Have any woodworkers seen Sawstop?

hmurchisonhmurchison
Posted:
in AppleOutsider edited January 2014
http://www.sawstop.com/



It's a technology that allows Table Saw to shut off before slicing through flesh as the flesh is conductive.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHrmvQKevfI



The owner tests it out on his own finge!





I've always had a desire to work with wood but I'm part pansy part musician. Cutting a digit off would pretty much wreck my sax playing and forget learning guitar. I'd spend the extra ducats to protect them.



I just ran into a maintainance guy that took off the top of his pointer finger when the wood he was cutting kicked up with the saw blade (shudder).



Fantastic design and ingenuity.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hmurchison View Post


    http://www.sawstop.com/



    It's a technology that allows Table Saw to shut off before slicing through flesh as the flesh is conductive.



    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHrmvQKevfI



    The owner tests it out on his own finge!





    I've always had a desire to work with wood but I'm part pansy part musician. Cutting a digit off would pretty much wreck my sax playing and forget learning guitar. I'd spend the extra ducats to protect them.



    I just ran into a maintainance guy that took off the top of his pointer finger when the wood he was cutting kicked up with the saw blade (shudder).



    Fantastic design and ingenuity.



    I actually do quite a bit of woodworking and I have misgivings about this kind of system.



    I would say, as a backup for safe practices, great. However, if it lulled you into getting sloppy around the saw, very bad, since the system is predicated on the electronics working properly.



    Fine Woodworking did a survey on shop injuries once, and concludes that the vast majority of serious injuries occur amongst people with either almost no experience or people with a great deal of experience-- the former due to ignorance and the latter due to complacence.



    You can get hurt just as bad on a table saw from kick-back as you can from the blade, so things like proper adjustment of the fence, using a splitter and hold downs, how you position your body and the workpiece, how you shift your weight as you move the workpiece through the cut, etc., are all as important, if not more important, than keeping your hands well clear of the blade area.



    But, as I say, as a fail safe device it looks great, and if widely adopted might preserve some fingers. But people still need to learn how to use a table saw safely.
  • Reply 2 of 6
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,392member
    Fantastic article about the trouble the inventor (Gass) has gone through to get the technology licensed.



    http://www.inc.com/magazine/20050701...ptor-gass.html







    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox


    But, as I say, as a fail safe device it looks great, and if widely adopted might preserve some fingers. But people still need to learn how to use a table saw safely.



    I agree but considering this technology has been available since 2000 and not one major Power Tool company has licensed the technology.



    Doesn't this open up incumbent Table Saw manufacturers to law suits? Why should I have my fingers cut off when there exists technology that could prevent such a tragedy?



    Working with saws should always be done with great care but even amongst professionals the split second lapse of concentration can mean amputated digits.



    I'm personally not buying a table saw without Saw Stop technology. Look at your fingers ..do you want to afford all ten of them every bit of technology to ensure their safety?



    What it tells me also is that once again larger corporations are about profits and marketing and they don't really give a rip about safety.
  • Reply 3 of 6
    @_@ artman@_@ artman Posts: 5,231member
    New first law of Robotics: A robot shall not harm a hot dog, or through inaction allow a hot dog to come to harm.
  • Reply 4 of 6
    nvidia2008nvidia2008 Posts: 9,262member
    I wish the inventor all the best. It is this kind of American creativity and innovation that will see the USA survive the economic hounds of globalisation.



    Personally, though, I want my own Aluminium-unibody-making machine. I plug it into my Mac, design something in Apple's latest iCreate application, then Boom! I have my own one more thing...



    Better still (I know we're getting closer to this, them' 3D fab thingys, but this is Aluminium unibody so it's more sexy)... I log on to Apple's iCreate Store, order a MacBook Pro, download the DRM creation plans, hook up the Unibody Machine Personal Edition™, and Boom! No more waiting by the door, hoping each engine sound is the delivery truck coming over with your new Preciousss*...



    *They probably need something within the next 20 years where you can "print" your own circuit complete with CPU, GPU etc. Imagine a "sheet" which you purchase first, then once you download the "blueprints" the Unibody Machine will also "print" the CPU, GPU, circuits, etc. into the "sheet". Hell, maybe if you bought an Aluminium (or some other material) "blank slate", you put it in the Unibody Machine and it will cut, etch, laser, print circuits, CPU, GPU, battery, etc.



    Oh, the Unibody Machine also helps recycle... It's 2021 and you're sick of your 2020 model MacBook Elite? Just throw the whole thing into the Unibody Machine, pay the "upgrade" fee of x,xxx dollars, and Boom! You've got the latest Mac notebook!
  • Reply 5 of 6
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,167moderator
    I wonder how it copes with pushing an item with force into the machine. With the hotdog and finger, they put it in very slowly. If you were guiding a panel through with a bit of momentum, I would expect a little more damage. It still looks like it would react quickly though and should certainly be enough to save a digit, or limb when it comes to handheld saws and tree cutters.



    I actually think the handheld market would be better for this - they are seriously dangerous. When you see people climbing up shaky ladders trying to prune branches with chainsaws. One slip could be disastrous:



    http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/s...005962,00.html

    http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...icle607350.ece

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3534320.stm

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sussex/7644404.stm

    http://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/...ent.3895963.jp



    It doesn't really have to stop the spinning blades/teeth but retract them very quickly so that nothing gets damaged.



    Thing is, table saws are used by butchers too for cutting meat so this mechanism won't protect them at all. A mechanism to detect human tissue would be the only way.
  • Reply 6 of 6
    nvidia2008nvidia2008 Posts: 9,262member
    After watching the video, I must say it is pretty damn impressive. It could have a much wider range of applications. Forget 25 billion to the screwed up auto industry, give this guy several million dollars and that would be a worthwhile investment!



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hmurchison View Post


    http://www.sawstop.com/



    It's a technology that allows Table Saw to shut off before slicing through flesh as the flesh is conductive.



    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHrmvQKevfI



    The owner tests it out on his own finge!





    I've always had a desire to work with wood but I'm part pansy part musician. Cutting a digit off would pretty much wreck my sax playing and forget learning guitar. I'd spend the extra ducats to protect them.



    I just ran into a maintainance guy that took off the top of his pointer finger when the wood he was cutting kicked up with the saw blade (shudder).



    Fantastic design and ingenuity.



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