wrote in message
...

The CPSC filings are at:

http://www.cpsc.gov/LIBRARY/FOIA/FOI.../REDUCEPT1.pdf
(the petition, index and the first of the comments)


While browsing through this document, one thing in the petition jumped out
at me.

"2) .... so that a person will be cut no deeper than 1/8th of an inch when
contacting or approaching the blade at any point above the table and from
any direction at a rate of one foot per second"

I take this to be the spec that the device performs at, or close to it. One
foot per second is a very slow hand movement. When industrial OEMs install
light screens on dangerous equipment such as presses, they must do a safe
distance calculation to determine how far away from the hazard point the
light screen must be installed. The reaction time of the machine must be
taken into consideration as well as the speed that a person's hand can move.
The constant value that is used for such calculations is 2000 mm/second.
This is equal to 6.56 feet/second. Think about it. Move your hand at about
one foot per second. Slow isn't it? Is that the speed that you move around
the workshop? No.

It appears that the spec of 1/8" cut at 1 ft/second is off by a factor of
6.5. To me is seems that in a real situation, a person could get cut
1/8x6.5 or a little more than 3/4". This obviously does not really do a
whole lot to protect you.

The more I read about this thing, the more I am convinced it is a POS. That
being said, it may eventually lead to something worthwhile.

Frank