Video Review: SawStop me if you've heard this one before....

So, have you tried the wiener test?

John that is truly a sweet saw. It’s probably more saw that most of us could ever justify, but it shouts quality. My understanding of this saw is that if you were to try the wiener test you would have to replace the component (saw stop) – is that true and if so, how expensive is the cut off component (not the finger cut off – but the one that prevents the finger cut off)?

I would have loved to have seen the video of you standing there when the truck pulled up with your saw – Man, that is an awesome feeling getting a new toy – makes you feel all giddy.

Just to give you a reality check – I know you aren’t old enough, but in 1969 I purchased a brand new Chevy Camaro, loaded to the gills, and spent $3100 for it. Now, a man can spend $4000 for a saw – wow, we’ve certainly come a long way :-)). Hope you enjoy using it, it should last a lifetime.

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

Bill – I bet it won’t appreciate in value like that camero though! Was it an SS or RS/SS?

Nice review John.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Whoa! I didn’t realize that something gave if it does have to stop. Makes sense, though.

Great review Giz. Answered some of my questions about the workings.

-- Jeff, St. Paul, MN

Cajun; The cartridges run 60 – 80 bucks and have to be replaced if you set them off. I am not interested in doing that test.

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

do they still offer a rebate on replacement if you send in your used cartridges to their lab for testing?

Contractors saw in the works – Niiiice! hopefully the price point will get them into more homes and keep us out of more hospitals…

So glad to hear that is is a Great saw with a great safety feature, not just a safer, but only adequate saw. you still spent waaaay less on that saw than you would have on one surgery – without the added hidden expenses of taking time, and loss of work/productivity into the equation.

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://blanchardcreative.etsy.com -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

Cajun…. I am also amortizing over its lifetime. If I use it for 40 or 50 more years…

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

”So, have you tried the wiener test?”
”The cartridges run 60 – 80 bucks and have to be replaced if you set them off. I am not interested in doing that test.”—- not to mention the damage to your weiner (hot dog that is).

Great review – good job on the video!

-- JC - Central PA - www.affyx.com

Thanks for the comments! I’m not putting a hot dog or anything else (other than lumber) near that blade.

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

John: Question. I don’t think I’ve seen asked or answered anywhere.

After you turn off the power switch is the blade still in safety mode. If you touch the blade while taking away some cutoff piece, does it still lockup or are you on your own, wrapping bandages around your weiner!

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

Karson, you can see in the video that the saw monitors the blade even as it is coasting down. It would trigger. If you turn off the red switch that is. If you also turn off the yellow switch you are on you own.

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

Thanks John for the review and answering the questions – What a saw!

Gary, it was a 1969 Camaro SS with the 396 – what a car. I’m finally old enough to own a car with that much POWER. Wish I still had it.

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

Nice saw, Gizmo; quite a step up from the Ridgid, I assume. After following all your blogs and projects, I’m sure this is a much anticipated addition to your shop. Happy sawing!

God I would love one of these. Anyone feel like giving me an interest free loan of, oh, about $4000.

-- Rob McCune

Thanks for this review, Giz!

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

John, what a great review.

I have a friend who has also gotten rid of his table saw to get a SawStop.
I think that this was a smart move – on his part and yours.

With the current cost of health insurance and hospital visits (5 hours cost me $2000 last week) I think the increase in cost is well worth the benefit. It is on my list.

There was a time shortly after I got my pilot’s license that I got caught in a cloud. I started on my instrument ticket the next week. There was a recent post here where someone with 30 years experience got nicked. I’m sure that little visit cost pretty close to 2 grand. He had to pay it. If he had put the money to this saw he would have been ahead of the game.

Ler’s see. Some Festool stuff, now the SawStop. California teachers must get paid really well.

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.

Thanks Lee.

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

Giz,

I just found your review today. Great review. The saw is gorgeous. I had both this and the PM2000 on my Christmas wish list but I guess Santa’s lift gate wasn’t operational or he just couldn’t get it down the chimney.

I think that the saw’s safety feature isn’t really well understood by a lot of folks. Not only do you have to replace the braking cartridge but you also trash your sawblade or dado set. All told to set it off you could be looking at over $200 to get back up and running (if you use Forrest blades like I do). But much cheaper than having to replace body parts.

You lucky dog. Needless to say I am envious.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

That was great – more descriptive than anything else I’ve seen. Looks like a rock solid (black) saw.

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Thanks Scott and Dorje.

Yes the blade will be destroyed too.

Another interesting fact. When GaryK was over he touched his finger to the carbide tooth and we noticed that this does not trigger the light. He was pressing pretty hard. He had to touch a little further down.

It freaked me out a little, so I have contacted the company for more info.

I read on another review http://www.just4fun.org/woodworking/tool_reviews/sawstop/
that this occurs with a dry finger. I have to verify if this is part of the deal.

I will post a response.

I read

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

So I got curious and ran outside for a quick test. If my finger is dry and I touch the carbide tip, nothing. If it is even the slightest bit wet, it triggers instantly.

So it is going to have to slice you slightly to get to the juicy inner finger before it triggers. I can live with that.

I am still keeping away from the blade.

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

Or just get sweaty.

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Here is the e-mail I got back. Just as we suspected.

Also.. Wow. That is the president and inventor of the company writing me back. Never had that happen before.

Impressed all over again.

.................... Start response:

John,

I’m glad to hear you love your saw.

The issue you’re seeing with the teeth is related to the fact that the outer layer of human skin does not conduct electricity very well. When you touch the side of the blade, you have a fairly large surface area between the pad of your finger and the side of the blade. Although the outer layer of the skin is not very conductive, the underlying ‘wet’ tissue – is quite conductive. So touching the side of the blade creates a parallel plate capacitance between the blood in your finger and the blade. Touching the tip of a tooth, however, doesn’t create a large enough surface area to generate very much capacitive coupling and the outer layer of the skin blocks direct conductivity, so you don’t register with the system. However, if the tip cuts through the outer layer of the skin and makes contact with the blood in the capillaries, then your body will become linked with the blade and the system will detect that as contact. In many cases, the system will cut through a callous and only detect contact one the moist underlying capillaries are reached.

You can test this to some extent by licking your finger before touching the tip. You should find that contact is recognized with much less pressure. This is because the moisture makes the skin on your finger far more conductive. You can also see this effect by holding a screwdriver blade (not the insulating handle) in your hand and then touching the screwdriver to the tip of a tooth. You should see contact registered on the lights as soon as the screwdriver makes contact because the large surface area of contact with your hand links you to the screwdriver blade and the small conductive contact to the carbide tip is all that is required to link a conductive object to the blade. The WW2 by Forrest is a great blade and one that we’ve used here for testing in the past, so I don’t think there is any reason to change unless the screwdriver test doesn’t work, but do let me know if it doesn’t.

Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Steve

Stephen F. Gass, Ph.D., President

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

Great info – this bolsters the review that much more!

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

That’s good news, huh?

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Knowledge is power.

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

John,
Like you I have the priviledge of attending a school with a variety of saws, basicly our shops are are wood shops on lots of steroids. I think we have about 6 Sawstops now. And they are the best, without question.
A couple of things that have been discovered are that it is criticle to maintain a space between the cartridge and the blade. The space is that of a nickle, it’s easy to make the adjustment. As you have your blades sharpened their diameter shrinks so you need to check the spacing when you change blades.
Beware that if you put a brand new blade in after a old one that has been sharpened a few times, and forget to adjust the cartridge and start the saw, it will throw the cartridge into the blade.
The end result is you will be buying a new cartridge, blade and underware.
Just a heads up in case you didn’t know.
Enjoy the new toy!

-- Ed - Milan, IN

Thanks Ed. I knew about the spacing, but have not learned how to make the adjuestment. Thanks for the head’s up on changing out old blades.

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

Giz – Did you get (buy) an extra cartridge when you bought the saw?

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Gary..

Just the dado cartridge. I live close enough to the store that I am not worried about it. Someday I may buy another one. If it goes off, I will take a day off anyway I think.

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

Thanks for the informative post, Giz! I always wondered just how the “stop” was triggered on these. There ain’t too much faster than electricity!

I want one when I get a real shop that will accomdate a large, stationary TS!

God Bless,
Hawg

-- Saving barnwood from the scrapyards

i think that these are great. I read an interesting article showing that table saw injuries are about the lowest though in a shop. Having this feature is a plus, but lets not forget about how most get hurt on a table saw.. It is kickback. The most dangerous machines are the shapers, router tables, and believe it or not, the drill press.

-- making sawdust....

Thank you for the great video, professionally done.

An awesome saw.

-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1