On Jan 8, 3:36*pm, Chris Friesen wrote:
On 01/08/2010 12:14 PM, Paul Franklin wrote:

IIRC, the original sawstop concept just jammed the blade; the
mechanism to drop it down was added a little later. *I suspect these
are redundant mechanisms, each can do the job on its own, but both
together achieve the sort of reliability you would need in something
that's guaranteed to generate a lawsuit if it doesn't work.

They're not independent mechanisms, the angular momentum of the spinning
blade is used to drop it below the surface when it is stopped quickly.
That's why it drops so fast.

Chris

It's the good old 'catastrophe in exchange for a catastrophe' method.
Like an air bag or an ejection seat. The fun part of the SawStop is
that it stores and releases its own energy. It is very, very clever. I
had a great time chatting with the rep at the Toronto Woodworking
Machinery show a cpl of months back. It's a beautiful saw, really well
made. I'd be proud and happy to own a piece of gear like that.