how??

By monitoring change in voltage. Flesh conducts electricity; wood doesn't (here's the official explanation).
I think I remember seeing that it stops the blade in 5 milliseconds.

I'd hate to be Quality Control in that place.

Look again, you'll see frankenfinger is bleeding-

Invention Category: Why??
Likelihood of Production: Slim to Nil
Lawsuit probability: 98.6%

I just about took off my fingertip in high school making a replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Had a huge flap of skin hanging off and a numb sensation before the gusher started. Hid it from parents cuz I knew they wouldn't let me finish the project if they knew

Actually Choggie is totally wrong, many a builder I met who cut his hand this way. This would help alot.

bleeding is far better than involuntary amputation.

Invention Category: Why?? Talk to my high school woods class teacher.
Likelihood of Production: Slim to Nil Schools will eat these things up quicker than Macs. (see #1)
Lawsuit probability: 98.6% I don't see why... before this invention, they would have lost a finger due to the blade anyways...

per their website:

The SawStop 10" Cabinet Saw receives a Best Overall rating in the June 2006 Issue of Fine Woodworking magazine.
The SawStop 10" Cabinet Saw receives an Award of Quality for 2006 from Workbench magazine.

I was deeply offended by this. Why ruin a good hotdog when there are starving people all over the world??

Cool invention!!! Wonder if thing becomes a requirement for all saw tools.

Well NOW how am I going to cut my hot dogs to size?
Back to Ye Olde Drawing Board. Very cool invention though.

In this particular case, Choggie is wrong! This is a superb invention... and the guy is trying to lobby saw makers into being REQUIRED to put this on saws, which is probably not the way to success. It's one shot - and then its ruined and needs repair.

Uhm, good work Sherlock. That's a hotdog, not a finger...

coupland-
1. Yes, that's a hotdog not a finger. That much is clear before pushing play. Point is, his finger is behind the hotdog.
2. Being an ass is bad karma. Even on the internet.

OK I'm sold- It would be great to have this on all table saws, and probly' not too costly. But....Ask a 75 year old carpenter with all his digits, He'll probably tell ya he don't see no real use for it.

Not to mention the idiots that WOULD find a way to cut themselves by showing their "safety" invention off.

Or, you could ask my dad who was nearly disembowelled when a particular grain in some wood messed up the saw and now has a massive scar running up his stomach how very much this would have helped.

Not trying to be rude, but you never know what could happen, and far better to be safe than sorry.

It is a neat invention, but it'll really take a lot to get manufacturers to do this. Too much liability for it to be cost effect, in my opinion. I'd love to be proved wrong, but lawyers/lawsuits have killed better ideas.

> Too much liability for it to be cost effect

ehhhhh huh? I think the liability of a unstoppable spinning blade of death is a magnitude higher than the safteyised one.

"Damn you folks must be scared of torque, too!" Safety is a way of life in any shop full of motorized equipment....Safety features are helpfull and technology will eventually remove all idiot factors....and there will still always be freak accidents and darwin award candidates.

and I did not know it was a weiner till I played it twice...and sorry bout yer dad's unfortunate accident, regina, that kickback hurts more folks more often than the blades' edge does with radial saws.

they needn't guarantee that the invention will prevent ever injury a sawblade could cause as long as they don't claim the product will do such.

there is massive potential for similar products in highschool shop classes, lumber mills, etc., where staying up too late playing nintendo or missing your morning coffee can lead to lifelong deformity.

I'm surprised people are so quick to make uninformed comments when the company's website is listed in the video.
The device is already in production, and with the replacement brake units running around $70-$80, even if it triggers itself on a false positive multiple times (supposedly a very rare occurance), it's still cheaper than a lost finger, arm, or worse. There was an article about the technology and the story behind the company in Inc magazine a while back. SawStop produces their own (high quality) tables because the major manufacturers won't license the tech - purportedly because of liability concerns on unprotected products, though it may be due to the licensing fee SawStop is asking.

I know the guys that started this company. One of them actually did a test run with his real finger. Just once. He needed a bandaid. And probably a change of pants.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'invention, saw, blade, amazing' to 'invention, saw stop, sawstop, blade, amazing, safety brake, hot dog finger' - edited by fissionchips

http://www.videosift.com/video/New-Safety-Table-Saw-Stops-whenever-skin-touches-it

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The duration of this video has been updated from unknown to 14 secs - length declared by critical_d.