An acquaintance injured herself earlier this year on a table saw. She had turned the saw off, but was distracted by her father entering the room before the blade stopped rotating. She was severely injured, losing parts of three fingers.
My question is this: Would the “Saw Stop” table saw have functioned to prevent this injury after the motor was turned off? If any of you know the facts about this, please post. Otherwise, I will search out the web site for an answer.
Thanks, Tom.
Replies
I've had a sawstop table saw for over four years now and when I first got it, there was a time when I had turned the saw off; but, before the blade stopped, I managed to touch it with a metal tape measure and the system activated and stopped the blade. My conclusion is that it works as long as the blade is turning.
Moksha
Moksha,
Thanks for your answer. I actually did not expect that it would work. Good design by SawStop.Tom.
Ouch! Expensive touch. Better than flesh though. Thanks for the info.Cheers,Peter
Better life through Zoodles and poutine...
I did the same thing when the blade was almost stopped and the aluminum brake was barely nicked so the blade wasn't wrecked. The manual states as long as the blade is in motion the brake will activate. The injury you will sustain is dependent on how fast you put your hand into the moving blade. Slowly touch and you will be hardly scratched. Slap the blade and you will be cut badly, but not as bad as without a brake. The cost of a new brake was a cheap lesson in keeping the tape away from the blade and in a reassuring way let me know the system works.
Slap the blade and you will be cut badly, but not as bad as without a brake.
I think you'd be cut pretty badly if you "slapped" any saw blade, even if stopped (or not even mounted on a saw for that matter!).
Edited 8/12/2009 2:03 pm ET by Samson
Someone on this forum posted a message indicating that the Saw Stop is active until just after the blade stops. You should be able to find that discussion by doing a search on this forum.
Life is what happens to you when you're making other plans.
When your ship comes in... make sure you are not at the airport.
Yes, it is active until the blade stops. The sawstop instructions confirm this. I own one and have tripped it once and broken a cartridge once. I tripped it while cutting a nail that made contact with my Vega fence which has a metal face, not laminate like the stock fence. I broke a cartridge when I changed blades and did not check cartridge/blade clearance which is easily adjustable. The blade jammed on startup and broke the trip wire in the cartridge. Both of these are my fault.
All in all, I have never regretted the purchase of this saw. It was well worth the price and is the best tool I own. Sawstop service is excellent too!!!!! I own the original with the 3hp motor, but I supplied my own fence, I wish I had not.The only thing that would make this saw better is soft start.
I rave about this saw whenever I get the chance ;)
Thanks for confirming what I thought. A lot of table saw accidents and amputations happen after the power is removed from the machine. I have a Euro slider and the blade stops in less than 2 seconds. Also, it does have a soft start. The crown guard is always in place unless I am doing a cut that requires removal.
Life is what happens to you when you're making other plans.
When your ship comes in... make sure you are not at the airport.
Edited 8/12/2009 3:56 pm ET by JerryPacMan
There are two different on switches on the Sawstop. One is a big paddle, and if you turn it off the brake remains activated until the blade comes to a stop. The other, less accessible, switch provides power to the sensing circuitry, and if you made the mistake of switching that off while the blade was spinning down, you would be more susceptible to injury.
I was also injured on a TS, luckily I'm almost back to 100 percent, nothing missing. One lession I learned in high school shop class and now I do all the time, is not move anything until the machine stops - no exceptions. Hit the off switch and freeze.
Thanks for the comment. Your second sentence has a funny spelling mistake. Lession for lesson. Good injection of humor into the day.Tom.
I am proud of my disabilities: can't spell, dyslectic, left handed, and love wood from trees to sawdust.
My 7th grade English teacher told me if I had written the Declaration of Independance we would still be British.
Jim (sp?)
"Hit the off switch and freeze." Yep!! I'm sure many production WWers pshaw, but freeze is what I do!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
While I'm frozen I look at the scars on my left hand.
Got a set of kitchen cabinets to build for my son's house. I can't wait to fire up the old Craftsman (me and the TS)
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled