Article on Skin sensing table saw

[Ben Piecuch]

Wow, if that isn't one of the most interesting and practical inventions of our time! As a young kid I can remember meeting the man who helped build my parent's house, who only had 7 fingers! This could, and should, revolutionize the business.

However, upon reading that article, I find it fascinating how the real-world market actually works. Clearly, this device has the potential to save not just fingers, but lives in the right applications; Chainsaws, hedge trimmers, lawn movers, you name it... But the manufacturers are reluctant to include it because of liability, or more importantly, their present lack of liability. Hopefully, the one law change will force manufacturers to include this technology (or similar ones) into their products.

Sawstop LLC doesn't seem to be a publicly traded company. But, if they were, I'd make sure I had some money to invest in them. It looks to be a great company, who's trying to do the right thing. Compare that to the pipeline debacle that BP is in right now... (sorry, let's please keep this thread to a discussion on Sawstop, thank!)

BEN

[GaryVoshol]

How's this going to work if you're cutting metal?

[Ben Piecuch]

Ken, I would almost agree with you. However, the power tool industry hasn't taken that step backwards to address the problem. Since they are NOT liable for people cutting their fingers off, they are NOT spending the money to solve the problem.

In the industrial world, yes, workers do bypass the existing safety systems and injure themselves. And I would assume that the push for these safety devices came from the liable companies and their insurance holders. But how many home woodworkers have safety systems similar to this? What is the percentage of injuries due to job-related vs. personal accidents? I don't know, but I can bet that the wife of the home woodworker would shell out the extra cash to have a device like this at home.

And finally, let's not forget that it's not the engineers that develop the requirements for a product. It's the sales/marketing team, along with a lot of input from those lawyers again. Bottom line, it comes down to money and liability...

BEN

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by GaryV1188

How's this going to work if you're cutting metal?

Poorly.

If you're wearing gloves, and with proper attention to the design of the table surface, it might work. But who cuts metal on a table saw?

[John Gutmann]

Originally Posted by GaryV1188

How's this going to work if you're cutting metal?

would you be cutting metal with a metal blade?