Comment by 486sx33

When sawstop engages it destroys the blade and ruins the stop cartridge. So you need a new cartridge and a new blade, which is better than a finger but not cost free. Wet (damp) wood, aluminum, and any other material that is a bit conductive can trigger the sawstop. However sawstop has a bypass mode, which allows you to cut conductive items (and your finger).

This article is pretty aggressive with this statement “ Woodworking has been a nearly lifelong passion for Noffsinger, and he was no stranger to power tools. Back before his accident, he'd seen a demonstration of a new and much safer type of table saw at a local woodworking store. Marketed under the name SawStop, it was designed to stop and retract the spinning blade within a few milliseconds of making contact with flesh — fast enough to turn a potentially life-changing injury into little more than a scratch. Noffsinger's table saw wasn't equipped with the high-tech safety feature because manufacturers aren't required to include it.”

Actually his saw wasn’t equipped with sawstop because he chose not to equip it. He knew of its existence, it’s readily available (online and also at Lee valley tools), but he chose not to get the safety device and somehow that’s the manufacturers fault? Cmon man. This same jerk will be the guy who buys the thing, turns on bypass mode, cuts his finger off and sues the manufacturer.

We don’t need safety devices mandated on personal table saws. Maybe osha should require saws on jobsites to be retrofitted with saw stop to protect workers, but it is most certainly not the manufacturers fault if you cut off your thumb. I suppose chain saws and motorcycles should just be straight illegal then ?