Anyone have any experience, knowledge or opinion about the SawStop table saw? http://www.sawstop.com/ It has the unique safety feature that stops the blade within 5 milliseconds of detecting contact with skin.
Kevin Francis
(The Insurance Guy)

I think Sterling Surfaces owns one.  If I can remember correctly, it actually saved someone.  Jon will probably chime in here.

They work excellent!  My cabinet door supplier has them on all their saws. They said twice it has stopped and only just a nick on a finger. I believe the advertisement shows them touch a rip blade with a hot dog. It barely even breaks the skin. 

I believe, once it activates, you much either replace the unit or replace something. I was told very expensive to replace... but cheaper than a finger..

We have one and yes we have had an accident. Well, more appropriately, I had the accident. I will tell you that the 500 for the replacement brake and the new 80 blade were well worth me not have one less digit. It is definitely not the cheapest option when it comes to table saws but it is WELL worth it.

Why did you have to replace the blade?

The saw blade has and electronic detection system that detects when a person comes into contact with the blade. When that happens, the blade retracts back into the body of the saw (spring activated) and jams itself into an aluminum brake pawl. It stops the blade really fast but it destroys it in the process.

http://www.sawstop.com/howitworks/s...epaper.pdf

It has been a couple of years since the "accident" and you can hardly even tell that anything happened. If you didn't know that it was there, you would never know that I stopped a table saw with my finger.

I have also found out that it wasn't 500 for the replacement brake but only 70!(I'm too young to be losing my memory. Crap!) The guys at sawstop just told me that you can get a no cost replacement if you send in the old one and they can prove that skin caused the stoppage. Either way, it is totally worth the expenditure for the saw.

Adam, so the next time an employee wants to test the saw with a hot dog, I can see the shop foreman grabbing the employees finger and dragging it against the stopped blade.

Posted By Norm Walters on 05 Feb 2009 07:37 PM
Adam, so the next time an employee wants to test the saw with a hot dog, I can see the shop foreman grabbing the employees finger and dragging it against the stopped blade.

Or maybe his throat.

Johnny C

We had one at the shop I ran.  Let me tell you how good they are.  We did not have a person in contact with ours but a staple that was buried in the wood.  I thought it only detected flesh but I guess a difference in the current of wood vs. other materials.  Anyway it was just a wire staple from the cabinet shop and it did not cut all the way thru that one leg of the staple.  I would get one in a heart beat.  If an accident was to occur it more than paid for itself.

The contempt shown for the saftey of their customers should cause a boycott of all other major saw manufacturers.

Too bad Island Woodworks didn't have a Sawstop on December 5, 1979. They pinned the bones in my index and middle fingers. I'm missing a piece of the tip of the middle and mangled the nail bed of the ring finger if you look closely:



Joe

How much is the saw?

Joe,

Great article. 

Andy,

Ready the article and you will know how much it is.  OK, I will save you the time.
The one you would need is $2500.00.

Linda

 

 

These swas are great!

I would also add that you should let your insurance company know you have this tool. Many insurance companies now give discounts for having this tool.

So let me ask a dumb ?  since I know nothing about how these saws work.   Does static electricity trigger them?  Or materials that cuduct electricity?    If so it seems like some platics or pvc would set off the cartrige.

Posted By David G. on 24 Mar 2009 09:29 PM
So let me ask a dumb ?  since I know nothing about how these saws work.   Does static electricity trigger them?  Or materials that cuduct electricity?    If so it seems like some platics or pvc would set off the cartrige.

David:


"Gass came up with the idea of running a small electrical charge through the blade. The system would sense when the blade hit flesh because the body would absorb some of the charge. The resulting drop in voltage would be enough to trigger the brake and stop the blade almost instantly."

Click on the link in my above post for the whole story.

Joe

Posted By The SS Tech Guy on 07 Feb 2009 09:05 AM

These swas are great!

I would also add that you should let your insurance company know you have this tool. Many insurance companies now give discounts for having this tool.

Bill:

Pardon my cynicism, but I'd fall out of my chair if an insurance man came up with a way to reduce premiums. Their job is to reduce risk, keep premiums the same and pocket the difference.

I would really like to be proven wrong about this.

Joe

Awsome tool, I had the pleasure of seeing these demoed back in 2000 at a Dupont meeting in Orlando, every fabricator that got a chance to see the thing wanted it, I'm very surprised that these guys don't market their product alot more than they do.

I thought at one time either a group here or on the ISSFA board was trying to negotiate a group buy for these saws, maybe you guys should consider restarting the negotiations, this would be a great group buy and think of the marketing power for the company to say that 20 guys from "The fab network" are proud users of the saw, Sawstop could just send prosepective customers to the forum to read all the great testimonials.

Just a thought.

I'm always open to group buys on Laser Products!!!