and the blade stop fired.
Did not bleed, did not even hurt, I did not feel anything -except the stop mechanism.
With a regular table saw my thumb would look now like this
I spare you “fresh images” of what arrives very often in our emergency room, I did not need to spend the rest of the holiday there, hoping the hand surgeon could save me the thumb.
Instead I may repair the item, put a new cartridge -and a new blade!- in, and return to work. Today. Not in 6 weeks. I met several excellent carpenters who did wonderful furniture with only 3 fingers left all together. But I do not know even one urologist -my trade- with missing only a part of one finger.
Hobbyists do not have the training and skill for decades under the eyes of a very thorough master, the learn from Youtube. Youtube tells what to do, it does NOT! tell what not to.
I cannot recommend that SawStop invention and product enough.
And I am very thankful that local stores like Saratoga Quality Hardware in Saratoga Springs and Hudson Falls, NY have those spare parts in stock, and that they are open on a holiday.
(Can that invention be adapted to Shapeoko? These moving parts do not stop for fingers too…)
Glad the Sawstop worked and prevented more than a superficial injury!
I don’t see how such a device would work on a router (and I’m not aware of a router or shaper which has such technology), nor do I see the need given that we specifically abjure users reaching into the machine’s working area when it is powered up, except when the spindle is off for a tool change, or to place or remove a BitZero when the spindle is off and the machine is not moving.
Further note that we recommend wearing PPE, including a heavy apron — one user who failed to remove the magnetic BitZero groundlead was saved from injury by a leather apron when the spindle started up — to my knowledge, no one has been seriously hurt by a machine when powered up, and I hope we can keep it that way.
Will: the intention was not to suggest something, but to recommend to adhere to safety precautions. And to remind readers that CNC routers are power machines.
A friend helped in the shop, and placed a file on the CNC work table. I could stop him from trying to get it back.
A straight bit broke off during just a 18000 rpm job, and a chip flew off, still sticks in a tin band saw cover in another friend’s shop I used some years ago before I had my own shop.
The best advice I ever got in shop class was from a teacher who advised:
Before turning on a switch on a power tool, count to 10 on your fingers under your breath, visualizing all the forces involved, and everything which could possible go wrong, and how you would (or have, by wearing PPE) protect yourself from injury, then remind yourself that you want to be able to repeat that count in the same fashion when the switch is turned off.
On SawStop saws you must use approved blades. There are some blades that will not trigger the stop mechanism. The history of SawStop is interesting. The inventor shopped his technology around to the major manufacturers and no one wanted to buy it. So they got investors together and made the SawStop saws.
I have a PowerMatic 66 Tablesaw I have had for about 25 years. Unless my PowerMatic saw were to die, which is not likely, I would get a SawStop Cabinet Tablesaw. Seems like a good technology. Even though the SawStop technology is great it is no substitute for good safety steps with any tablesaw. Technology is great but cannot override stupidity. As Norm Abrams used to say “Be sure to read, understand, and follow all the safety rules that come with your power tools”. You cannot get better advise than that.
I’ve got a 20-year-old Delta saw that’s great, but I haven’t used it in a while. I keep thinking that I should get rid of it to force myself to buy a SawStop the next time I need a table saw. I’ve had surgery to repair a tendon in my thumb, and that’s the last surgery I ever want to have.
We have a couple of the industrial versions and a portable one at my business. We replaced 3 good working saws and have no regrets. We have a wall were we mount triggered brakes. Last count was 4 saved fingers and thumbs over 8 or so years.
The cost analysis changes quite a bit for a business but we will never buy another table saw without some version of this tech in it.
Personally I plan on getting one of their portable ones when I have the space.
Edit: I should note that all our triggered brakes are from people who were well trained and understood how to be safe on a table saw. Even experienced and careful people make mistakes.
I bought a Sawstop recently. My ADHD daughter is wanting to learn with me and I figure I made it to 40 with all my digits so why not keep them. I try to drill good habits and stress the severity of the machine, the ADHD is it’s own thing.
You can easily see if the blade is gonna work when you turn it on. I’ll sometime tap it with a tape measure while I’m adjusting the fence. It blinks like crazy when it feels it. Not sure while I keep measuring with the tape. I’m just not used to a nice fence.
I have a Saw Stop and love it. I have set off somewhere around 20 or more cartridges Yes thats right but I also use to sell woodworking equipment and Saw Stop sends demo packages to most of their dealers to show off the flesh sensing tech in their products.
On a side note Saw stop use to have a program if you did have a flesh contact with the blade you could turn in your spent cartridge and get a replacement. It was for information gathering and improvements.
Don’t know if this is still on going.
There are restrictions on Dado Blades due to the weight of some of the blade spacers you don’t want to use full round spacer blades only the wing type. I have 10 inch saw blades from many blade manufactures and have not seen any restrictions on blade use.
One school district in my area purchased the saw stop for all of the trades classes.
I found accuracy very good on the scales.
This would be a nice feature but the methods used in setting up any CNC would/could cause prolonged setup time when you have to turn off the safety feature to set up the machine. The spindles would be much larger and impact of anything that would stop the shaft instantly will most likely trash the spindle assy.
Complacency is the biggest problem with anybody’s shop. We become laxed and complacent and not think about the safeties in place for all of our tools. Some people even remove safety guards and find themselves running tools without them. Then, after running the machines/tools for weeks, months, or even years, they begin to get a false sense of safety from these tools. That is when disaster strikes.
We run small shops, large shops, etc., but we are in charge of wearing proper PPE equipment in order to protect ourselves, and others if they are in our shops. These saw stops are very helpful, but also, being aware of your surroundings and the equipment around us, will help to save us from possible injury in the future. Not all injuries can be avoided. A blade that chips off a carbide tooth and sends it flying might be something we cant avoid, but regular inspections on our machines, and replacing used worn out parts would be a big step in helping to protect us.
Also, keeping a clean shop is also important. A clean shop is also a safer shop. Sweep up sawdust or scrap material that is building up on the floor throughout the day. Don’t leave trash laying around. Organize the shop so there are not trip hazards.
I would say that the best way to look at your shop is to ask yourself this one important question, “If OSHA showed up at your shop right now, would you pass the safety inspection from them?”
Safety, Safety, Safety. Can’t say it enough. Live it. Breath it. Practice it. Be safe my brothers and sisters of the CNC machining community.
I actually had an idea for a kickback prevention system similar to SawStop. Basically put the sensors from high end gaming mice just in front and behind the blade of the saw. Use that to calculate how quickly the material is accelerating through the blade. If there is a sudden negative acceleration over a threshold cut power and apply the brake. Might not need to explosively stop the blade like in SawStop.
