On Monday, March 16, 2015 at 12:47:48 PM UTC-5, Leon wrote:


And if Bosch is successful is this good bye to the belligerent brands
that chose to not incorporate the technology? Saws with this feature,
Bosch and SawStop just might attract ALL of the consumers. Bosch has a
slight advantage in that it offers the safety feature and does not carry
the burden that SawStop has with those that refuse to buy the SawStop
brand regardless of its benefits.

Profoundly advantageous safety features may not be enough. I remember all the debate here and everywhere else, mostly built in lies and innuendo that had full grown men crying desperate tears over the loss of civil rights, screaming for the overthrow of the government, whispering about a grass roots backlash against the "jackbooted thugs" etc. Listening to their demands to water the tree of liberty with the blood of tyrants, I got a little fired up myself and was going to join a local (maybe it was... maybe it wasn't....) militia.

Then I realized all I had to do was to pick out the saw I wanted and buy that one, and at least some of my nanny state problems were solved. It was a quick fix.

To me, the hardest thing that Bosch will have to overcome isn't copyright infringement, operating protocols, etc. that are at this point exhaustively researched for challenges by legions of engineers/lawyers. What saved SawStop from being a good idea that went nowhere was the fact that they are damn good saws. I used one to build a small set of cabinets and tables about 6 years ago and the saw I used was marvelous. It was "as shipped" from a local tool supply company and was set up (not tuned up) on site. Had to have been one of the best saws I have ever used. The guy that takes care of it was shop teacher and about 3 years ago he told me that in his high school shop, it was still as well running and accurate as when I used it.

I can see contractor "site saw" like some are making these days getting great benefit from that technology, but don't know that they will be able to hit any kind of workable price point.

As far as a cabinet grade or professional shop grade tool, seems Bosch would be starting from square one. I have never seen Bosch big iron in a woodworking (auto, yes) environment although I have several of their hand tools. I think it would be a long haul to get to the point where they could create and sustain a market for a new professional table saw, but possbily even longer to get to the kind of quality that SawStop is putting out.

Robert