roys3

Cheating? Are you kidding me? There is no cheating in woodworking. Whether you're just getting started or you're running a cabinet shop there is NO cheating. There is only ingenuity. Look at the Egyptians. (We're still trying to figure how they built the pyramids.) In my shop nothing gives me a bigger smile than when someone says, "How did you do that?" I don't point to all the jigs and different I tools used, new and old, to get to the final and pleasurable result.

Saw Stop is a great idea and obviously is a finger safer. The other safety problem I see, with low cost table saws, is their wide throat plate opening and no way to modify it. The plate is made of thin sheet metal and attached with sheet metal screws. These saws have neither a provision nor option for a zero clearance throat plate. The hazard is for narrow rip and short cross cut pieces to fall into the throat opening next to the spinning blade, either of which can kick back to the operators hand or face. From a design stand point the fix is simple and would also eliminate many injuries. A blade break is a great idea, but I don't think all injuries are from finger/blade contact.