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Comment by anonymousab | Hacker News Reader

I hope they find a way to bring costs down. It seems like a very hard problem - you seem to need fairly high quality materials for the braking system to not bust up the machine itself, and the circuitry is a non trivial expense.

But if folks can't buy a $100-200 table saw, and they can't afford anything higher, then ideas like affixing a circular saw in an upside-down jig might start to become more common. And then they'd lose the baseline safety features of even a cheap table saw, such as the blade guard and riving knife, which might be even worse for overall injuries.

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Indeed... "Build A Table Saw In 10 Minutes"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhORUN6oCUc

> But if folks can't buy a $100-200 table saw, and they can't afford anything higher, then ideas like affixing a circular saw in an upside-down jig might start to become more common.

FTFY: then they shouldn't be in business as the business model is unsustainable. Even for purely private usage - if you can't afford to buy a SawStop saw, then rent one. Your fingers should be more than worth it.

Op didn't mention businesses so why are you? Plenty of regular people own them as well, woodworking is a very popular hobby.

>Even for purely private usage - if you can't afford to buy a SawStop saw, then rent one.

Dunno why some people decide they get to nanny everyone else. There's plenty of other dangerous tools (when misused) to come after next if you go down this path.

The op here is right, the most likely path is rigging a circular saw into a table saw from some internet tutorial. People have done worse to save less.

> Dunno why some people decide they get to nanny everyone else. There's plenty of other dangerous tools (when misused) to come after next if you go down this path.

We mandate safety features on plenty of dangerous machinery, most importantly cars - seatbelts, airbags, brake anti-locks, lane-keeper assists... or we ban stuff entirely, even if it is completely safe to use when one has the proper equipment and knowledge like asbestos.

The key thing is 30.000 accidents a year. Each of these probably costs society around 50k, and that's just the medical cost, not to account for (permanent) loss or reduction of income.

I agree that some will rig up completely unsafe "alternatives" but honestly, doing that rather than renting a safe saw for a dozen bucks... those people at least know of the danger.

The people doing unsafe shit around table saws already know the danger today. So let them take the risk, and deal with the consequences.

This isn’t realistic. Table saws are central to many hobbyist workshops and good table saw weigh several hundred pounds. Renting a table saw is far too inconvenient for most.

43000 people die in car accidents a year, why not enforce a 15mph speed limit? That's gotta reduce the number of deaths.

>I agree that some will rig up completely unsafe "alternatives" but honestly, doing that rather than renting a safe saw for a dozen bucks... those people at least know of the danger.

You can't rent a table saw for a dozen bucks lol. Especially not with a safety saw blade.

On the other hand, if these become common, will people be more cavalier about letting kids or poorly trained users use them? And will malfunctioning or disabled brakes consequently lead to more accidents instead of less?

You can apply this logic to any safety measure for any product, and campaigns against safety requirements often do. Additional safety measures result in more safety. Good talk.

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