On Sat, 22 Jan 2011 09:16:34 -0600, "Leon" wrote:


"Max" wrote in message
web.com...
"Leon" wrote

Max, you are already there if you really believe that common sense,
agiaity, and or attention to safety factors will protect you. There will
be new safety rules written in the future for the accidents that are less
common and of which you have not yet heard about. Imagine my suprise 22
years ago when I thought and worked the same way and cut half my left
thumb off and the TS was not turned on. I still have not seen a safety
rule written to prevent the accident that I had.

The saw wasn't turned on??? Then how would the SawStop have helped?

The motor does not have to be running for the SawStop to work. The blade
was still spinning down after the cut. I was reaching over to lift the rip
fence off the table after cutting a dado. Just the coast down speed did the
damage.


I'd be interested in learning about that accident. Seriously. As a
paramedic for several years, I saw a lot of accidents.
The worst accident I've had in the shop (in over forty years) was when I
was cutting a slim piece of plastic off the edge of a 2'X4' piece (for a
recessed fluorescent light)
I was using one of those notorious "razor" knives, utility knife,
whatever. I cut a nasty gash in my left thumb.
But I must confess to having had 3 beers on a hot afternoon. That was
about twenty years ago. Never again.
I perceive of a good many more potentials in the shop for accidents
compared to the likelihood of my contacting the moving blade on my table
saw.
It's a question (to me) of priorities.
I have no doubt that the SawStop is a fine product. It might even end up
being a requirement by OSHA. It would certainly be a recommended item in
a woodworking school.
But considering the odds of me:
1. winning the lottery
2. pushing my finger into a spinning saw blade.
I choose to forego the expenditure.

Max

Just keep in mind that the accident that happens is the one that is not
planned for. No one could believe that I could have had the accident that I
had. The lesson I learned was to never look away from a machine or blade
that is still moving whether you are actually doing a procedure or not.

Spin-down can be taken care of a *lot* more cheaply than a SawStop mechanism
(and patent license). SCMSs do it. I'm really surprised table saws don't
have at least dynamic blade braking.