Occupational Health & Safety: SawStop table saws (debuted 2005) detect flesh on the spinning blade, stopping and dropping the blade in less than 5 milliseconds.
The advent of this engineered solution in table saws has disrupted the paradigm of blade hazards. Given the ubiquity of table saws across industries, many organizations are finding it necessary to examine the SawStop solution.
2 comments:
For starters I've tried to follow as much of the talk surrounding SawStop product/discussions as possible so I plan on tuning in for this webcast.
Second, the more I see and read about the product, including but not limited to marketing materials, reviews, discussions, proposed mandates...etc, the more I've begun to realize that some of the information presented is incomplete. For example (and I understand that this is a tactic of marketing the tool and its "safety features") publications explain that the saw is able to deflect "detect flesh on the spinning blade" subsequently triggering the brake. Some publications stop here, others go on to include the explanation that this is because the blade actually senses the elevated electrical current that contacts the blade (the flesh). What I generally find lacking in this information is the publications rarely go on to include examples of other items and material that are also capable of triggering the break because they are more conductive than wood, or more conductive than flesh or what the cutoff point is. I feel that this more detailed and accurate information would be more helpful to consumers than simply saying it's safer because it can "detect flesh on the spinning blade."
It is interesting that OHS is having this discussion but I am sure that Saw Stop is funding every part of it. If this group supports their products they will make even more money selling more products. I feel that the Saw Stop is a safer saw but it does make people more lax about the table saw. They may go to work with saw not respecting it as much and possibly will trigger it and when they go to a saw without this feature they may hurt themselves. Also I am not sold on the technology till the inverter or head of the company slaps his hand down on to the blade as if he was falling on to the blade and he is not hurt. It is will be interesting what will come out of this.
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