Ever heard of a Saw that cuts almost everything except a finger? Well, we may all think it is impossible because our fingers are much more vulnerable to any cuts than cutting a piece of wood.
Fortunately, a guy called Steve Gass invented one of the most advanced saws in the world. A man whose faith in his own technology and design was so great to test with his own bare hand, proving to the world that his table saw is guaranteed. So, what is this saw about? Basically, they are a sawstop table, a saw that is equipped with a technology that stops its blade only when our skin or any conducting material come in to contact with the fast rotating blade.
Its Mechanism
Very small electric current flow through the blade. Wood being a poor conductor of electricity, it does not affect the electric current flowing. On the other hand, our hand/skin, being conductive allows some current to flow. This flunctuation of electric current in the blade is detected and that causes a block of aluminium block catrige connected to a fast acting spring under compression to be activated.
For example, when a carpenter or a user accidentally touches the blade, unkowingly and unintentionally, normal blade would cut the fingers or any part of the body as if it is slicing a piece of paper.
Further Design safety added to this amazing device is that the blade’s angular momentum causes the blades to hide under the table to prevent further contacts, at the same time, turning the power off!
By resisting a huge amount of force of the blade in order to decelerate the turing speed to zero within milliseconds, the aluminium catrige that cost $69 is only for a single use. However, it is probably worth more than that than losing our precious fingers that we can’t imagine living with one or more missing on our hand!
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SawStop
http://www.sawstop.com/how-it-works/
http://www.sawstop.com/how-it-works/monitor-and-detect/
http://www.sawstop.com/how-it-works/brake-activation/
http://www.sawstop.com/how-it-works/white-paper/