SawStop

[Ed in Tampa]

Will all power tools require a license prior to purchase? I hope that is far fetched. It still seems perhaps cheaper in the long run if manufacturers included a training DVD or perhaps places in the stores where customers could receive some basic safety training and acknowledge they are competent. But 'real men' don't read instructions or so I've heard.

Perhaps the next group of lawsuits will go after the retail companies that are selling these "unsafe" products if used improperly will hurt someone as the stores know other tools are available which indeed have the blade stop. What if someone is seriously injured from a shock? GFCI breakers are available, but if they are not used, then electrical accidents which might be avoided, aren't.

This is all foreign to me. I am not a litigious person and if I do something stupid, I'm man enough to call myself stupid and not look for someone to blame. If that is the case, I'm surprised some children don't sue their parents for having them... I know if they did, many just might win for defective manufacturing...(sorry).

I think there has been some children sue their parents for their poor genetics and raising them. Remember a lawyer won't take your case because your right they only take cases where they stand a chance of making money. So unless the parents are very wealthy most lawyers won't touch the case.

Same goes with retailers unless they have the money to lose most lawyers won't take the case. Most manufactures do have the money to lose so they go after them.

[anmius]

If they force SawStop on us how are we going to be able to cut up our hot dogs...

Kind of an expensive way to discover that you didn't get the spilled coffee wiped off of that board good enough.

I know this was intended as a chuckle but remember, butchers use band saws to cut meat. How would flesh detection technology work with that problem?

[tdubnik]

I know this was intended as a chuckle but remember, butchers use band saws to cut meat. How would flesh detection technology work with that problem?

I vote for instant blood or DNA analysis to determine human or beast.

[mickyd]

I cannot help but be curious just how effective the crush pad(or whatever it be called) is when attempting to 'stop' a dado blade with its additional width and inertia!

I thought the same thing. Hopefully, instead of 200+ teeth ripping through your body part in that 1/10th second of contact, hopefully, it would be significantly reduced.

[riot_nrrd]

Some one mention appeals and yes I expect there will be an appeal but the company must weigh in the cost of the appeal versus the cost of the judgement.

Recognize, though, how the legal system works. Because of the one verdict establishing precedent, all the other 60 cases are likely to be successful also. Ryobi pretty much HAS to appeal or they are a.) effectively admitting culpability for a class action suit (because we all know the next step will be a negligence suit for depriving Ryboi customers of flesh-sensing technology), and b.) agreeing to include that technology in all their future products. I would suspect that the financial impacts of not appealing will far outweigh the cost of the appeal. And if they are successful in THAT appeal, then that will set a different precedent, and the burden will be on the plaintiffs to explain why the appellate decision was incorrect.

Even if Ryobi doesn't appeal, the next company will... or the next, or the next. This is such a market limitation, I can't beleive that it won't be appealed. Think of the business impact - raise the cost of EVERY table saw (and if I remember right, this was a miter saw, not a table saw, plus you'd probably need to do the same for circualr saws, tile saws, any kind of rotary blade saw) by $200-400, and you change the entire supply/demand scenario. You have priced a large part of your consumers out of the market... so you have to raise the prices even more to compensate for the loss, whcih again prices people out of the market. Combine that with class action lawsuits for everything made after SawStop was introduced... this is the kind of stuff that bankruptcies are made of.

[JPG]

IIRC it WAS a Table Saw - Contractors type.

[shipwright]

I thought the same thing. Hopefully, instead of 200+ teeth ripping through your body part in that 1/10th second of contact, hopefully, it would be significantly reduced.

Yeah, like..... we can live with like, you know, 50 or 60 teeth.

(Mike, sorry about leaving you with that image.)

Paul M

[allsas]

NPR Broadcast an article on Sawtop....

Now tell me, How is the circuit completed between the hotdog (finger) and the saw? Can I slice hotdogs on a Sawstop saw if I mount it on wood?

If Sawstop was started 10 years ago, does that mean that the patent expires in seven years? ?

[backhertz]

I believe it works on changes in capacitance between the blade & the user. It is not a prevent all type of device where a person might disable it or do something really stupid like try an stop the blade. Now what if a person is wearing leather gloves? That would be interesting being leather is somewhat of an insulator. Does this mean the device is not as effective in extreme temperature conditions? Too many questions- no answers. Sorry

[JPG]

I believe it works on changes in capacitance between the blade & the user. It is not a prevent all type of device where a person might disable it or do something really stupid like try an stop the blade. Now what if a person is wearing leather gloves? That would be interesting being leather is somewhat of an insulator. Does this mean the device is not as effective in extreme temperature conditions? Too many questions- no answers. Sorry

Think ground fault current path. Think of the saw blade as a 'hot' conductor.

Current flows through yer shoes or whatever.

I really have doubts about the ability of the 'detection' circuitry to correctly respond to greatly varying conditions. Most of those doubts are the result of insufficient knowledge of it! When I see a demonstration that does not use a hot dog and very rapid work piece feed rate, I may be convinced this is 'reliable' and worthy of consideration. I be agreeing with the 'foot dragging' manufacturers so far.