JohnOSeattle

What Mitch and Saschafer say above plus the dropping of the Sawstop blade away and down is not trivial. From the SawStop site-
{All this happens in about 3–5 milliseconds, or 1/200th of a second. At the same time, the angular momentum of the blade causes the blade to retract below the table and the power to the motor is shut off.}

5 milliseconds is 25 times faster that 125 milliseconds (1/8 second) figure it out, how far can something move in 25 times the time.

Also the sensing in the SawStop begins prior to contact. The white paper on sawstop.com is good reading esp. before forming an opinion.

I spoke with the SawStop people in 2001 & 2002 and again in 2008 when buying cabinet saws for my employer. First the owners/inventors are engineers and patent attorneys. They have a huge investment in time effort and dollars in this saw and the stopping technology.

They contacted all the saw manufacturers (of course) and were refused even at a nominal $100 per unit cost to the saw manufacturer.

Please also keep in mind that the SawStop saw is a very good saw in it's own right. There is a great deal of testing and engineering in the saw and stopping technology. The device described above is a working model and as in several of the posts above not ready for prime time.

The courts are not a good place to design machinery. OSHA says (in general) things must be safe, not how, but the interpretation has been - safe to the latest and greatest possible safety level. Once established as viable, it becomes the standard. Simple for the legal system, only.

Don't put anything in here but your elbow!

Who doesn't want Improvements?

I'll have to sit and think about this.

I'd say bandsaw too.

Like the desk alot. What are the overall dimensions?

Thanks
JO

You haven't seen one so it doesnt exist? How about molecules do they exist or wood in a cabinet shop -only particle board exists?

When you cut a dado with a RAS you can see what you are doing. Very different from a table saw & not possible on a chop saw or sliding compound miter. On costs- what does a good cabinet saw cost or even a good contractor's saw? Anyone with an RAS should have Walley Kunkles "Mr Sawdust" book. Search Mr. Sawdust.

How about an actually researched review and report of the state of the RAS?

I've had two "incidents", well covered above, plus a kickback that flew 12 ft and embedded itself in a wood garage door, again well described above.

These led me to become a believer in the European style "short" fence as well as riving knive/splitters. I wrote a letter to FWW about one of their "Tools Special Issues" which completely ignored this approach. They promised to rectify the situation and have (after 3 years) failed to do so.

Check out the short fence approach-

http://www.woodworkforums.com/f153/european-table-saw-fences-104804/
or search [european table saw fences] you'll see this url in the first few positions

go down several emails to one from Niki. Check out the 3 url's,the video and a 4th url. The ride down should give you several views to juggle.

JO

I read this with tears on -these -Tap Tap -Safety Glasses

I like this a lot, esp. the use of corbels under the aprons. What are the dimentions of this?

JO

On a visit to Washington DC we toured Mt Vernon (George Washington's home) In addition to the fact that the place has tolerated millions of visiters I was impressed with the firniture and interior woodwork. I saw four pieces of furniture that my folks owned (as faithful reproductions) which I now have.

I wouldn't be surprised and would hope to find one or two of these in the book as well as others to build.