Thread: High School Engineering Table Saw survey

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

You have surprised me, Elan. Kickback occurs when a piece of timber gets momentarily jammed between the blade and the fence. This risk is virtually eliminated with a properly used slider.

First, for most cutting the fence should be set just forward of the blade, and then the slider moves the timber past the blade. No jamming possible.

Second, even if you put the fence adjacent to the blade and kickback does occur, you are not standing in the danger zone.

Not necessarily true, kickback can, and does, occur when the timber being ripped closes on the back of the blade, typically with no riving knife, and grips the uplifting teeth and they throw the timber back towards the operator. This is the main reason why I always advocate using a riving knife at all times, as well as having the blade fully up for ripping.

Originally Posted by Cheesepuff1407

Hi I am a high school student and I'm in a capstone engineering course where we work on a problem, and try to invent or innovate something to fill that problem. ....

If you would like to add another dimension to your assignment, you might like to collate the published saw safety statistics between different countries - USA, Canada, UK, European countries, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, etc. Whatever you can find.

Then you might like to ponder why they vary so much.

Its your project, so I will say no more.