SawStop Table Saw Blade Brake

A study in the Journal of Hand Surgery revealed that woodworking equipment produces over 700,000 significant injuries a year. The study also revealed that 42% of the injuries occurred with a table saw, and 37% of those injured lost one or more digits in the accident. Additionally, the survey found that approximately 40% of the injuries occurred to professional woodworkers, those who work with these types of tools on a daily basis.

Now, please don't think that I'm trying to scare anyone from taking up woodworking. However, this study shows just how easily an injury can occur, even for those professionals who are well aware of the safety rules and features of the tools they use every day. Instead, I want to bring some attention to technology that is designed to help prevent these devastating injuries.

A few years ago, a safety system was developed that detects when the blade of the table saw is touched, a blade brake is employed to stop the saw blade within milliseconds. This safety technology was introduced in table saws produced by a company called SawStop, initially in a cabinet saw, and later in a comparable contractor saw.

How does it work?

The saw blade is given an electronic signal that sensors monitor constantly. If the signal on the blade drops below a certain range, a spring-loaded aluminum block is released into the blade which stops the blade in approximately 1/200th of a second. Tests have shown that when the blade brake is employed (after contact is made with one of the blade teeth), the blade comes to a complete stop in the time it takes for two or three more teeth to make contact with the skin. This means that what could have resulted in an amputation or other devastating injury to the operator being little more than a nick on the skin.

However, SawStop's technology doesn't stop there. As the blade comes to such a violently quick stop, the force of the inertia of the blade actually causes the blade to drop beneath the table top, while the motor is simultaneously shut off.

SawStop has developed a dramatic demonstration that shows this entire electronic detection system using a hot dog (instead of a human finger). They have a video of the "Hot Dog Demo" on the SawStop web site that shows exactly how the braking system works. While the video does a great job of showing the technology, if you ever get a chance to try the demo or see it in person, it is far more impressive. I've yet to see an instance yet where members of the audience didn't shriek or gasp when it happens, because it is so startlingly quick. A look at the hot dog shows that the blade, spinning at a few thousand RPMs, barely breaks the skin of the hot dog.

Once the brake has engaged the blade, both the blade and brake will need to be replaced, but the cost of a new blade and brake are inconsequential when compared to the possible loss of a finger (or worse). Changing the brake cartridge is as simple as changing the blade, whether the brake is employed on a single blade or a stacked dado set.

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Making Table Saw Blade Rack

Storing larger 10" and 12" table saw and mitre saw blades can be a bit of a hassel. I have a number of table saw blades and I change blades quite frequently depending on the job I am doing so finding blades is a common task.

Almost every power saw blade these days is tipped with Carbide. The reason for using carbide is that it is very hard and it resists heat very well, and that is why carbide retains it's sharp edge for a long time. The problem with Carbide is that because it is a crystaline type of structure, it can ... and does, fracture easily if bumped against another carbide tipped blade or bumped against steel. (for example, laying a carbide tipped blade down on top of your steel-topped table saw can often chip or even knock a carbide tooth off, and once this happens, blades should NOT be used as they are now dangerous, ALWAYS lay carbide tipped blades down on softer materials like wood, cardboard or some other softer material)

This is why it is important to have a good safe place to store you power tool, table saw and mitre saw blades, and either plastic or wood are idea. If you have a number of blades, a quick glance will tell you which one you need to grab and install on your power tool, so being able to see all your blades at the same time is beneficial.

The storage rack in this video is a similar design to one that I saw a few years ago in a magazine. I thought then that it was an easy design and would be usefull to have something similar. It does take a bit of time to figure out an exact design that will work best for your blades, but when you do, you will have a life-time of use.

The angle of the blades needs to be such that you can see the tooth structure of the blades, but also the blades need to be easy to remove from the rack without fear of bumping others on the way in or out. The more vertical the blades, the easier they are to see, and less room they take up, but then they get harder to remove and replace from the rack. I found that about thirty degrees was best for my needs.

I also needed to make sure ALL my blades would fit on the rack, including my dado blades AND the chippers that go with them. This meant that the vertical holder parts needed to be no more than six inches apart, otherwise the chippers would not stay in place. When I test the larger ten inch blades for stability I found that even the larger blades were quite stable in the six inch wide spacing.

All of slots in the holder two side holder parts needed to wide enough to hold even my thickest blade. I did not want to have some slots wide and other narrow. This would lead to more frustration in that some blades would only fit in some slots. Not good enough, I wanted every blade to be able to fit in every slot, so each slot needed to be suitably sized.

Once I was satisfied with a design, I drew out the design on one side of one of the upright pieces. I wanted both upright pieces to be cut exactly the same so the best way to do this was to clamp them together to make the cuts. The cuts on the vertical pieces can be made several ways, such as on a radial arm saw, a sliding miter, a table saw, cut by hand or using a band saw. I opted to use the band saw because I felt is would be the safest, and if I wanted to modify the size of the cuts, i.e. make them a bit wider, the bandsaw would lend it'self easiest to that.

Since the blade rack only has three pieces, the final piece is the backing piece. I used plywood for this, but before just cutting any old piece of plywood, I measured what would be an ideal width, that would not only hold all my 10: blades safely, but will also hold the chippers from my dado set. In my case, piece of plywood that was 6 inches wide and as long as the the two uprights was idea. It securly holds the 10" blades and is narrow enough to hold dado chippers too.

After mounting the rack on the wall, I found it was quick and easy to idenify blades, and they were all nicely spaced so getting them in and out of the rack was easy and safe.

Build your own rack and save yourself time, space and frustration by having well made blade rack in your workshop

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Touring of a Bit and Blade Sharpening Shop

We often don't get the opportunity to see "behind the scenes" tours of businesses that we deal with on a regular basis, but today, we are making an exception. We have not only a behind the scenes look, but and actual guided tour of a bit and blade sharpening business called "The Edge". We get to see what the machinery looks like that sharpens our bits and blades and how it is use.

In this video you will get to see a variety of sharpening machinery and tools and in some cases we will get to see how they work and what they do. Our tour guide is sharpening expert and The Edge Owner, Tom Saxby, who has a remarkable sense of what it takes to provide sharp blades for specific needs at competitive prices. In this video we will get to see what a spiral sharpening machine looks like and how it work, we will see how blade sharpening machine for jointer planers works and including a variety of blade sharpening machinery.

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There are two very fascinating machines that are particularly interesting. One is the CNC saw blade sharpener the other is a machine that actually makes shaper type blades.

Anyone who has ever needed to restore old and antique furniture or buildings will know that finding replacement mouldings and trim is nearly impossible. In some heritage buildings it is imperative that the original look of the building be maintained which can often mean restoring and re-making wood trim and other components. The Edge Sharpening has the machinery and even more importantly, the expertise to make these kinds of blades that can then be used to replicate heritage wood mouldings, trim and other pieces.

All they need in order to replicate these custom blades is a what the machine is that the blades are going on, and of course a sample of what the finished wood needs to look like. From this, Edge Owner Tom Saxby use his computer to design what the blade needs to look like. From that computer generated plan, he then proceeds to manufacture a special plastic plate which is then used to form the finished blade. The entire process does take time to create a finished custom blade, but the time saved in then making countless hundreds of feet of moulding or trim is easily paid back in time saved, and it all maintains the heritage look of the building of other woodworking piece.

Another fascinating machine to watch is their CNC saw blade sharpener. This machine has the capability to replicate the exact tooth angles on saw blades that the manufacturers originally set out. What's even more impressive is that in the event a customer whats a slight alteration to a tooth design, this can also be done. The CNC sharpener takes of such as small amount that many blades that are claimed my manufacturers to be able to be re-sharpened a certain amount, can actually be sharpened more, provided there is no other external damage to the teeth.

Before any blade is put on the CNC sharpener it if first checked to make sure it is within tolerances and that all the teeth are firm and seated. With some blades certain repairs may be required. Once this is done the blades are put on the CNC machine, set up by computer and the machine is set to sharpen the blade on it's own, and tests itself to make sure it is taking off the right amount of carbide.

The Edge also use an older "hydraulic" type sharpener, which, in it's day was a good machine, and still is to today of less critical sharpening needs such as rough cutting mill type saws where complete accuracy is not as important as simply putting out a decent, sharp blade.

We would like to thank Tom for taking the time to provide this detailed tour for our viewers.

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Choose the Correct Saw Blade for Any Woodworking Task

When choosing a saw blade to make a cut on a particular piece of wood, the choice of blade will make certainly affect the finish of hte cut, which in turn will determine how much sanding you'll have to do to clean up the cut.

Like most woodworkers, I really don't enjoy sanding. It is often a tedious job, but every woodworker knows that the better job he does on the sanding, the better the finish on the project. With that in mind, using the right saw blade for the material being cut (and the direction of the cuts) can dramatically reduce the amount of sanding required.

Want to cut down on the amount of sanding you'll need to do on your projects? Learn how to select the proper saw blade for any task and you'll have far less work to do when it comes time to sand your project.

(c) 2012 Chris Baylor licensed to About.com, Inc.

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