A Table Saw that is the World’s Safest
My Grandfather has been wood working for almost 80 years (Really! He is 95 and was in high school when he started) and I learned the majority of what I know from him. One of his biggest things when working with wood is safety.
I had told my Grandfather of my plan of getting a radial arm saw to use instead on my chop saw and table saw and he advised against it. He told of many occasions where the radial arm saw that he has would grab a piece of wood and throw it across the room. One time he was cutting a 2 x 4 and it went though the wall. He said that even though the blade of the table saw is mostly exposed it was still better then the radial arm saw.
I kept my chop and tables saws.
A couple of months ago I was ripping 2 x 4’s for the banisters for my deck railing and the guard on my table saw got caught up in the blade - it was kind of scary. It was a reminder that even though you try to be as safe as possible accidents can happen. I had thought that it would be nice if they could come up with a table saw that was more safe then one with the blade just sticking up.
I was cruising the internet this past weekend and came across a company that has built the world’s safest table saw.
Basically the saw blade has a very small electrical charge that grounds out should it come in contact with the human body. If contact is made the blade is automatically stopped with a brake and retracted under the surface of the table. The sensing mechanism seems to work on the same premise as those door handles that open when you touch them.
Below they have a video where they are cutting a piece of would with a hot dog on top where the hot dog has only a small cut taken out of it when coming in contact with the blade. It’s pretty amazing!
Technorati: Table Saw, Tools, Safety, Wood Working, Carpentry
