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New Safety Feature Detects Flesh
nmb3000 writes "SawStop has introduced a new safety feature for dangerous power tools such as table and band saws which, if accurate and reliable, could result in a lot fewer people visiting the emergency room due to deadly accidents. Using the difference in electrical capacitance between various substances, the system can stop a blade rotating at 4000 RPM in less than 5 milliseconds after detecting contact with flesh. It's hard to understand just how effective this is until you see the demonstration videos where a hotdog is used in place of a potential victim's finger. The site also gives a brief explanation of how the system works as well as some high-speed videos showing just how quickly the blade stops rotating. I wonder if this same technology might be used to protect you neighbor's cat from your robotic lawnmower?"
I don't see how this is going to work for me. I use my power tools to prepare my BBQ. I use the saw to split the hot dogs and shape the hamburger patties.
It is "features" like this that kill the hobbist market for power tools.
The grass is only greener, if you don't take care of your own lawn.
"Now, Mr. Bond, since you won't talk, you will loose your..."
CHUG.
"...eh? Damn you SawStop"
T.
Sorry, this type of safety feature has been available for a few years. I have seen it demonstrated, and it is impressive. 3hp cabinet saw meets hotdog. The blade stopped instantly, with only a small nick taken out of the hot dog.
The unit I saw demonstrated was a one-use unit. Once the brake was used, it had to be replaced. The system had to be professionally installed, which is very inconvienient unless you have an installer in your city. It was also expensive, relative to the tool. However, when compared to your fingers, how expensive is it really?
Personally, I would never use one of these things. If you use your tools properly, and avoid running 'bad' wood through your tools, you will never have a problem. Avoid distractions, pay attention, and use push sticks.
"Yes! I am saved by this power saw that is still miraculously working despite the fiery explosion!"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Damn you science!!!"
Honestly, would you like to donate a finger to nick for a video?
Imagine it - 'Ok, cut.', and everyone fall around laughing.
'BandAid him, take 2'
'no no no - another bandaid - take 3'.
I think the hot dog serves the purpose.
T.
(4000 / 60) = 66.66666 rps
50 teeth => 50x66.6666 = 3333.3333 tps (teeth/sec)
5 milliseconds is 5/1000 seconds, so...
3333.33333 / 1000 = 3.33333
*5 = 16.6666
So, that's 16-17 cuts, max. The blade is slowing down, and retracting, in that 5ms, so it would be even less than that.
T.
I thought people might appreciate the humour of this story...
Several years ago, I went through training as an EMT in the great state of Pennsylvania. We were fortunate to have our main training classes held in a Vocational Technology college - which meant we had all sorts of great rooms and setups for running scenarios.
As part of our final exam, we were dispatched to the woodshop room - a room full of hundreds of bandsaws, etc. - for a report of a possible bandsaw accident.
Now there are two things we were trained to keep in mind with possible amputations:
1) Find the limb immediately and pack it in ice - it is very likely it can be saved and reattached.
2) The patient/victim rarely realises, due to the shock of things, that they've actually lost the limb. So for godsake, don't let them notice.
We arrive on 'scene' in this gigantic shop room, which had row upon row of bandsaw, and the actor is sitting there, fully done up complete with fake severed hand gushing blood, which she has a towel pressed against. She informs us that she was working on the bandsaw and cut herself, and she thinks it's pretty deep. My partner carefully approaches, lifts the towel - and it's quite clear [thanks to the instructors insistence on proper special effects to simulate the injury] that the hand is completely severed.
Taking the initiative on action point #1, I scan the nearest bandsaws for any sign of the severed limb, and see nothing. My brain takes control before I can think, insistent upon finding this limb, and of course states to the patient "Ma'am, Where is the rest of your hand?"
And as if on cue, the actor flips out and starts wailing and shrieking and flailing, and then descends into shock...
And all I wanted to do was help her find her hand!
[We ended up passing the exam, with a minor downcheck for not being more delicate about the severed limb with the patient - the hand was in the very back of the room. Apparently none of the other groups even thought to find the limb, and took the patient to the hospital immediately].
March 2003 I took a good chunk out of my left index finger on the table saw. Ouch.
And I'm normally a very, very careful person on the saw. But between a little kickback, hands in the wrong place, an odd shaped piece I wound up with an avulsion laceration (ripped the skin off the fleshy part of my fingertip about 1/8" wide and bone deep). Quick trip to the ER. Nothing really to stitch up, the doctor left it open but dressed and packed for a couple of weeks. The skin grew back, and I've got a rather odd fingerprint there now.
I'd trade what happened to my finger for the damage done to the hot dog any day.
This needs to be expanded to routers and hand tools. Kickback from circular saws is very frightening.
Get off my lawn.
That's simple ... you DO have to install a new device every time, at fairly high cost. One of the reasons most folks don't like this device.
Of course, they also don't like it because the inventor has been trying to get legal action to FORCE all manufacturers to license and install his device, because otherwise they are 'being negligent'.
Research shows that left-handers are 51% more likely than right handers to suffer accidental injury using tools machinery or other implements
If you're right-handed, imagine having to use all your machinery and tools the "wrong" way (ie left-handed). Even though there are more left-handed people today, the fact stands that the majority of the world's population is right-handed so left-handed products will become nothing more than the niche market it is today.
A bandsaw is commonly used to cut meat in butcher shops. I'm guessing that this device would not work on that application.
Also, gotta wonder if this sort of thing might actually *increase* the number of injuries from power cutting equipment -- by reducing the level of respect for the destruction power of the equipment. Sorta like some of the safety features of automobiles has led to some folks driving more agressively...
Concealed Handgun License Courses in Plano, Texas
That's simple ... you DO have to install a new device every time, at fairly high cost. One of the reasons most folks don't like this device.
That's silly. The cost of losing a finger or an arm is greater.
I work in the Loss Control industry, which is a fancy way of saying I try to make jobs safer for people so that A) you still have your limbs at the end of the day, and B) your employer doesn't have to pay through the nose for injuries/casualties.
/.'er, is that the cartridge must be re-useable. Not infinitely, but it should be able to hold at least 6 good stops to itself before needing a cartridge change. (By law, and good safety policy, such systems should be regularly tested.)
I showed the videos to the Director of the company and immediately it's been making it's rounds through the office. This is exciting technology, this is *important* technology. Ask the thousands of labourers, carpenters, shop workers, around north america who've lost digits to cutting accidents what they think of this technology. No, you won't hear a goddamn negative thing.
Some people have complained about the inventor of the technology trying to make the device mandatory on cutting tools. Is this self-serving for him? Hell yes. Is he still in the right? Undoubtedly. Hard hats, steel toe boots, rebar covers, flagmen, confined space entry, are all areas of industry that are strongly regulated by governments, and made mandatory by law. This should, without a doubt, join it.
One significant aspect of the technology that needs to be addressed however, and raised by a fellow
I look forward to this technology becoming industry standard. The man who invented it is going to be filthy, stinking rich, and definetly deserves to be. That's what innovation leads to; success.
And for the rest of you going on about "You don't need this if you're careful.", I call bullshit. You need a hardhat, you need safety goggles, you need steel-toe boots. *YOU* can be careful, but you can't control all variables around you. That's why they're called 'Accidents' when they happen.
"To pass through the jungle; silence, courtesy, ferocity, as the occasion demands." -- Kamau, "Proper Passage"