Hey Eric, (or anyone for that matter), maybe you missed it, but I had asked how that sawstop works. I wasn't being facetious, I'd really like to know how it works. Looks like the blade drops down under the table, but what triggers it and how is it retracted so fast?

 

Really cool, it senses the capacitance at the blade tip, and when it sees meat, it virtually instantaneously drops the blade out of the way. It happens in milliseconds, you will get a nick, but not lose a digit.

My only concern is much like other safety features, people will become so used to them that they get complacent.

 

I saw the sawstop in action at a home show and was really impressed with how it could sense a minute change in capacitance and kill itself.

I have used a table saw sans guards for over 20 years now and had a few mishaps and really only one potentially disastrous one, flipped a piece of 1/2 ply into my stuff. No blood or missing pieces, just a bruised ego and bruised knees from dropping to the floor before I nearly passed out!

A pushstick is really the only way to go when used with ear/eye/face protection. I should probably start wearing a cup too!

 

My brother was a carpenter for 40 years, retired now. I told him the wife bought me a Bosch table saw for Christmas, he just cringed as he said be very careful little brother. Like everything else in life that is dangerous you just need to respect that piece of equipment and know how to properly use it.

 

In high school wood shop we had some really beefy machines that would cost close to $10,000 each today. The shaper we had was reversible. Someone started the shaper in the wrong direction one day and it kicked back really bad. The wood was flung all the way across the shop like a missile. Luckily nobody was hurt.

 

HEY - - WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE ANSWER SCOTT'S QUESTION???? I would really love to know what one is and how they work. Never heard of one. I do have a bad habit of standing to much behind the work rather than to the side. Think I learned that with this vid.

NOW, PLEASE SOMEONE, HELP US DUMMIES. ....

yeh, i know - - i am yelling. CUZ NO 1 IS LIZENING.

DumbBob

 

There ya go.............

 

The Sawstop has a replaceable brake cartridge below the table. There is also a mechanism that can drop the blade below the table within milliseconds. If human flesh touches the blade the brake fires and stops the blade instantaneously. The brake cartridge has to be replaced if triggered. The saw blade is often destroyed too.

The drawbacks are the Sawstop saw is expensive and the mechanism can be triggered by wet wood. There is an override switch.

Swastop is controversial because the inventor went to every major saw manufacturer and tried to get them to license the technology. Nobody licensed the technology so the inventor tried to get the federal government to require this technology on new table saws. The inventor finally started selling his own saws with the technology installed. A lot of commercial shops and schools are installing Sawstops for liability reasons. Insurers are also requiring them as a single claim is often more expensive than one of these saws.

If I was buying a table saw I would certainly consider a Sawstop. They are actually pretty good saws, but not cheap. (Table saws in general aren't cheap anymore.)

 

But how does it work?

The brake cartridge is a consumable spring loaded aluminum device that launches itself into the rotating saw blade to stop it instantaneously, because the blade comes to such a violently quick stop the inertia drops the blade below the table and out of the way.

The sensor detects your finger upon contact of the first tooth and the blade is stopped by the 2nd or 3rd tooth, pretty much instantly.

Pretty much screws up the saw blade.



Now if they could make one for a chainsaw.

I was waiting for this guy to use his own finger, AWSOME

Jim

 

The Aluminum block destroys the blade and the block must be replaced. Cost of the mechanism is about $140 plus a new blade of choice. It simply gets replaced afterwords, and resetting a breaker of sorts, from what I'm told.

You will get a small 1/8" cut on your finger, or hand, but otherwise, you'll be saved abour $100k in surgery.

I have a buddy who has one in his shop. Worth every penny, as it saved his worker from wasting his hand. Workers comp claims are virtually eliminated, although you will crap your pants once you realize what you just did.

Extra expenses:

New underwear $10
Box of Butt wipes $4.00

 

Back in 1962 the first week of wood shop the teacher had us looking in the sawdust hopper for the tip of his finger that he sawed off with the table saw while giving us a safety demonstration.

We found it, but that was before they could put them back on so they gave him a NUB..

Jim

 

Did he keep the finger tip in a jar of formaldehyde, on his desk, as a safety reminder for future students?

 

Hopefully that wasn't an annual demonstration. He might end up "shot handed" before he retired.

Thanks for posting that video Jim. Very interesting and informative.

 

FINALLY!

Awesome Jim, thank you!

 

All of the Boy Scouts were bragging about their camp-outs, we got to brag about the little bloody nub rolled in sawdust with a finger nail.

Jim