SawStop for Highschool Shop

[Dave Sharpe]

Frank,
Welcome to the Creek and the ongoing saga/debate about SawStops. I'm a hobbyist who bought the SawStop contractor's version about a year ago and I'm very happy with it. no problems with the fence, accuracy is great, and the saw seems to power through almost anything I ask of it. Customer service is quick as well - when I unpacked mine there was a fence locking handle missing. One phone call and the handle was on it's way without any argument.

For the last several months I've been teaching some local kids about woodworking on an informal home-school kind of basis. I'm not a teacher by trade, and they're not my kids so I'm very anxious about safety in the shop, and I haven't let them use the tablesaw yet. But I have showed them the braking system and how to use a tablesaw in general. My thoughts are that the kids should be given the knowledge that the saw 'should' help prevent serious injury, but the brake won't activate unless they do something wrong - which will result in at least a minor injury. The owner's manual is very clear on this point - that an injury (albeit a minor scratch) MUST occur in order to trigger the brake. If there's a way to make the kid's responsible for the cost of a new blade and brake, make it clear that any activation - accidental or otherwise - will result in them having to pay the $1oo or more to replace the brake and blade.

When buying the saw, be sure to buy an extra brake system for both the regular blade and for a dado blade. Otherwise the saw is out of service until new cartridges come in. Better to have them on hand so that there is only a short delay while a new cartridge and blade is installed.

I have had two incidents of false triggering of the brake (expensive mistakes). One was when I cut into a hidden screw in the jig I was using, the second was when cutting some cedar that was a bit wet. Both cases were due to my own errors, and while I grumbled about the cost of replacing the cartridge and blades, I;m still glad to have the safety feature. And NO, I've never had the slightest urge to stick my own finger in the blade to test the system!

For what it's worth, I'd think the liability for NOT having a SawStop would be huge in your case. A parent contemplating the end of a child's dreams of being a concert pianaist would be quick to pounce on any school that failed to provide this safety feature. Consider a driver's training program that chose not to require student's to wear seat belts.......

[Dave Sharpe]

OOPS - sorry bout that. I just saw the note about this thread being several years old. Don't mean to fan the SS flame wars.....

[Van Huskey]

Jeebus! I read the whole thread not noticing the dates!

But, for the record and if anyone else seraches the question:

"This saw will be run 8 periods a day 180 days a year by somewhere around 100 different people. If it is not top quality it will simply not hold up. If anyone can give me some input on the quality of the saw, it would be appreciated."

Simple ICS YES, PCS or CS probably not.

[Jeff Monson]

Me too!!! Until I saw Tod Evans and Per Swenson, I thought I was in the twilight zone for a minute! Kind of freaked me out until I looked at the date. I do miss Tods posts though, he IMO gave some really good WW advice.

[Curtis Regentin]

Frank,

I'm a retired high school woodworking instructor. The year I retired (2007) we received a state added cost grant of $15,000. I replaced the shop's three table saws with Saw Stops, one set up for ripping, one for crosscutting, and the last one for dadoing. The administration was delighted! We had two trips in the few months we used them before I left. In one the student ran an aluminum miter fence into the blade, and in the other we videotaped a hot dog test in front of all the woodworking students, board members and administrators. Saw Stop sent us a free replacement cartridge when I called them to order the replacement once they heard why it had kicked.

My replacement is DELIGHTED that the shop has the Saw Stops, and the last I heard has had one additional trip. To my knowledge there have been no kickbacks. After one young man was hit in the most tender of areas, we only had three or four since. I only had to recount that incident each time I did my table saw instruction.

I ended up playing the videotape at the vocational technical banquet just before I left. Since then all the intermediate district woodworking and building trade HS programs have added Saw Stops to their shops. I helped assemble six of them last fall. Saw Stop has definitely improved their manual and the packaging. Assembling those new saws was a treat. Now I'm saving the dollars for one for my home shop.

Good luck on your purchase!

[Jacob Griffith]

Uh, Jacob, this thread was started four years ago. I suspect he isn't still trying to make a decision, unless he's like me.

LOL. I don't pay attention to dates. Although why if no one had posted to the thread for 3 years did it show up on my front page?

[Paul Ryan]

Guys,

I wouldn't get too crazy responding to Frank, he hasn't visited the creek since Feb of 2006. But if you have advice maybe someone else will read this thread.

[Ed Taylor Greensboro NC]

Would use of the SS in a school shop constitute commercial use? How would this affect the warranty? I don't read anything on their website about a different warranty for commercial use, though!

[guy knight]

i own a ics ss and have found the fence to be on par with pm delts jet and mine is flate and true as far as quality build none of the other for mentioned brands come close to its build or quality and as far as running everyday for years of abuse by students it was built to take it and last

[Dave Cav]

One thing no one has mentioned is that you need a good dust collection system to connect to your SS. We have an industrial model at school. The dust collection on the saw is pretty well engineered but my d/c system is in pretty bad shape, and the saw will clog and fill the cabinet very easily. I normally need to check at least once a day to see if the dust collection tube from the blade shroud is plugged up. Hopefully we will get a new d/c system this summer.