On Thursday, May 25, 2017 at 5:27:36 AM UTC-4, Leon wrote:
wrote:
Hope there are more posts to the site. It is easy to do. I can tell you
all that someone listens to these sometimes, but if you don't voice your
opinion, it will be assumed that the issue is of no importance to you. I
would like to have had a bit of time to edit this, but I saw that the
surrounding issues around this proposed regulation had already been
closed to comments. I wanted to get on it and get it out before I forgot or was too busy.

Here's what I posted:

I have been in the construction trades for 40 years off and on. I have
been an owner operator of a small carpentry and woodworking business for
about 35 of those years. In my experience there is a great deal of
similarity in the observance of safety issues between the home shop
worker as well as the professional. In short, the similarity is that
both casual user and professional need training and education, not
additional safety appliances or devices added to tools. Some of the
appartus required over the years have a valid place in both the home shop
as well as in a professional setting, but others are removed, ignored or
not maintained at an operational level.

I truly believe based on my own personal experience of instructing and
overseeing employees and job sites that the saw brake devices will be
disabled or wired around to make the saws work without them. Anything
that would stop work that would be attributed to the saw brake would
cause it to be disabled in some fashion. Doubtful that it would be reset
and rearmed for proper function after a job stoppage. Also, the loss of
a blade that could cost as much as $300 from the mechanism firing would
certainly make any small business man think about rearming the saw brake
device. Besides the down time on the job, a firing of the device will
require that a qualified technician of some sort reinstall the
replacement firing mechanism of the brake. Additionally, there will be a
need to purchase and have on hand another firing device, adding not only
to the expense of the saw brake device, but putting the contractor at
risk of not being able to locate a replacement which would cause more job
site down time. NO doubt that occasion would cause the contractor to
"wire around" the problem. IF the device ever fired off by accident or
by a bad reading, a contractor will be looking at the purchase of a new
blade, a new brake stop firing device as well as all the down time for
(possibly) several employees while the machine is reequipped and reset.
If there is ever a false positive, then certainly a contractor will work
hard to permanently disable the saw blade brake. I strongly believe this
additional device that adds to the cost of a saw will be seen by most
professionals as not only unnecessary, but as an irritant to be disabled
at the first opportunity.

My experience with homeowners/non professionals and their saws is
different. Almost all home accidents come from an occurrence known as
"kickback". This happens when a saw is used incorrectly. The wood being
cut is put in a position that binds the blade against the guiding device
(a "fence" or "miter gauge") or the wood is no longer fed in a straight
line into the blade causing the saw to aggressively grab the wood rather
than cut it. This grab will cause the wood to be removed from the
operator's grasp and will often "kickback" the wood towards or into the
operator or off the table of the saw. The saw makers and the government
have provided different devices to help mitigate this problem, but I very
rarely go into a home shop where the recommended table saw safety devices
are being used, or used properly. Kickback is a technique issue and
rarely happens with proper use of the table saw. it is important to note
that a saw braking mechanism will NOT prevent or mitigate the occurrence
kickback in any way.

I rarely see hands or digits cut by table saws in a home or professional
environment. Very rarely. Most people that use them have a healthy
respect for the tool due to its size and power, and using the tool give
ther operator a tremendous sense of its power. Almost all operators have
a very healthy respect for this tool and use it carefully. I truly
believe that if there was an effective blade braking device attached to a
table saw then most operators would become overconfident and lazy,
knowing that if they have a lapse of judgement of concentration, they
wouldn't suffer any risk of injury. In the particular case of the table
saw, a very healthy fear of the machine is a great thing and does more to
prevent injury than any attached device.

In closing, I hope you can see that while some safety devices are good
ideas, the idea of a saw blade brake is not. Not for the hobbyist or the
professional. Although for two very different reasons, neither would
benefit from it. This is an issue that has been around for years now,
and while the saw blade brake technology certainly has its place, most
are overwhelmingly against it, and mandating it would be of little or no
value to table saw users.

Thank you for your time and attention.


Wow Robert, you really are not familiar with the SS at all it would seem.
Replacing the brake takes a couple of minutes. Have you not seen a demo?
As far as not having a spare replacement brake goes, why would you not have
one on hand? Would you drive out of town with out a spare tire? :-)

I'll take a shot at that:

Job site saws will be used by workers who may not know how to, and aren't
responsible for, fixing equipment when it breaks down. The job site could be
a workshop or a construction site.

In the case of a construction site, it's easy to imagine that the replacment parts
and/or qualified personnel may not always be readily available.

In either case, the replacment parts had better be under lock and key or they are
going to be stolen by the workers who have brake-mandated table saws at home.