"Dave Martindale" wrote in message
Right. As I understand it, the system detects that the blade has
touched something conductive, either by current flow to the table or
capacitance. But neither mechanism is a foolproof way to detect flesh.
How can it detect the difference between a finger and wet wood?
If the SawStop trips by mistake, how much does it cost to replace the
brake and the blade?

There is a bypass if you are cutting aluminum or wet wood, but in 99.9% of
all users, we dont want to cut wet wood. That is not really an issue.


Even worse: if it works by conductivity, and you happen to be wearing
rubber-coated gloves, there may be no circuit created when the saw blade
touches your finger, so the SawStop doesn't trigger.

Two things here, First you should not be wearing any sort of glove using a
table saw of any type. Yes, there is a danger to getting a glove caught
since you don't have the same feel. Second, once the glove is cut, it will
detect the skin and you have conductivity again. I've not seen everything,
but I've never seen a woodworker wearing rubber gloves when using a table
saw. To avoide a safety divice for the tiny amount of people int he world
that woud do so, is just plain silly.


Yet, because you
think you can't get hurt by the blade, you're going to be more casual
about working with the saw than if you *know* it will take your hand off
in a fraction of a second. You could end up more likely to be injured
than with a conventional table saw.

Does your car have seatbelts and air bags? Did it change your driving
habits? Another silly argument.