Most of us are tool guys so this should interest you. http://www.sawstop.com/ Watch the "Hot Dog" test Stu
The 7 minute video explains it. It is based on sensing the electrical impulse of your skin. Pretty neat shit. The "Features" video shows a slow mo of it working. Destroys the blade and the brake pad is a cartridge that you replace. Small price to pay to keep yer digits. Big $$$ I'm sure but would be great for company's worker liability issues ( damn lawyers!) Safety guy that my brother works with at Honeywell sent it to him. Stu
This has been around for a while. They tried to get big power tool companies to use it but wanted to much licensing for it. It also will cost you about $50 every time the safety is triggered, it does it a lot with damp or pressure treated wood despite what their FAQ says. And the saw is much more expensive than your average table saw. Like $2,799.00 vs. $629.99 for a good professional table saw.
like zman said.. its been around.. the owner of the co couldnt get anyone to buy his idea.. so he built the saws himself.. I use a tablesaw every day.. with 15 - 18 year olds.. as soon as our 40 year old 12 inch saw dies.. were getting one..
I lost my right pinkey last Nov. doing something I've done hundreds of times on my table saw. This time, I was tired from a long day at work and had this self imposed deadline to finish something. I can deal with the missong finger but I still have no grip and can't hold pliers the same. FRUSTRATING. Considering that I was lucky, I'd say the saw looks like a great idea.
A friend of mine is going to work there as an engineer. I guess they looked at all of the major competitors saws and made all the components of theirs bigger and beefier. They are also working on a band saw, and a smaller contractors saw that will be priced a lot more reasonably. My uncle, who has been working with wood all his life, just took off his thumb with a table saw earlier this year. Luckily the neighbor heard it happen, and they were able to get him help quickly. They were able to reattach it, but after what it cost I think he would have rather spent a fraction of that on a safer table saw.
We dont need no stinkin' sawstop! Actually, years ago when this happened I'd have given anything to get that finger back..... Today maybe a hundred bucks or so. Its funny how you adapt....
i use a table saw off and on. i always give myself a little pep talk before i start the day. patience, be carefull, respect, have confindence, and pay attention son. cause that thing will most assuradly take off your digits. seems to work for me. having watched my dad take off the corner of his thumb on a table saw helps too. gary
We have one of these at my school and even with the explanation and a demo (they used a hotdog) I still have no idea how they work but Im glad they do.... lets just say that art students arent exactly the brightest bunch when it comes to power tools.
My buddy teaches wood and cab. at the high school and those are all they have in their shop. He brought all the school administrators in and demonstrated the hot dog test for them...
That is a great idea, I wonder if that same technology can help prevent the wood from "kicking back" too. No missing fingers or anything, but ive had shit kick back on me really hard. I have a scar on my forearm
The technolgy for this is not what would be needed to prevent kickback, you'd need clutch like newer chainsaws have... this is done with how skin (or a hot dog conducts electricity)
I'm the minor injury king. If I used a table saw more than I do now, I'd look into getting one. I would never work a job where I use one day in and day out where I wasn't using one of those saws. That's a pretty sweet saw. I sware, everytime I pick up a power tool, I have tell myself not to fuck up and cut something fleshy off. And that makes me pay attention. I have a short attention span and try to do a lot of little tasks. Take one look at the mechanic's glove that I bought earlier this summer and you'd see what I'm talking about. I need to buy a new pair due to the fact that the pair I have are all nicked up from various cutoff wheels. Better those glove then my fingers... Vance
If the guy had any balls,he'd forget holding the hotdog & have the saw barely nick his own finger,,, for the demo video. Think it's a dumn idea?,,,Would I do it?...No. Remember when Bill Simpson came out with his new firesuits & set himself on fire on pit row at Indy? I pretty sure Bill sold quite a few firesuits after that stunt & made a few bucks to boot.
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