In article H9pMg.32$cf2.17@trndny07,
The Other Funk wrote:
I don't want to fan the flames but this article has some interesting points
http://www.edn.com/article/CA502427.html
The add on price quoted here is $150.00 not the $400.00 that has been
bandied about.
Since the controller is a TI part, it can't be too hard to build a competing
product. The big trick is stopping the blade.
Bob

And on that note, there are proven, old tech methods of stopping
electric motors using brakes or electrical methods. Years ago I worked
at a plant that had among other things a "two roll mill." Without
getting too specific about it's operation, it was driven
by a 150 HP motor, and the business end consisted of 2 steel rollers,
each about 4 feet long & 2 feet in diameter, rotating next to each
other with a pinch point of about 1/2" or so between them. I'd guess
that each roller weighed a couple/few tons. The whole setup had a
safety bar above it that activated a braking mechanism. It was SOP for
the operator to use this when he wanted to stop the mill for any
reason, not just in emergencies. It would stop the entire machine,
motor, gearing, etc, in less than a 1/4 turn of the main rollers
without any damage to the machine, and could be reset by the operator,
and the machine restarted, in less than a minute. (IIRC the rollers
turned in the neighborhood of 100 RPM)

For that matter, just think how fast the brake on a CMS or router
stops the tool (admittedly their reliability factor is not that high!)
I'm no engineer, but it sure seems to me that it would be possible to
stop a TS without a one-time-use cartridge.
--

Larry Wasserman Baltimore, Maryland