This guy has invented a system that detects a human finger contacting a table saw blade, and stops the blade so fast that it doesn't even draw blood. Incredible innovation.
(And then he sticks his own finger in to prove it works.)
Sorry Harrow but it is about 8yrs or so ago....
Still - bloody brilliant ...... and yet not gonna stick my finger in it !!!!
Select to expand quoteMark _australia said..
Sorry Harrow but it is about 8yrs or so ago....
Still - bloody brilliant ...... and yet not gonna stick my finger in it !!!!
still.......would have been nice if this was available 30 odd year ago!
stephen
Mark's right, it's an oldie. I actually looked into purchasing one years ago as one of my employees didn't inspire confidence with the incidents he created through unsafe work practices. I decided instead that it was best to get rid of the issue (retrenched him after 3 consecutive safety breaches) instead of trying to implement additional and unnecessary safety guards on all my machines.
I would expect that this attachment would damage any precision saw with the loads that it would put on the machine.
Select to expand quotecauncy said..
What if you've got a wooden fingers
or want to set the fence and cut a sh!tload of hotdogs to equal lengths?
thinking about it -
My lack of fingers was due to a close encounter with a buzzer, and later - the insurance company demanding I return to work [against medical opinions] and my dodgy hand not being able to control timber feeding into a spindle moulder [the boss not wanting to purchase the correct guards didn't help either]
I'm not sure if this safety stop gizmo could be fitted to either of these machines, as the forces involved in stopping the rotating cutters would probably tear the blades loose.
stephen
My son who is a cabinet maker who has one or several of those his work place says that one has only gone off once due to lots of moisture in the timber.
It is a MAJOR rebuild of the saw and surround... But if it saves injuries then its worth it.
Select to expand quotesn said...
thinking about it -
My lack of fingers was due to a close encounter with a buzzer, and later - the insurance company demanding I return to work [against medical opinions] and my dodgy hand not being able to control timber feeding into a spindle moulder [the boss not wanting to purchase the correct guards didn't help either]
I'm not sure if this safety stop gizmo could be fitted to either of these machines, as the forces involved in stopping the rotating cutters would probably tear the blades loose.
stephen
Good old spindle moulder, my local window manufacturer has a couple of blades fully embedded in concrete blockwork, scary bit of kit
^^^ As a 16yo apprentice joiner in a window and door manufacturing company in the late '80s, one of my roles was to match heritage moldings that clients brought in. One of the scariest things I had happen was when a pair of 4" cutters on the molder I had just setup slipped in the (loose) collars and started shaving off coils of aluminium from the table surround. The imbalance sounded like a plane taking of in the factory.
I've since had a much greater respect for machines with spinning blades.
This is impressive, but I wonder if cutting CCA-treated timber would trigger it? Just checked a well treated green looking plank and it is about as conductive as my skin.
As for tablesaws, kickback is probably the bigger evil.
^^^ that is very interesting, never considered it...
I lost a bit of finger to wind blowing a household door closed so anything can happen anywhere.
Select to expand quoteFloater said..
^^^
How much does it cost to re-attach a finger?
1984, index finger and middle finger of left hand, [buzzer] both were de-boned between the 1st and second knuckles, couldn't be saved - so the vet chopped them back.
At the time I was pretty stroppy that I couldn't keep them [in a jar]
all up 6 operations due to complications.
second day back at work, 15mm of the left ring finger disappeared [spindle moulder] - leaving a bit of bone poking out of the knuckle.
12 months and another 3 op's later...
Initial offer from the insurance company was $4500.00
Sicked the sharks onto them, and 9 months later I was given a cheque for $28000.00, no idea how much the sharks took, but I wasn't complaining.
Cost the boss his business.
Cost me my trade [wood machinist]
But, the awesome bit is that I can entertain the kids by sticking my fingers up my nose almost as good as Mark! 
----------------------------------------
We were informed at our first day at Leederville Tech, to expect to lose at least one finger before we got our trade papers 
I beat the odds - I lost mine 6 months after finishing my time. 
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Leederville Tech had a spindle moulder with a very bent main shaft - the cutters came loose and it hooked the blades out through the guards, through the ceiling, shaved a bit off a rafter, punched through the roof tiles and are embedded someplace on Leederville football oval. [were never found]
If you play footy @ Leederville - I suggest being careful when you take a dive
Also saw a bench grinder wheel explode and take out several bricks and a window.
It turned out that some mug had been grinding brass - the non-ferrous fragments that were embedded in the grindstone expanded from the heat, and cracked when the next mug was grinding high speed steel cutters.
stephen
Select to expand quotesn said..Floater said..
^^^
How much does it cost to re-attach a finger?
1984, index finger and middle finger of left hand, [buzzer] both were de-boned between the 1st and second knuckles, couldn't be saved - so the vet chopped them back.
At the time I was pretty stroppy that I couldn't keep them [in a jar]
I know what you mean.
I have the end of my finger in a jar. That's old school.
But then 30yrs later I had appendix out and I asked for it to be returned they said no, has to go to lab for testing to make sure we assumed the right bug and therefore have given you the right antibiotics. OK, I said - take a slice and give me the rest in a jar. No.
Grr 
Then 2yrs later, a big abcess behind my tonsil, the farker could have killed me. I say after you cut it out, give it to me in a jar.
No they say, same deal as above.
I said it is my property and I want it... still a no.
:(
What is the point of ****** yourself up if you don't get the talking point later? All I have is a finger in a vegemite jar and that is nowhere near as good as Marks Museum of Mayhem that I could have had. 
While I was in RPH, the fellas in my ward / Occupational therapy group were a hoot!
One was a baker - his hand got dragged into a bread slicer, he yanked his hand out, salvaged the chopped up bits, and the vet used the bits to make three short fingers and used a toe for the thumb.
Another [feral kid from the bush] had a rather lumpy and cancerous rib removed - wanted to keep it, but the vet said no.
The two of them got bored and went looking for fun, couldnt find any suitable nurses, but found a bottle of nitrous someplace, 
high as they were - they managed to find the Pathology lab, and liberated the missing rib.
Last I saw, the rib was the column shift gearstick for his EH.
Another fella in the O.T. group was a no-hoper junkie who had tried cutting his wrists - but missed the bleedy bits and scored a direct hit on the stringy tendon stuff that make everything work.
We gave up on him, fried brain, and bad case of "poorbuggerme" who couldn't-wouldn't do anything to help himself or anyone else.
Me - with an arm in plaster, I got bored and wandered into the RPH carpentry shop thinking I could kill some time talking to the tradies.
Found a pile of timber and set of plans for some wheelchair ramps, Couldn't find anyone around to chat with, so.......... by morning tea time I had the ramps machined up and ready for assembly.
Wandered back to the O.T. workshop after smoko, to find a rather worried O.T. Chick. 
Someone had just done the weeks allocated work for the 2 chippies, and their boss was on the warpath. [O.T. Chick spotted the sawdust on my clothes and told me to hide]
After the next operation, during recovery - I went back for a visit, O.T. Chick was rather glum.
Her fella had pulled the head off her beloved MGA, and didn't know WTF he was doing.
Got her to bring the head in to RPH, I cleaned it up, straightened it, ported, polished, trick valve job, [all in the O.T. room with RPH tools] and showed her how to put it all back on the engine.
RPH was a fun place!- as long as they were not chopping bits off me.
stephen
As a complete contrast to your advice sn, on my first day as an apprentice I was told by a gruff old tradey "you're born with 10 fingers and 10 toes...make sure you leave work each day with them intact!" This was repeated nearly every week.
I'm glad I had a safer induction into my trade.
