3 ms·

From what I saw, the entire system is more or less single use, resulting in a destruction of the sawblade and the catch. As well as severe shock to the drive. I

From what I saw, the entire system is more or less single use, resulting in a destruction of the sawblade and the catch. As well as severe shock to the drive. I'm not one bit surprised there is serious opposition to the idea, capitalism and all

pfranz 9y ago
Well, you'd only lose your blade and cartridge if you would have otherwise cut yourself...so it sounds like a good trade. Yes, it does get triggered if you have a stray nail in your wood (bad idea) or if the wood is too wet. But from the little experience I have, it'd only be triggered by wood that's wetter than you'd want to cut in the first place. SawStop is used at our community woodshop. I've seen it go off (someone touched by blade after they turned off the table saw, but before the blade at stopped spinning), but I haven't heard of it harming the table saw in any way.
- Super_Jambo 9y ago
  Going to depend on the strength of the axle, also if saw stop are insisting on licensing the tech at 100$ a saw then people will be priced out of the market completely.
- WalterBright 9y ago
  If the blade had slowed down substantially before it was set off, the potential for damage would be greatly reduced.
  - AstralStorm 9y ago
    Oh and why not just instead use a clutch to disconnect the drive instead? There is one already I bet. Without motive force the blade stops in your hand without explosions. It has low mass so low momentum. (This won't work for massive blades but neither will exploding them. You will need an active brake.) However the patent is on the dumb detector and is overly wide.
    - cr0sh 9y ago
      Have you ever used a table saw? When shut off, the blade doesn't have "low momentum"; if it were clutched, it would still be spinning fast enough to seriously mangle or sever fingers. An active brake won't be fast enough. Remember, each tooth is flying at an insane amount of speed; you need to be able to stop the saw dead in a fraction of the length of the tooth (within the length of about 3/4" - about the thickness of an adult hand/finger). You don't - you can't - do that with a friction brake, or even some hypothetical friction plus e-braking (regenerative braking). That spinning mass of steel has a ton of momentum, even disconnected from the motor. The only way to reliably stop is is to quickly jam something non-yielding into the teeth of the saw. If you can figure out another way, kudos to you! But I would suggest you first learn about what and how a table saw works first, just to know what kind of forces you are dealing with. They are anything but small.
mturmon 9y ago
Even a very good blade is in the neighborhood of $100. The catch is about $70. The trunnion and drive mechanism of the Sawstop is very solid, it's meant to cope with these shocks. This is nowhere near what a hand injury would be. The table saw is the most dangerous piece of equipment in a standard wood shop. Even very experienced people can get into trouble on a table saw. It's kind of like the F# versus C conversation, but with your hand.

pfranz 9y ago

Well, you'd only lose your blade and cartridge if you would have otherwise cut yourself...so it sounds like a good trade. Yes, it does get triggered if you have a stray nail in your wood (bad idea) or if the wood is too wet. But from the little experience I have, it'd only be triggered by wood that's wetter than you'd want to cut in the first place. SawStop is used at our community woodshop. I've seen it go off (someone touched by blade after they turned off the table saw, but before the blade at stopped spinning), but I haven't heard of it harming the table saw in any way.

Super_Jambo 9y ago
Going to depend on the strength of the axle, also if saw stop are insisting on licensing the tech at 100$ a saw then people will be priced out of the market completely.
WalterBright 9y ago
If the blade had slowed down substantially before it was set off, the potential for damage would be greatly reduced.
- AstralStorm 9y ago
  Oh and why not just instead use a clutch to disconnect the drive instead? There is one already I bet. Without motive force the blade stops in your hand without explosions. It has low mass so low momentum. (This won't work for massive blades but neither will exploding them. You will need an active brake.) However the patent is on the dumb detector and is overly wide.
  - cr0sh 9y ago
    Have you ever used a table saw? When shut off, the blade doesn't have "low momentum"; if it were clutched, it would still be spinning fast enough to seriously mangle or sever fingers. An active brake won't be fast enough. Remember, each tooth is flying at an insane amount of speed; you need to be able to stop the saw dead in a fraction of the length of the tooth (within the length of about 3/4" - about the thickness of an adult hand/finger). You don't - you can't - do that with a friction brake, or even some hypothetical friction plus e-braking (regenerative braking). That spinning mass of steel has a ton of momentum, even disconnected from the motor. The only way to reliably stop is is to quickly jam something non-yielding into the teeth of the saw. If you can figure out another way, kudos to you! But I would suggest you first learn about what and how a table saw works first, just to know what kind of forces you are dealing with. They are anything but small.

mturmon 9y ago

Even a very good blade is in the neighborhood of $100. The catch is about $70. The trunnion and drive mechanism of the Sawstop is very solid, it's meant to cope with these shocks. This is nowhere near what a hand injury would be. The table saw is the most dangerous piece of equipment in a standard wood shop. Even very experienced people can get into trouble on a table saw. It's kind of like the F# versus C conversation, but with your hand.