Thursday, December 09, 2004

Idiot-proofing Power Tools

In the neverending quest to protect people from themselves, a company called SawStop has come up with a system that will stop a power saw within 5 milliseconds of encountering something soft, squishy, and conductive. Like a finger or a hotdog. The system uses the degree of electrical conductivity through the blade to determine what kind of thing is being cut. They claim that even sticking your finger into a running tool will only result in a scratch. I don't plan to test this myself, but their videos are interesting. I don't really have a problem with this kind of innovation, as long as someone doesn't come along and pass a rule requiring its use. And someone will.

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