SafeSaw

Discussion of all things technological and/or gadgety
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blackeagle603
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Re: SafeSaw

Post by blackeagle603 »

Anti-kickback device on my old Craftsman saw is more of a hazard and hindrance than a help. Collecting dust in the corner it is. I've been meaning to make a simple splitter.

Thus far I've been good with a properly sized insert for the blade, push sticks and featherboards. Maybe someday I'll cough up the dough and give some featherwheels a try.
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tfbncc
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Re: SafeSaw

Post by tfbncc »

The Safe Saw works and works well by all accounts. But like the four rules of firearms handling, there are basic rules of operating power machinery safely that should always be followed:

Eye and ear protection, always!

No jewelry. This includes wedding rings and writstwatches and especially necklaces.

No loose clothes, shirts, preferably short sleeve. There is a really gruesome video on youtube somewhere of an industrial lathe operator who had on a long sleeve flannel shirt with the cuffs loose and unbottoned. The lathe caught the cuff and he was history.

Push sticks and sleds are your best friends.

These rules were taught to me by my Grandfather (cabinet maker and production carpenter) and my Father (Tool and Die maker). Never give a power tool a chance to hook onto you and you will be happier for a lot longer.
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PawPaw
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Re: SafeSaw

Post by PawPaw »

BDK wrote:But then who would we get to call Stumpy?
Actually, Stumpy was a guy who worked for an electric utility in northwest LA. Some weird accident, he climbed out of his truck and his bucket was touching a downed power line, and somehow the charge exited through his pecker and blew it off. Weird, strange set of events.

But he was Stumpy until he retired. I think that a sports physician took him as a project and got a surgeon to give him some help, maybe did some reconstruction or something. Guy didn't like to talk about it. But, shure-as-shit, we called him Stumpy.
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g-man
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Re: SafeSaw

Post by g-man »

Entry level SafeSaw ~$1700
Equivalent 'Tablesaw' ~$500

I'd have another $1199 worth of other tools and 10x 10¢ paint-stirrer push-sticks. Dad nicked a finger with a tablesaw when I was a kid. Didn't put 2+2 together on it until reading this thread, but it just occurred to me that it happened long after I'd gone to bed (fatigue a factor much?). I tend to be pretty wary around power tools as a result. Didn't stop me from needing two stitches due to a coconut knife-fight accident (Hint: get the coconut milk out the way the locals do), but haven't so much as gotten a scratch from electrically driven implements.
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
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PawPaw
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Re: SafeSaw

Post by PawPaw »

Whatever you decide to buy, get a couple of featherboards, and learn to use them. They're very helpful in making straight, accurate cuts.

LINKY>
Dennis Dezendorf
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Steamforger
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Re: SafeSaw

Post by Steamforger »

John_in_Longview wrote:Thanks for all the comments. A finger is worth a lot to me, so the cost of the saw, and of replacing the brake and the blades isn't an issue. I plan to do all the things you do with a non-SafeSaw when cutting: blade only as high as it needs to be, use push sticks, watch what you are doing. I have no plans to cut metal, just wood. My main concerns about the SafeSaw are 1) it didn't work as advertised or 2) couldn't actually cut wood as it is supposed to.
That's the line the inventor is pushing. If his is the safe saw, all others are not no matter how safely operated. Don't fall into that line of thinking. As others have stated, you can operate the conventional table saw safely and people have been doing so for generations.

You must do what you feel is right, of course...
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Darrell
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Re: SafeSaw

Post by Darrell »

Steamforger wrote:The inventor is a bit of a dick as well. His opinion is you should only be able to buy his saw. By all accounts, the safe saw works very well. I also seem to remember reading that woods with a high moisture content can also trigger the mechanism. Triggers are very expensive, though, how much is a finger worth to you?

I'd say get one if you feel you need to. Otherwise, knowing how a conventional saw works and operating within those boundaries safely will likely work out just fine.
I believe I wrote about the Safe Saw a few years ago, after taking part of my trigger finger off with a table saw at work. Classic case of a southpaw dealing with a right handed world, the layout of the machine (actually a specialty diemaking saw) isn't very lefty friendly. I barely nicked the side of my left index fingertip, still mangled it pretty good. That finger is now a bit shorter than the right index digit, with a misshapen nail. I must admit, I was not using the guard, which was in very poor condition. I made a new guard for the machine, which completely covers the blade, and rises to allow the wood to pass under.
Eppur si muove--Galileo
rightisright
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Re: SafeSaw

Post by rightisright »

What are you looking to do w. the saw? Cabinet work, trim work, heavy ripping? What kind/type of wood?

I have several that all serve different purposes. The Jet in the shop is the big guy hooked up to a cyclone dust collector. Two jobsite DeWalts reside in trailers and a small tabletop Makita is in one of the vans.

The DeWalts do about 90% of the work. They are accurate and smooth enough for on-site trim work (mostly pine or oak). The Makita is great if you just need to make a few light rips.

The Jet excels w. large panels of fine plywood and dense hardwoods. I used to build a lot of Ipe (aka Ironwood, Brazilian Walnut, Pao Lope) decks (not so much anymore due to the advances of synthetic decking material). Ipe is beautiful but an absolute bitch to work with. It's three times harder than oak and produces a very fine lung-irritating dust when cut. The Jet and dust system more than paid for themselves after the first Ipe job many moons ago.

Like the others said, push sticks, hold downs and feather boards are your friends.
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HTRN
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Re: SafeSaw

Post by HTRN »

Steamforger wrote:The inventor is a bit of a dick as well.
The inventor of "Sawstop", Steve Gass is a rentseeking asshole. When he tried to license his idea to the various saw manufacturers, they all turned him down(basically, they saw it as an admission of liability), so he started his own saw company with his tech, but apparently this wasn't enough for him - he sought the CPSC to make his technology the standard, which would make him piles of money in royalties.
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evan price
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Re: SafeSaw

Post by evan price »

For the price of a 3hp SawStop saw you can get a 5hp Jet or something else much more commercial and have change left over to buy some blades or a dado pack.
I used to work in industrial machine building, if you get the operators to believe that the machine will keep them safe you are training operators to get hurt. They need to be aware of what they are doing and involved in their own safety.
One story circling the trade is of a Big Three parts tamping plant that used to have the operators wear wristbands attached with cables to an interrupter at the top of the press. As the press began the downstroke it would pull the operator's hands back from the die set.
One day an operator had both his hands lopped off. He'd just come back from break and forgot to connect the cables. He had gotten used to the press pulling his hands out for him, and he didn't even bother to do it himself anymore.
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