Comment by throw0101a
7 months ago
NPR article from 2017 on this, "Despite Proven Technology, Attempts To Make Table Saws Safer Drag On":
* https://www.npr.org/2017/08/10/542474093/despite-proven-tech...
Per above, the way SawStop® works:
> Gass is a physicist and he designed a saw that could tell the difference between when it was cutting wood and the instant it started cutting a human finger or hand. The technology is beautiful in its simplicity: Wood doesn't conduct electricity, but you do. Humans are made up mostly of salty water — a great conductor.
> Gass induced a very weak electrical current onto the blade of the saw. He put an inexpensive little sensing device inside it. And if the saw nicks a finger, within 3/1000ths of a second, it fires a brake that stops the blade. Gass demonstrates this in an epic video using a hot dog in place of a finger. The blade looks like it just vanishes into the table.
It usually works too! Usually.