"George Max" wrote in message
...

Yeah, I know. I read the story in Design News today. Probably read
some of the same stuff I'd read before but forgot. He definitely has
an adversarial relationship with the tool makers.

Yeah, LOL They are afraid of him, guaranteed.

A similar story, when I was 29 I worked for an Oldsmobile dealership in
Houston. I was the service sales manager and during one of our weekly
meetings with the owner he informed us on how a meeting went with all the
area Old's dealers that took him to lunch and bought him drinks. Our
franchise was only about 1 year old and the dealers wanted to tell our boss
how " It worked".
Our dealer decided to not have car salesmen and instead soaped the bottom
sell price on the wind shield of each car. The customer paid that price,
period. That price did not allow enough profit for a salesman and or his
comission. The other dealers were loosing sales to us in a serious way and
they did not like it. That workded very well for many years.


BTW, aside from the tool industry being in opposition to this,
Underwriters Laboratory (UL) is also in opposition to the CPSC filing.
I'm taking that to mean that there's likely more to this than money or
legal issues.

Sounds like it.


I'm thinking reliability and the possible issue of false triggering.
Personally, I'd really hate to wreck a Forrest WW2 that way.

As would I however I enjoy or don't enjoy the value of actual experience and
have a different view on that subject. I was not too big on the saw either
until I learned from SawStop many years ago that the cartridge works when a
dado blade is installed and when the saw is turned OFF. My accident
involved both and was not during the normal operation of the saw. I
certainly would have rather lost a blade than half of my thumb.
Additionally I had the same view as most others here, I am too careful for
this to happen to me. My friends and relatives could not believe that this
happend to me, of all people. I had no idea what happeded until 1 year
later when It almost happened again. Accidents happen whether you are
prepaired or not. Thinking you are safe and thinking you are doing
everything safely does not always work.


And now the matter of government regulation.

I don't know that we're going to completely agree on this. Here's
where I am: Consider airbags in cars: I don't see the Saw Stop as a
device of similar importance. There are far more cars than saws and
the cost of injurys due to automobiles is surely far greater.

Where would you draw the line? Do you not already know that *all* the
tools in your shop that have an edge can cut and injure? Are you
careless with their use? I'll bet you and I already know the answers
to those.

My line moves a lot. As I learn and become more experienced my line goes
farther towards more safety.
I already know that the tools in my shop can harm me with out being turned
on. Its the ability to help prevent a more serious unexpected injury that
concerns me more. Common injuries are easier to prevent. It's the injury
that you have never heard of or dreamed about that is the one you cannot
normally guard against.

I bet Steve Irwin never dreamed of what happened to him in the last couple
of days. He seemed careless to many but obviousely he was no novice.
Unfortunately he did not know all the possibilities and this possibility was
the one that got him.

We're not talking cars, or building codes for bridges or space
shuttles. We're talking table saws. Something that everyone knows
can cut and maim if not outright kill. The rules of operation are
clear. This is a cold piece of metal that has no feeling and simply
cuts (or tries to) whatever contacts the blade.

So yes, this is where I draw the line. Enough is enough. The TS is
NOT unreasonably dangerous. It does exactly what is required. It has
sharp teeth, it cuts wood. It would cut my hand off too if I let it.
You know that, I know that.

If it's o.k. to regulate a TS, then what? Your jointer? Planer?
Bandsaw? What about the lathe? I've had chunks come flying off the
chuck. Should there be a government rule for that?

Should progress ever end??? What would be wrong with a safer jointer, or
planer, or bandsaw?
Most everything is expensive when first introduced but becomes cheaper to
manufacture in quantity.

If government has to or does intervien for our safety, blame the tool
manufacturers for maintaining status quo. The companies that we give our
money to should have more interest in our safety than our government.

I'm serious - where does it end?

I hope safety advancements never end and I hope the manufacturers will learn
to consider our safety before they are forced to do so by the government.
The problem is that we have become lazy and too acceptable of the same ole
same ole. Like it or not SawStop has brought a breath of fresh air to the
tool industry.