On 2007-06-05 13:18:02 +0100, " said:


AIUI SawStop are in the process of licensing their technology to other
tablesaw manufacturers.

They do seem to do things somewhat differently in the US, with
splitters instead of riving knives - and it does seem very common to
leave the crown guard off there.

Don't believe everything that you see done in the woodworking shows on the TV.



In the UK (and I believe the rest of Europe) properly adjusted riving
knives and closely fitted crown guards are mandatory in the workplace
- along with a ban on dado sets and severe restrictions on deep sawing

The requirement is that the tooling can be stopped in under 10 seconds
and that it is properly guarded.

Many older machines are incapable of doing this.


- makes the chances of a finger/blade interaction very much lower.

It doesn't eliminate risks here - and if could buy sawstop built in or
have it retrofitted at a reasonable price, I'd buy it-

I wouldn't. This is not a substitute for proper guarding, just a last
ditch stand for when all else has failed.

but I'd be
interested to know the relative frequency and severity of tablesaw
accidents in the US compared to the UK.

Yes that would be interesting.

One other factor is that machines used in professional and workshop
situations in the U.S. tend to be fitted with more bells and whistles
such as motorised platforms, power feeders etc. partly on the argument
that hands then don't need to go near the business areas.