Comments on: Table Saw Lawsuit Is Ridiculous

By: If You Want an Affordable Table Saw You Better Buy It Soon on Tool Box Buzz

If You Want an Affordable Table Saw You Better Buy It Soon on Tool Box Buzz — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 00:07:02 +0000

[...] voted to move forward with tougher standards on table saws. As I’ve reported several times frivolous lawsuits and serious lobbying by Stephen Gass (owner of SawStop) have somehow convinced the Socialist minded [...]

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 10:16:58 +0000

happy:

“THIS COMMENT HAS BEEN REMOVED BECAUSE IT VIOLATES OUR TERMS OF SERVICE”

By: happy42xxx

happy42xxx — Tue, 24 May 2011 13:09:25 +0000

Pat:
You are an idiot of course – saw stops are not available on other saws – only the saw stop manf. You might be thinking of a guard and splitter so please think (if you are able to) before you speak next time.

By: CPSC Pushes SawStop Type Technology on Tool Box Buzz

CPSC Pushes SawStop Type Technology on Tool Box Buzz — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 00:59:58 +0000

[...] aggravated and annoyed that this topic has made it to the table with CPSC. Last year’s frivolous table saw lawsuit in Massachusetts made me sick to my stomach. It’s amazing to me that lawyers and our [...]

By: jerry

jerry — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:03:11 +0000

Well if it was that easy.
It turns out that the SawStop technology which is patented by a Mr. Gass (a Lawyer himself) was not adopted because Mr. Gass pretended to obtain 8% of the gross sales price of every saw sold with his product.
Also the cost of adding his technology to the table saw would be around $150-$200 dollars. Add that to the pretended “Royalty” and the cost of a table saw would climb from the $400 the $700 dollars.
What is interesting is that when the manufacturers didn’t accept his terms he then tried another strategy, he attempted to pursue legislation to make his patented technology mandatory through the Consumer Protection Safety Commission.

As an engineer myself and having to deal with Mr. Murphy all the time (Murphy’s Laws for the uninitiated) there is only one certain thing, no technology is 100% fool proof, the SawStop has been know to trip for no reason at all, and I am afraid that if you have a “fool proof” tool in the end it will be operated by fools. There is no substitute for “Common Sense”, “Safe Operating Practices” are also a must.
So many times I see people operating equipment that have had no training whatsoever and didn’t even read the instruction manual.

And on another topic have you seen the price of a SawStop table saw?

By: John

John — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:08:08 +0000

Sawstop’s saw costs a full $1000 dollars more than a comparable saw, and is not in any sense better (other than their “flesh detection tech”).

Of course that’s only the up front cost, every time the flesh detector fires off it destroys a replaceable module in the saw ($80) *and* the blade you were using (many blades are $100 or more). Also you can’t use the saw again until both are replaced. I suppose that’s cheap if you actually would have lost a finger, but I’ve never seen anything published about their false detection rate. If they’re too twitchy that could run into real money in a hurry. Plus stopping work for the day if you don’t have spares on hand.