Friday, October 7, 2011

Safer table saws? by regulation?

According to the Wall St Journal, the Obama administration is moving toward tougher safety standards for table saws. The table saw makers Stanley, Black & Decker, Bosch, and Ryobi have objected.
As well they might. Table saws are dangerous. A tool that can sever a 2 by 4, will sever any body part that comes in contact with the blade. It's a simple tool that hasn't changed much in the last century. I learned table saw use on my grandfather's 8 inch table saw manufactured back in the 1920's. The brand new saws on sale at Home Depot are the same. There is nothing that new regulations can do to make a safer table saw. New regulations will soak up time and money from the makers, which will be reflected in higher prices at Home Depot.
With one exception. There is a radical new technology that electronically senses flesh contacting the blade and stops blade rotation instantaneously, fast enough to save a finger pushed into the whirling blade. This technology is called Saw Stop, and is commercially available right now. It works, but it is costly, Saw Stop table saws cost hundreds of dollars more than ordinary tools. The price of safety is too high for most customers.
It could be that the Feds are planning to make Saw Stop mandatory on all table saws sold. The Wall St Journal article didn't say. This will push the price of a table saw from $150 up to $400, out of reach for many do-it-yourselfers.

2 comments:

Evan said...

I don't think the saw with a brake will be put on all saws. Its prone to false positives and when the brake fires off once it needs to be replaced.

That being said it is being adopted by a companies because their insurance companies cut them a pretty hefty break and it does work.

I'd just let market forces sort it out honestly.

Dstarr said...

I did some googling today. Apparently the Feds want to outlaw sale of table saws without SawStop technology. This would be a giant market share handout to the SawStop folks. In fact, it was the SawStop people who have been driving this rule making.
The brake on SawStop has to fit the blade fairly closely. Should you change blade size, as in mounting your dado set, you have to change the brake assembly too.