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Unread 08-09-2006, 11:34
Ben Piecuch Ben Piecuch is offline
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Re: Article on Skin sensing table saw

If you download the user manual, it goes into great detail about replacement of the brake system.

First, you have to understand how the brake works, then you can understand why it's a bit more complicated that just replacing a fuse or resetting a spring. The brake is basically a piece of aluminum that is forced into the teeth of the blade. When the system senses a step change in the control voltage, this curved aluminum block gets rammed into the blade. The blade embeds itself into the block and is stopped in a few milliseconds. (The slo-mo video is wild to watch...)

So, what needs to get changed? The entire brake system, which looks to be one complete module. However, since the blade is being forced into the aluminum, they recommend changing out the blade as well! So, can the blade and module be changed out in 5-10 minutes? Probably. The toughest part is probably extracting the blade from the aluminum block, nothing a block of wood and a hammer can't take care of.

So, is the extra money and the time delay worth a finger? That's up to you. Would I recommend a product like this in every school system that has a woodshop? You better believe it! A trained woodworker should have the experience and the know-how to protect himself. Unfortunately, I can't say that about most students, or even myself.

BEN