Using a table saw

[LelandCrooks]

Just saw this:
"This week, news emerged that Consumer Products Safety Commission Chairwoman Inez Tenenbaum has directed her staff to draft a new tablesaw safety regulation package, which will be released for public comment in September. Does this mean we're one step closer to higher tool prices? Who knows? The fact of the matter is that opinions differ widely, regarding exactly how much SawStop-style technology would add to the base price of a tablesaw. While SawStop inventor Steve Gass puts the cost at about $100 per unit, other industry insiders beg to differ. And quite frankly, they're not too keen on having to pay Gass and his crew for the licensing. Case in point: Bosch, which is trumpeting its own newly designed blade guards before the feds. According to Bosch representatives, their new breed of tablesaw blade guard is hands-down, infinitely better than the old school guards so many woodworkers habitually take off their saws the moment they assemble them."

Here come the feds!

The industry has been losing lawsuits. Last year Ryobi lost a several million dollar suit for fingers, because they don't have it on the saw. It's their own damn fault. He shopped his tech to all of them. Every last one turned it down. So he started his own saw company. Have you ever seen a guard that was not in the way at some point? I swore to leave mine on when I got my new jet a couple of years ago. That lasted all of two days.

[Bruce Weldy]

Truth is that I'm way more afraid of my miter saw than the table saw. I've made more dumb mistakes there....and paid for it with some sore, numb fingers a few weeks ago because I got in a hurry and had the saw grab a piece of plywood. It sounded like a gunshot. Knocked out a little piece of the back fence and it was a couple of weeks before I ever found the piece of wood that it threw out of there.

Moral of the story is that there isn't a safe way to just "knock off a little of this corner" - every cut should be viewed with as much importance as any other. Don't try to shortcut safety just because it's a little cut.

[Dan30]

Those sawstops are gnarly! If you have one already have you tripped it yet?

I'm cheap so I'm waiting for one of the closest dealers to have an order to combine with mine. I don't really want to spend 500 bucks on freight.

My business partner has offered to pay to trip one when I get them just to see it. Repairs are only about 60 bucks, but it also destroys the blade.

I think just dropping the saw to an unreachable area would have been a better idea but when you can make money on repairs and new blades why would you do anything else.

Just saw this:
"This week, news emerged that Consumer Products Safety Commission Chairwoman Inez Tenenbaum has directed her staff to draft a new tablesaw safety regulation package, which will be released for public comment in September. Does this mean we're one step closer to higher tool prices? Who knows? The fact of the matter is that opinions differ widely, regarding exactly how much SawStop-style technology would add to the base price of a tablesaw. While SawStop inventor Steve Gass puts the cost at about $100 per unit, other industry insiders beg to differ. And quite frankly, they're not too keen on having to pay Gass and his crew for the licensing. Case in point: Bosch, which is trumpeting its own newly designed blade guards before the feds. According to Bosch representatives, their new breed of tablesaw blade guard is hands-down, infinitely better than the old school guards so many woodworkers habitually take off their saws the moment they assemble them."

Here come the feds!

The industry has been losing lawsuits. Last year Ryobi lost a several million dollar suit for fingers, because they don't have it on the saw. It's their own damn fault. He shopped his tech to all of them. Every last one turned it down. So he started his own saw company. Have you ever seen a guard that was not in the way at some point? I swore to leave mine on when I got my new jet a couple of years ago. That lasted all of two days.

My dad's Ryobi circular saw has no safety switch/button aside from the blade guard you can just pull the trigger as if it's a gun, so I can see where Ryobi is/has dropped the ball.

[BrentEvans]

I think just dropping the saw to an unreachable area would have been a better idea but when you can make money on repairs and new blades why would you do anything else.

If the saw is spinning, it can still do damage. Moving a whole motor assembly and blade while the saw is running is several orders of magnitude more difficult as well... you'd have to have an actuator not just capable of moving 10-15 pounds about 10 inches, but one that can do so in a fraction of a second, and then you run the risk of the blade not being able to retract completely because it is blocked by whatever is on the table. In most table saw designs, this would require the retraction actuator to push the blade TOWARD you in order to make sure it's free of the uncut material, which doesn't seem wise, since you're already getting cut at this point.

Sawstop is cheap in comparison to loss of the utility of your hand and the pain that goes along with that. Also, the thought of potentially being out of a saw for a bit and a hundred bucks or more if you goof is something to keep you practicing good safety and not tripping the darn thing in the first place.

[el_ingeniero]

I thought about buying a table saw. Craigslist had a restored, belt-driven 14" monster from the 40's with a cast iron table about the size of 1/2 a pingpong table and a sweet, sweet fence I would dearly love to have had one point, but I didn have $900 nor do I have shop space that could take 2/3rds of a ton without it falling though the floor.

But to tell the truth, the only one I'd ever get is a Sawstop. I use a keyboard for work, so I could't deal with losing fingers or a hand. I wouldn't want to have anything else around with kids around either.

[Ken Lustgarten]

Truth is that I'm way more afraid of my miter saw than the table saw. I've made more dumb mistakes there....and paid for it with some sore, numb fingers a few weeks ago because I got in a hurry and had the saw grab a piece of plywood. It sounded like a gunshot. Knocked out a little piece of the back fence and it was a couple of weeks before I ever found the piece of wood that it threw out of there.

Moral of the story is that there isn't a safe way to just "knock off a little of this corner" - every cut should be viewed with as much importance as any other. Don't try to shortcut safety just because it's a little cut.

The miter saw is more dangerous then most people realise. One of the major problems is the fence. The compound angles for both left and right cuts leave a big hole. When using a sliding miter saw you are pushing the wood into this hole and kickbacks are the result. Adding a piece of wood for a sacrificial fence makes it a lot safer. I have a special 79 tooth blade that was the result of wood pinching because the skimpy stock fence did not provide enough support. Never did find where that tooth went. It is scary when you think about how fast the blade spins, that tooth wood have been a bullet!

I have used table saws all my life both for hobby and as a professional carpenter. I have never had any kind of an accident not even a single kickback, this is with unguarded saws (skill + luck!). That is one tool that I have always had a healthy dose of respect for. As I get older I want to use it less and less. There are alternatives. The guideboard and circular saw method works pretty good. I started with that and then went with an E Emerson straight edge, then to Festool, and finally with the EZ System by Eurekazone and it is the ideal system for me. Any of these methods are a much safer way to handle sheet goods and the EZ is unique in that it is also perfect for hardwoods and very small pieces as well.

Find a method that you feel comfortable with. If you have a son like I do think about is this what I want to teach him to use? I decided that I would teach a better way then the table saw! Even with the Sawstop you are not protected from a kickback, just getting cut by the blade. I have seen some people badly hurt by kickbacks and the right one can still mangle some fingers as there is an unbelievable amount of force generated.

Be careful, be focused, be alert, and don't push past your abilities and bypass proper safety in order to "get done"

[TimeWarp]

..... or elsed they will call you Stumpy

[lincsoldbird]

I do,nt know what type of saw bench you have got but if it won,t take a full 8x4 sheet ,ie panel saw, you are better cutting your panels roughly to size with a jig saw. Then doing you final cut with your saw bench.The blade will only cut you if you touch it so make sure you keep a good foot away at all times and use push sticks.
wounded horse if you,r not happy cutting your sheets give me a pm and I will cut them for you, I,m lucky enough to have a 3m panel saw.

[wounded horse]

That's very kind Paul. I do it now by cutting oversize with the hand circular then on the table. I even use that little squiggle for face side and edge that my woodwork teacher taught us back in 67.

[lincsoldbird]

I even use that little squiggle for face side and edge that my woodwork teacher taught us back in 67.


Steady thats far to advanced for me.

[LelandCrooks]

My sawstops will be in next week.

[Harley]

So Leland, when the stop saw is activated, there is actually some damage occurring ??? Why is that?

And I think in one of the posts it mentioned a $60.00 fix - right ( small price to pay for saving a finger though )

[LelandCrooks]

It has an arm that slams into the blade which absorbs the impact and is destroyed like the crumple zone on a car. It also destroys the blade.

http://www.sawstop.com/how-it-works/ The bottom video.

[AntonZ]

Will you have one or two camera's running when you and your partner test the sawstop, Leland? I'd love to see "real world" footage (but do not test on real world hands, please).

[Bruce Weldy]

Will you have one or two camera's running when you and your partner test the sawstop, Leland? I'd love to see "real world" footage (but do not test on real world hands, please).

I've seen it tested with a wiener......not Anthony, Oscar Meyer.