CT Scans of New vs. Used SawStop

Does making tools more expensive really benefit anyone other than the companies which own the patents which make them more expensive?

Of these 30,000 injuries per year, how many happen when the blade guards are removed? How many happen when a push stick is not used? How many happen when a person stands in the direction that a piece of wood will be thrown by kickback? Once all those are subtracted are there enough injuries to count?

What if all tablesaw injury cases were tried by a jury of shop teachers?

The best advice I got in shop class was to slowly and quietly count to 10 on my fingers before throwing a power switch and in doing so to envision the operation from beginning to end and all the forces which would be involved, and to remind myself, that I wanted to be able to repeat that cut when the power was turned off.

SawStop goes on about how they will license their patent, but the licensing being offered is a very narrow one and doesn't seem to include the entirety of their patent portfolio, and they have fought very hard to keep tools with similar capabilities out of the U.S. market claiming patent infringement.

You're not required to purchase them if you don't want to. Personally, I have a stopsaw. It has never triggered, so beyond initial purchase price, it hasn't cost me a cent extra, but in the unlikely case where I do something dumb or have an accident, I feel better knowing it won't be life altering and all I'll need to do is replace a blade and a $99 cartridge. That's worth it to me.

> Of these 30,000 injuries per year, how many happen when the blade guards are removed? How many happen when a push stick is not used?

Seems like you don't buy into the swiss cheese model of accidents. Because other safety mechanisms and good practices exist, it doesn't mean that there's not reasons to add additional safety. In aviation, we always blamed the pilots for a long time, and it wasn't entirely wrong. However, no matter how much we told pilots "stop crashing and dying!!" they didn't seem to want to stop.

This is there for the day when other things go wrong-- when a tired operator reaches for something he obviously shouldn't; when a blade guard is out of place and someone slips; when someone who isn't sufficiently trained doesn't realize he shouldn't use the table saw.

> Does making tools more expensive really benefit anyone other than the companies which own the patents which make them more expensive?

I would pay thousands to avoid losing part of my hand. The increased price is a very good value, tens of dollars.

Look at rearview cameras. Cheap tech. Used to be a 1000+ USD option. Now that they are government mandated the manufacturers figured out how to include them for a couple hundred dollars.

Price goes up, but just a little. Money well spent.

Wait, so is it a one time function? Can the wire be reset?