I did watch a few videos about the Walabot, and it’s the poster child for gadgets that you really cannot tell who is twisting the truth more: the guys in the videos that describe it as a magical device (and demo it on a fake plaster wall set just so it will get a clear reading…come on), or those in the other videos that describe it as totally worthless (but we’re talking about $69 anyway…). I suppose it’s typical for anything that has ridden the hype curve. Anyway my initial enthusiasm was not in the device itself (which I’m sure will be “meh” at best), but in the developer pack that Neil referenced, possibly making the device very hackable (and tinkering with developer stuff is fun, albeit often pointless)
@npross I would still be interested to hear details about your experience with your walabot (here or in a PM), which usecases were ok-ish, and which ones were disappointing.
For now the conclusion for me is that I’ll continue to use my cheap live wire detector, deal with the false positives, and be extra careful. I’ll try and borrow an expensive wall scanner from someone if I ever get a chance, out of curiosity.
Well my recollection of the walabot (i think i bought it almost 3 years ago) is that was less reliable on drywall than my cheap zircon stud finder. In fact i remember it being next to useless…
So, I just pulled it out of the drawer and gave it a second chance. You have to calibrate it on each wall (a bit annoying). I tried one drywall wall that i know has 2 3/4" pex pipes for a radiator on the 2nd floor, and a 14/3 cable and it just tells me there is a stud everywhere. I compared with my zircon which correctly located the two studs and also showed an ! Which indicated there is a wire (but that indicator is very unreliable). On another wall it was probably on par with the zircon.
And this was the biggest disappointment and why it stays in the drawer…
I have the sawstop industrial 3HP cabinet saw and love it. The fence is great, the trunion moves like butter, and knowing that the brake is waiting in case I make a mistake is very comforting. My body still tingles anytime my hands get near the red throat plate, so I’m not going to take any chances I wouldn’t take with a normal saw - I have no interest in testing out the technology. My fingers make lousy hotdogs.
I agree with your point about the litigious nature of the world, but in this case, I don’t think that was the real catalyst for the technology. What absolutely amazed me was that companies like Delta, Jet, and Powermatic passed on the technology - refusing to spend the extra bucks (and it wasn’t much per machine, as I recall) to protect their customers. That’s what motivated the inventor to create his own brand. So now, he competes (successfully) with their businesses. Go figure.
If anyone is seriously considering a sawstop, i would highly recommend skipping the “professional” and get the “industrial”.
We had both at the local woodworking club where i volunteer and the “professional” was no end of trouble for us, requiring far more maintenance. We finally got rid of it and the craftex and got two more industrial sawstops (one now has a permanent dado setup!). The industial model is hands down way better.
Please read about the history of the Sawstop company.
The founder is a lawyer, their initial effort at a contract included a clause to increase their royalties if the technology was widely adopted, a representative has used their technology to justify mandating it (which will make saws more expensive), and Steve Gass has served as an expert witness on a number of high profile court cases involving his competitors.
Contrast this with Volvo which offered their patent on seat belts free to the entire industry:
Or consider the arguments which the Power Tool Institute makes against it.
Any expensive new technology should be balanced against the expense — one potential metric for that is the number of people who die in car crashes after falling asleep — consider how many of them are from folks working overtime trying to make ends meet, and one has a number which one can assign to the real world cost in terms of life if an expensive technology is implemented.
Well…I don’t blame him for trying to market his idea. He doesn’t need to give it away. And I don’t know if there were any motivations for Volvo other than altruism…like reputation as a safety innovator…their cars certainly were not on the inexpensive end.
As for Sawstop: As I recall, his first effort was to sell his technology into existing manufacturers. They were not interested. I wouldn’t be surprised if the clause was put there to overcome the initial resistance to acceptance. I remember reading about how frustrated he was that they all insisted that he give away the patent and so, he formed his own company. That’s what I remember…without going back and looking it all up. Maybe I’m a victim of a propaganda campaign…if so, it was a good one!
Just wanted to report after a couple of months on these two:
I couldn’t be happier, I still have all my fingers (I’m practicing @WillAdams’s tip on a daily basis now), and there is something oddly satisfying about being able to shave off an extra 0.5mm over the full length of a 3’ piece of wood with the tracksaw, and it being so precise and clean that you can then do this with the part that was removed:
I have a Bosch Heat Pump. Saves me money. The past 2 seasons when I go from heat to air conditioning the coil upstairs has had to be replaced under warranty. I still got 7 years left. Hope it wont be 7 more coils.
Better than I thought it would be, but I have no other reference since this is my first track saw. There’s a little plastic thingy you can slide down that covers the location where the cutting happens, it acts a bit like a dust shoe.
The bigger surprise for me was how efficient the chip collection is on the miter saw. I have a dedicated shopvac for it now, and haven’t felt the need to clean-up around it yet. I’m mostly cutting floorboards so that will not generate huge amounts of chips anyway, still I did not expect that.
That’s good to hear. Interesting to hear the mitre saw is good - I’ve got a DeWalt Dw780XE and its collection leaves a bit to be desired. It’s an excellent saw apart from that though. I’m looking at those tent-like covers to catch the dust
I might go price the Bosch track saw, the cheapo one was to see if I’d use it, I think it was only $69 and I use it heaps
I have the dewalt tracksaw as well. I rigged up an adapter to step it up to 2 1/2" so I can hook my Oneida Dust Cobra to it. This is the same vac I use for my Shapeoko. I have two hoses, one that’s connected to the CNC and the other (a 30’ hose) to get around to my smaller tools. With the track saw hooked to the dust collection system, it’s really quite clean. There is still some dust that escapes from the sides of the blades, but the vast majority gets collected.
