# How on earth does a sawstop saw work?



## IaninSheffield (17 Jul 2020)

I suspect this is not precisely a DIY tool, but I wondered whether a wiser person than I might be able to explain how it works to me? @woodbutcher possibly? I've also heard @Andy in Germany is pretty good at stopping machines 
No idea how this video slipped into the recommended videos on YouTube; it's far from an area I'm familiar with. But I was stunned by this amazing device that is a sawstop. The bloke in the vid takes a shot at explaining how it works, but left me no wiser. I suspect it's some form of fiendish quantum electrodynamic magic.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYLAi4jwXcs


So if anyone can provide a more rational explanation, I'd be so grateful ... and will subsequently confer upon you the title 'Mage of the Highest Order.'


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## classic33 (17 Jul 2020)

https://www.rockler.com/sawstops-blade-stop-functions


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## IaninSheffield (17 Jul 2020)

classic33 said:


> https://www.rockler.com/sawstops-blade-stop-functions


Now that's a better explanation! Thank you Mage.
Even now knowing how it works takes nothing away from my amazement!

Very kind abd rather restrained of you not to send me to 'Let Me Google That For You.'


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## woodbutcher (17 Jul 2020)

IaninSheffield said:


> I suspect this is not precisely a DIY tool, but I wondered whether a wiser person than I might be able to explain how it works to me? @woodbutcher possibly? I've also heard @Andy in Germany is pretty good at stopping machines
> No idea how this video slipped into the recommended videos on YouTube; it's far from an area I'm familiar with. But I was stunned by this amazing device that is a sawstop. The bloke in the vid takes a shot at explaining how it works, but left me no wiser. I suspect it's some form of fiendish quantum electrodynamic magic.
> 
> 
> ...



Holy smoke , l had not even heard of such wizardry, In my workshop the circular saw stopped (eventually) when you hit the big red stop button, and sometimes that was a tad too late to prevent an awkward outcome ....


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## Slick (17 Jul 2020)

I thought that the video explained it quite well.


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## a.twiddler (17 Jul 2020)

That is remarkable! Going back some decades when an experienced woodworking colleague sliced off the end of his thumb on the workshop circular saw I have had a horror of such things happening. If only the technology had existed at that time.


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## classic33 (17 Jul 2020)

IaninSheffield said:


> Now that's a better explanation! Thank you Mage.
> Even now knowing how it works takes nothing away from my amazement!
> 
> Very kind abd rather restrained of you not to send me to 'Let Me Google That For You.'


Not good enough for the title_ 'Mage of the Highest Order'_?


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## Poacher (17 Jul 2020)

Strewth! That's impressive. Many years ago I was being treated for a broken collarbone in Grantham hospital (infamous for hosting Beverly Allitt) when a bloke came in clutching what was left of his left hand after a close encounter with a bench saw.
He was remarkably sanguine about it. 

(Sick humour alert)


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## ColinJ (18 Jul 2020)

Wow - how clever is that!

Oh, here is a guy who believes in his own invention!!! 



A wood machinist at the factory I worked at in the 1980s used to trim his nails using his circular saw... He never managed to saw any fingers or thumbs off while I worked there, but it seemed like it was only a matter of time until he did!

My dad came home from work very late once. He was NEVER late so we knew that something had happened. It seems odd in this era of mobile phones to think that something serious could happen without there being an opportunity to make a call to explain what was going on. Anyway ... turned out that he had _somehow _managed to plane the end of a finger off! He could not figure out how he had done it. He said that the machine was set up properly and he was pushing the timber through using another piece of wood so his hand shouldn't have been anywhere near the cutter.


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## IaninSheffield (18 Jul 2020)

Slick said:


> I thought that the video explained it quite well.


It probably did, but I'm a bear of very little brain.


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## IaninSheffield (18 Jul 2020)

classic33 said:


> Not good enough for the title_ 'Mage of the Highest Order'_?


Pointing me in the direction of a helpful and understandable explanation got you 'Mage.' To qualify for 'Of the Highest Order', well you'd've needed to lay out your own response ... with pretty pictures ... and written like you were talking to Little Ted from Play School.


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## raleighnut (18 Jul 2020)

You wouldn't need it if you had the guard in place.

BTW that's a farty little Dimension Saw wonder if it'd work on a decent size blade


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## Phaeton (18 Jul 2020)

I've never seen one of these before, neat bit of tech, wonder what happens with damp wood it that would draw enough current to cause a reaction.


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## woodbutcher (18 Jul 2020)

raleighnut said:


> You wouldn't need it if you had the guard in place.
> 
> BTW that's a farty little Dimension Saw wonder if it'd work on a decent size blade
> 
> View attachment 536671


Now that's a proper saw, the only thing that worries me is that if the operator is ripping that timber, the saw looks very close to the wall and the stack of wood !


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## raleighnut (18 Jul 2020)

woodbutcher said:


> Now that's a proper saw, the only thing that worries me is that if the operator is ripping that timber, the saw looks very close to the wall and the stack of wood !


Yep I thought that too, maybe he's going halfway, backing it out and flipping it over before cutting from the other end.I just wanted a pic of a biggish Wadkin Saw.


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## Mugshot (18 Jul 2020)

IaninSheffield said:


> I suspect this is not precisely a DIY tool, but I wondered whether a wiser person than I might be able to explain how it works to me? @woodbutcher possibly? I've also heard @Andy in Germany is pretty good at stopping machines
> No idea how this video slipped into the recommended videos on YouTube; it's far from an area I'm familiar with. But I was stunned by this amazing device that is a sawstop. The bloke in the vid takes a shot at explaining how it works, but left me no wiser. I suspect it's some form of fiendish quantum electrodynamic magic.
> 
> 
> ...



I can't answer your question, but I'd like to say that that video is porn, it's not as porn as Henry Cavill building a PC, but it's porn nonetheless.


View: https://youtu.be/4w88wqlVL4M


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## raleighnut (18 Jul 2020)

Mugshot said:


> I can't answer your question, but I'd like to say that that video is porn, it's not as porn as Henry Cavill building a PC, but it's porn nonetheless.
> 
> 
> View: https://youtu.be/4w88wqlVL4M



Well that won't work for long, where's his earth strap.


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## Beebo (18 Jul 2020)

The teeth flying off the blade due to the g force is amazing. But also dangerous. 
i bet it isn’t a cheap system, how much for blades and the brake pads?


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## ColinJ (18 Jul 2020)

raleighnut said:


> Well that won't work for long, where's his earth strap.


I once saw a colleague carrying a large prototype circuit board which had cost the company many thousands of pounds. It was not in an anti-static bag, he was walking across a carpeted floor***, and worst of all he was absent-mindedly running his fingers over the back of the board as if strumming a guitar! He was an experienced electronics engineer so he definitely should have known better! 


*** There can be a big build-up of static electricity doing that. I have had a nasty jolt when touching a door handle at the end of a long carpeted corridor.


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## newts (25 Jul 2020)

Beebo said:


> The teeth flying off the blade due to the g force is amazing. But also dangerous.
> i bet it isn’t a cheap system, how much for blades and the brake pads?


The blades on the dado stack slipped when braking & teeth collided on 2 of the blades, surprised that ever passed a safety test
Single blade saw setup would work fine. 
I worked in joinery for many years, using a ring fence on a spindle moulder without the safety cage kept your buttocks clenched


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## raleighnut (25 Jul 2020)

newts said:


> The blades on the dado stack slipped when braking & teeth collided on 2 of the blades, surprised that ever passed a safety test
> Single blade saw setup would work fine.
> I worked in joinery for many years, using a ring fence on a spindle moulder without the safety cage kept your buttocks clenched


Yep been there too but strangely nobody bats an eye at using an overhead router without guards despite that cutter doing 22,000 rpm.


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