O how I love to rant, I even flexed my photoshop skills for this one and added a custom image. Let me start off by saying SawStop is a great technology, it can save limbs and sometimes lives. If I could afford one I would have one.
Whats going on: SawStop is trying to petition the U.S. government to mandate that all table saws use the SawStop system which would increase the cost of all table saws significantly, reduce their availability and their patents on blade retraction are hampering other saw manufactures from exploring safer technologies and making safer saws.
Who is SawStop? SawStop is a company that invented an innovative technology to stop a saw from contact with a human body part. It works by having a electrical signal around the blade, the human body is conductive so when it disrupts this signal and a spring loaded brake is released that stops the saw instantly.
My 2 cents on the matter: I think the technology is great it saves limbs and lives and I would love to own one, but the cost is way out of reach for me. I am sure it is out of reach cost wise for a huge chunk of our readers. Basically a carpenter will have to fork out hundreds of extra dollars when already material costs are up, fuel prices are up and work is down. I understand that SawStop invented the technology and should get paid, but don’t force it at the expense of the consumer. I understand the SawStop is safe, but I am sure it fires accidentally once in a while, that would cause extra expense and lost downtime to the Tradesman. Table saws have been used for years and yes they are inherently dangerous, but leave that up to the user if they want to fork over the $$$ to be safe. Situations like this suck because everything is in red legal tape wasting $$$ on a product that everyone can benefit from if the cost is right. All the money wasted on lawyers could go to making SawStop more affordable which would give it better chance of showing up on more saws. I am all for SawStop, just don’t force it on me. This is America land of the free and if someone wants to chop off their fingers with a table saw they have the right to. And also because this is America, innovators and capitalists like SawStop give them the option not to lose fingers, at a cost of course. If this law passes, todays saws will be a hot item on Craigslist as everyone will be trying to stock up.
I think it’s crazy that Washington even has a committee on this sort of thing. How about we disband that committee and the money saved there would buy a SawStop for everyone (or pay some of our debt back to China). LOL Politics suck! There should be no government everything should be voted on by the people through the Internet! I know that if I were to vote on a $4800 toilet seat I think some people would have a cold ass.
you said “All the money wasted on lawyers could go to making SawStop more affordable and mature the product a little like add blade guards and a way to prevent kickback.”
Add blade guards and a way to prevent kickback? What about the blade guard that comes with every sawstop saw? And the riving knife for use when the blade guard would prevent a cut from being made? Both reduce kickback. Both are supplied with SawStop saws. And you can switch from one to the other in 20 seconds.
Just an extremely satisfied customer.
Thank you for pointing that out Scott I made the correction. You are right the newer SawStops have the guards, The SawStop itself is a great saw from what I hear and I love the innovative thinking behind it. A Finger to me is well worth the price of the saw, I just don’t want to be forced to spend the money to go this route. When the technology progresses and gets cheaper, sure go ahead and pass it into law. The argument here is principle not the saw itself, its more bureaucratic red tape where the user loses out of his or her pocket book and does not have a choice. The only ones getting wealthy here are lawyers.
Its like parachute companies petitioning that you wear a parachute on every flight? because it will save your life!
The retraction mechanism can be disabled on a Saw Stop if you plan to cut into significantly wet wood. I would strongly suspect that the first time your average person/contractor drops $100+ for mechanism and new blade because the sensing tech over-reacted, they will disable the mechanism thereby entirely defeating the official purpose of forcing this technology onto the user. Of course, the unofficial purpose ($$$$), will have already succeeded by then.
The Idea is good. I currently use 4 table saws for my jobs and to replace them at a high cost would really hurt me financially. I hope this doesn’t go through
Right on, right on. I am tired of government gettinginto everything. i depend on my saw for a living and have for years. When my current saw goes, I need to be able to afford a new one. Yes i like the safety feature of the sawstop, but I don’t want it. I want a saw that cuts and i don’t have to worry about replacing any other items except the bursches and maybe the motor. I see why Sawstop is doing this, because there is big money for them. The idea is great, but don’t make me pay for something i don’t want. The government all ready stepped in and took away the happy meal in California, now McDonalds is making my kids fries smaller and they include apples. I take my kids to mcDonalds for a treat, he eats enough apples at home. So I am asking, don’t take away my happy meal also.
I, as a rule, hate all the ‘nanny’ laws.
Yes, seat belts, helmets, air bags, etc save lives, but making all these products mandatory is ridiculous. I do not drive my car in a manner that I’d ever deploy an air bag, for this reason I’d prefer to save the several thousand dollars by having my vehicle not have the air bags.
Likewise, I do not take chances with my table saw. I do not have my hands any where near the blade, but instead use a push stick or other item to keep me safe. I can only hope that the ‘committee’ is wise enough to see what the real item is to this ajenda is and that is GREED.
One only has to look at the one item that everyone uses that the government and bureaucrats turned into a useless, nonfunctional, leaky device – the CARB fuel can – to know just where this will end up.
Well then there’s that patent thingy. The US Patent Office is bordering on the ridiculous anymore. I mean really any device that retracts a blade within blah, blah, blah is a patentable process? A patent is suppose to be a documentable process with specific parts and functions not some touchy feely idea.
The Patent System is so out of whack anymore. Places like Google are actually just writing patents to prevent people from creating new things at the same time there’s a whole new industry that’s been born around patent collections where they go out an buy up patents with their whole intent being to resell them or claim on them.
The pharmaceutical industry has bastardized it as well. They come out with Drug A and when that patent is about to expire they add a sustained release to Drug A to get another 20 years or they change one molecule and claim it’s a new improved medication more than likely you won’t even notice any difference. Sustained release is not a new concept either, it’s been around for a long time so incorporating it into existing medications shouldn’t be any reason for a new patent. Sustained release should’ve been it’s own patent 60 years ago.
But I digress. I use to believe in the patent system but now it’s just another way to rip people off and I think that we have to come up with a better system. Maybe a percentage of profits go back to the original inventor for a period of time when someone creates a better mousetrap rather than preventing someone from building a better mousetrap. Consumers are literally losing their lives when they could have much better products at cheaper prices that are saving or improving their lives.
well said
“Sawstop is out of reach for me” so you say. Amd “Most readers just cant’t afford one”. Do you drive a car? How much did you pay for it? Is it full of govermaent mandatory safety features? You can always find used cars in the $1,500 with fewer safety features and a huge cost per mile savings, but do you choose to spend more? Maybe $15,000 or $20,000 or more? Seens like paying thousands of dollars more for a car would logically be out of reach for you too, but was it?
The truth is, we all proritize how we spend our money as shown by what we actually buy. And most people who have the money to have a hobby like woodworking, or especially people who make their living using a table saw, COULD afford to move some money from one category of spending over to a Sawstop. But they do not. NOT becasue they CAN’T or its OUT of REACH as you say, but they do not becasue they would rather risk cutting off their fingers or worse that give up spending money elsewhere. Period.
Now if they knew they were going to be the ones to cut off their fingers (and some will), the priorities would change and the saw would no longer be “out of reach”, or they would quit using a table saw.
Just think how much money people would save if they did not have to pay for seat belts and air bags and much more. But then the cost for medical care for the those who have accifents would eat up the savings in automobile cost. The same is true for table saw accidents. Those who have the accidents are costing thousands of $$ and MUCH MENTAL AND PHYSICAL PAIN.