Moshup_Trail

Look at this like the question of requiring a new safety feature in automobiles. Before you make it a requirement the the technology needs to become widely available (as opposed to a high-end, proprietary technology). For example, anti-lock brakes are still not required in US vehicles although most have them. In the EU anti-lock brakes have been required since 2007. Anti-lock brakes were first introduced in airplanes in the '50s!

So, should flesh-sensing technology be required in table saws? Yes, but not yet. Let the market do what it does best - drive manufacturers to build what the public actually buys, and innovate to create competing technologies. Saw-Stop's proprietary technology has already found a wide market and the trend will continue - without government regulation.

Having used a Saw Stop table saw I can say it's a very nice table saw. But my own table saw is much less expensive - about 1/4 the price. Note: Each time the Saw Stop triggers it costs about $75 to replace the aluminum assembly that stops the saw blade.

BTW: You can be sure the CPSC proposal above was written by Gass's lawyers.

It's one thing to require the technology, but it's quite another to require Gass's specific technology. I don't think the CPSC can require manufacturers to purchase his invention but in specifying it as they do are they impinging on his patent? In other words, if the other manufacturers interdependently came up with something to do the same thing, would they still have to pay a royalty? One would hope not. Then the price of safety would come down - similar to the way it works in the auto industry.

Anyone can re-org their garage space, but the cabinetry makes this one work! That 15-drawer cabinet is awesome.

Mike - was your original concrete floor sloped? Modern garages have a slope - required by code. Mine slopes all the way to the back, but it was well done and is smooth. I've got about 1000 sf - big job to cover it and level it. (I've got 8 foot doors and over 9 feet to the ceiling)

Do you open that window behind the chop saw when you run it?

It will be years before I can do cabinets like that. Sigh.

How about getting the thin strip to begin with? I've got some nice walnut I'd like to use for inlays and I'm scared to rip such a tiny strip in a table saw.

I think the RAS has been pretty much replaced by the sliding compound miter saw. I used to have a nice Dewalt RAS. Never had safety issues with it that I remember. I used it for everything - even ripping. But it was too klutzy to move around and took too much space. Now I have more space and I've filled it with a table saw and a compound miter saw. Go figure.