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In 2015, 4,700 people in the US lost a finger or other body part to table-saw incidents. Most of those injuries didn't have to happen, thanks to technology invented in 1999 by entrepreneur Stephen Gass. By giving his blade a slight electric charge, his saw is able to detect contact with a human hand and stop spinning in a few milliseconds. A widely circulated video[1] shows a test on a hot dog that leaves the wiener unscathed.
Now federal regulators are considering whether to make Gass' technology mandatory in the table-saw industry. The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced plans for a new rule in May, and the rules could take effect in the coming months.
But established makers of power tools vehemently object. They say the mandate could double the cost of entry-level table saws and destroy jobs in the power-tool industry. They also point out that Gass holds dozens of patents on the technology. If the CPSC makes the technology mandatory for table saws, that could give Gass a legal monopoly over the table-saw industry until at least 2021, when his oldest patents expire.
At the same time, table-saw related injuries cost society billions every year. The CPSC predicts switching to the safer saw design will save society $1,500 to $4,000 per saw sold by reducing medical bills and lost work.
"You commissioners have the power to take one of the most dangerous products ever available to consumers and make it vastly safer," Gass said at a CPSC public hearing on Wednesday.
[1] SawStop Hot dog Video - Saw blade retracts within 5 milliseconds of accidental contact - YouTube.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Saturday August 12 2017, @04:39AM (4 children)
You can't use the safety cover when you're doing a non through-hole cut.
And people don't do things perfectly even in the best circumstances.
As for standing away from the blade line, if you're talking about kick-back, it doesn't help that American saw makers refuse to use riving knives instead of their shitty splitters. Riving knives pretty much eliminate kick-back, and are required on all European saws, but as usual the Americans are decades behind (I think the newer Powermatics have them though). And unlike the tech in this article, riving knives don't cost any more in materials than the shitty old-fashioned splitters.
(Score: 3, Informative) by frojack on Saturday August 12 2017, @04:59AM
The tech in this article doesn't cost much either. They charge a lot for it, but the cost of production of the sensor and blade brakes is easily lost in the price of a good saw. Maybe not so easy on your home Depot weekend hobby saw.
My friend has this on his saw. He builds custom cabinets. His brother lost a thumb in the same trade.
He showed me the sausage test in person. He also showed how a wet chunk of wood was unsawable, even if you wanted to saw it.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @05:33AM
As of 2009, Underwriters Laboratories (UL) requires that all new table saw designs include a riving knife.
(Score: 2) by el_oscuro on Saturday August 12 2017, @08:32PM (1 child)
While I don't know the exact regulations, riving knifes became common here about 4-5 years ago. I was in the market for a new tablesaw and wanted one with a riving knife, so I waited for them. I was going to get the Bosch with the gravity stand, but Rigid made an equivalent model that $500 instead of $600, and more important, it was on the shop floor.
The riving knife on my saw is quite nice, and I have never made a cut without it. Many saws have shitty knives, but I haven't seen one with a splitter in years. And all of those splitters were so shitty the first thing we did was remove it.
A few years ago on Fine Woodworking, they had a slow motion video about kick back and why it is so dangerous. It's not the wood being thrown in your face. It is feeding the wood through, and having your fingers in front of the blade when the kickback happens. The kickback will draw your fingers back though the blade very violently.
The simple expedient of always finishing cuts with your fingers still behind the blade will prevent the most dangerous kickback accidents, and wearing a face guard should help with the rest.
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(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Saturday August 12 2017, @09:09PM
A few years ago on Fine Woodworking, they had a slow motion video about kick back and why it is so dangerous. It's not the wood being thrown in your face. It is feeding the wood through, and having your fingers in front of the blade when the kickback happens. The kickback will draw your fingers back though the blade very violently.
No, it's both. Having wood shot at you is also very dangerous: it can hit your face, or your chest. I've heard of people getting killed by a piece of wood shooting back at them.