Sawstop accidental safety trip

[jack duren]

Lot's of long time, retired, or dead woodworkers cut their finger off or otherwise incurred serious injury (and I'm sure none of them intended to do so). You can say that you "think" you'll never make a mistake on a table saw that results in injury but anyone who believes he'll never make a mistake is living in an alternate reality.

Mike

Agree.......

[mreza Salav]

This thread piqued my curiosity. I turned my SS on and waited for the green light. I then experimented with varying degrees of pressure and touched the blade in different locations. It seemed that approaching a tooth on the blade from a 45 degree angle failed to turn on the red trigger light. Other parts of the blade required varying degrees of contact pressure to trigger.

It was explained in this forum years ago by Steve Gass (the inventor/owner) that it works based on two different methods to detect flesh contact.
One (capacitive) is, for example, when you touch the side of a teflon coated blade. If you touch the sharp corner of a tooth with a dry hand it doesn't detect it unless your hand has enough moisture or it cuts a little bit of skin to get moisture to detect it.

[Chris Fournier]

Only the two that attach the handle are screws. The holes in the piece at the back do not have any screws in them - it's glued on.

I don't worry much about the two screws that are in the handle because I'd have to cut through the wood for them to reach the blade.

Mike

Well that makes perfect sense to me Mike, thanks for clarifying your picture.

[jack duren]

If you don't own a ss, & continue to argue the point that the fella who thinks he'll never have a ts accident lives in an alternate reality. In my first post, I didn't say anything about "never" having a ts accident, or the anticipation of one. I'm not going to sit here & tell you I've not made mistakes on the the ts, because I don't see the need to deal with your misinterpretation of my post.

The fact of the matter is, if a feller feels he's safer using a ss, it's ok. His money, his shop. But all it takes is one injury, & it creates a fear of the machine. And that is not an alternate reality. It's reality!

Now, my budget in reality will not allow that kind of money for a saw, so I learn to use my table saw as safely as possible, & get to know what it will do so I can make the decision whether or not to use the ts, or another saw for the job at hand. This reduces injuries, & helps to get the job done safely. In reality.

A SawStop should not give you any sense of security. You should operate any table saw the same with or without the technology..

Hobby woodworkers have a choice whether to use a table saw or not. That is your choice. A professional does not, it's their job...

[glenn bradley]

4500+ views. It's amazing how some topics fire up the conversation.

[jack duren]

I try not to get involved but there are just some..........

[Andrew J. Coholic]

I try not to get involved but there are just some..........

Sometimes different viewpoints are interesting. In a respectful way, its all good.

For me, it was a few other decisions... as a working shop, always having employees, I often care more about their well being and safety than my own. I know it would kill me to have one of my guys have a serious accident. And anything I can do to help prevent that is worth it in my opinion.

Another issue, is I have two young sons. Two sons who, like I was with my dad, will probably want to hang around the shop some day and start working/helping/making stuff.

WHen I was 12 or 13, (over 30 years ago) and barely tall enough to comfortably reach over one of the Unisaws we had in the shop, my father just let me go so to speak. Minimal instruction, quick safety talk and I was using the table saw. I learned over the years how to use all the shop machinery safely. But, it scares the hell out of me thinking some day I will have to see my own boys start using the equipment in my shop. And its not that far away... I will be sure to teach them as best as I can - but it will certainly make me feel somewhat more at ease knowing that extra measure of protection is there. And I wont be too worried about a cartidge or blade loss, if it happens.

[jack duren]

It's not the view point that's the problem. It's the silly view points.

It's really isn't an option in a professional shop. The cost of an injury out weighs the cost of a hospital.

[Roger Feeley]

I got my guy to fix an Amana combination blade once after a trip.

I've had two trips. Both my stupid fault.

[Nick Decker]

Hope the idiot club has room for one more. Set off the brake this morning for the first time. I use an Incra sled, with one of their miter gauges mounted to it. I wanted to make some bevel cuts using just the miter gauge without the sled, so I removed the gauge. What I forgot to do was readjust the fence position. With the blade tilted to the left for the bevel, it wasn't as obvious that the fence would contact the blade.

Surprised the hell out of me, but wasn't as earth shaking as I had imagined. I guess I was expecting an impact like that to make the saw jump off the floor or something. Made a very tiny ding in the aluminum fence, but I had to look very closely to find it. All is well except for my wallet.

[Jim Colombo]

they fixed mine

[Alan Lightstone]

I've triggered mine twice. Neither one with flesh. The most expensive was the first, where I messed up a Freud dado set. It was easy to get repaired, though the outside diameter was slightly less on the repaired blades, and so I eventually got rid of it.

That being said, I'm a true believer in the technology.

[Roger Marty]

Can you elaborate what can go wrong when jointing? Even when face jointing, it seems "safe" to me.

[Mike Henderson]

Can you elaborate what can go wrong when jointing? Even when face jointing, it seems "safe" to me.

I don't know how jointer accidents happen, but I know they changed the design of the part of the jointer that holds the blades in an effort to reduce injury when accidents happen. People were losing their hands in jointer accidents in the old design.

So jointer accidents happen but I, for one, have never looked into how they happen. But you can bet, if an accident can happen, someone will have an accident.

Mike

[Roger Marty]

Interesting. Well I'm using a 1930s Boice Crane jointer. It is not obvious to me why keeping your hand on top of the wood as you move the face over the blades is a No No. Yeah, keep your fingers away from the edge for sure.