance that this device would kick in and save me is worth it.

I have to agree with Silent Cjust because there is a safety device does not mean that you are going to put it to the test just in case.. (unless you are wanting to start a lawsuit against the designer/manufacturor) I think that is a good inovation and people should be given the option.. yes putting your hand in front of a fast rotating bladee is dangerous.. thats why they use hot dogs not humans to showcase their product.

Andrew

Im with you Stuart, any device that can minimise the chances of a major injury is a good one.

The day you just happen to slip or get a kickback and your hand ends up on the blade and you just end up with a small nick is the day you think it was an worthy investment... machines are easy to fix you aint!

Have a look at the design of that saw, then ask yourself about all the risks that a table saw poses. Blade injury, kickback injury, dust inhalation.

The saw stop is a reasonably good answer to only some of the injury modes. There isn't a true riving knife, for example. No provision for a true overhead guard.

The Saw Stop people tried to sell this to the manufacturers who baulked, so then he approached the insurance industry. There are actually underwriters (I'm told) who are starting to 'suggest' this saw be used in commercial workplaces in America. (As claimed by a member of the Felder Owner's Group)

I am lucky enough to have a slider on my saw. I don't get anywhere near the blade, and I'm well out of the line of fire for any kickbacks too. To my mind, a properly designed saw that meets European safety standards is a safer, and more efficient tool than a conventional table saw with a blade clamp. I would pay for this technology as an extra on a machine like I have now, but I sure as hell would not abandon the safety features I enjoy now just to get a Saw Stop machine.

Greg

Originally Posted by Hickory

I'm not in favor of it... You let your guard down. Assuming the gismo will work 100% of the time and you don't have to be careful, follow procedures, respect the cutting teeth of the saw. If man makes it, it will fail one time or another, I don't want to have my hand in there when it does.

I am as safety consious as anybody and probably more than most but I appreciate what a saw can do and plan my procedures accordingly. I will not rely on electronics to protect foolish activities.

Hickory, I have to disagree with you.
The organisation I work for has come a long way, in terms of job safety in the last 25 years. I well remember calculating employee costs on the basis of so many dollars per hour + provision for holidays and sick days + the injury insurance premium (which from memory was about 15% at the time and applied to an employee's total pay including any overtime) + state employment taxes — the total extra cost was something like 55% of the weekly wage bill! A beter focus on safer ways of doing the job has brought the insurance premium down to something like 5% without efecting productivity, saving nearly $4k per year for an employee earning about $40k per annum. In a gang of 10 that's equivalent to having one of them work for free.

The SawStop is just another step along the road.
I'd not be surprised if in a few years, the insurance industry (which likes collecting premiums but hates paying out on claims) hasn't manouvered so that all comercial shops are required to have SawStop mechanisms fitted to all saws.

The arguements against using one seem to be very similar to those against fitting guards to belt driven machines. "The employee should take better care"

ian