With the US Consumer Product Safety Commission inching closer towards requiring all table saws to feature active injury mitigation (AIM) safety technology, I have been thinking about what will this mean for SawStop.
SawStop’s key flesh-detection patents are due to expire in several years. If the safety requirements – originally petitioned for by SawStop’s founders – are finalized, the company would likely be compelled to release their patents to competitors under fair licensing conditions.
This means that, in the near future, SawStop is going to lose their exclusivity and face new competition.
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What’s next for the table saw company?
You might find it interesting that SawStop has applied for a patent for PBS, with the branding “intended to cover the category of band saws.”
This suggests that a SawStop Professional Band Saw is in the works.
Some existing woodworking band saws already feature blade brakes. I wonder how a SawStop band saw might do things differently.
A reader (thank you, Jared!) shared a screenshot of a recent survey, where SawStop asks about what other types of tools their customers might be interested in.
SawStop also already offers a router table, as well as drop-in modules that work with their cabinet-style tables saws.
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The PBS trademark, reinforced by the recent survey, suggest that SawStop is at least considering branching out into other woodworking power tool product categories.
Once you realize that SawStop is owned by the same company as Festool, tools like a drill/driver, dust extractor, or sander doesn’t seem like much of a stretch.
SawStop could – and should – be preparing for a time when theirs aren’t the only safety-featured table saws in the US market, whether this happens once key patents expire or the CPSC mandates it.
I think that a SawStop PBS band saw could be a smart move by the company.
John
Maybe they will lobby to be the only osha approved band saw in the universe next…
eddie sky
LOL!
I watch folks use a bandsaw and I’m currently looking at Laguna or Harvey. But I’ve seen up close use, and no one injured.
I have to do resawing, and some other work but can’t justify.
Rog
A safety brake equipped router is intriguing to me. It’s the tool that freaks me out the most. But I imagine it would be quite bulky and not ideal for handheld work.
Stuart
They didn’t suggest anything would have a flesh-detection safety brake.
SawStop has router tables, but none have safety brakes.
Rog
I know, but I’m saying that would make a nice addition to their safety equipped products. If an SS product doesn’t include their tech, there’s zero reason for me to consider shopping them when there’s a hundred other good options out there.
Jared P
@Stuart in the survey, the question after this one had a similar list of tools but the question was something like, “Which of these tools should have the sawstop flesh detection safety feature”. I meant to get you a screenshot of that question as well, but forgot and finished the survey so I can’t get back to it. Maybe another reader who received the survey can get a screencap. It included a router/router table, but it was weird wording and a weird set of tools, since I can’t imagine how or why flesh detection would come into play on a spindle sander, for example.
Bob
Aren’t their router tables just wing inserts for their table saws? They don’t sell the router. It’s just a table saw accessory. Something other brands also have. It’s a competitive check box.
A RouterStop motor you could drop in the table’s lift would be a welcome addition. Routers scare me much more than table saws.
Rog
Correct, it’s just a drop-in holder. Only SS tools with their safety inclusions would be on my radar. Otherwise, I will look elsewhere.
Stuart
They do have a standalone router table.
It’s sold at Rockler and other dealers.
eddie sky
Perhaps a shaper, which is a much more powerful router.
Bonnie
For a table I could see it working, but a bit-brake in a handheld router would probably fling itself around the shop and cause concussions instead of lacerations.
CA
Coming to a Woodcraft near you! Maybe they will do one for steel and meat packing too!!!!!! Oh wait meat packing won’t work 🙁
Bonnie
Meat packing already has camera-based flesh detection bandsaws.
blocky
Flesh-detection might not be the phrase for it, but cool nonetheless.
Robert
If the Sawstop built band saw doesn’t have a flesh protection safety system, how will they differentiate it from other high end band saws? Some that are already well established. Sure, their loyalists will propel some early sales, but the what?
I assume like the table saws, they will be well built and with thoughtful features, but will that be enough to justify Sawstop’s typical price premium?
ken
Looks like they also are opening up some of their patents on the table saw.
Stuart
Not like they have much of a choice.
Ben
Why?
Jeremy
Sawstop should stay close to their lane. Maybe a true Sawstop slider? Or maybe Felder/Altendorf have already locked down the slider brake patents?
Stuart
No.
Companies straying from their lanes has been good for consumers.
Ben
I’m not sure what SawStop could do with a Bandsaw that would differentiate the product from what is already being offered by the likes of Grizzly, Rikon, Laguna, Jet, Harvey, and PowerMatic.
Nate
I’m not sure the band saw is the best place to start. Band saws can be dangerous, in the same way that any tool in a shop can be dangerous. However, they always pull the work piece toward the table and don’t have the kickback danger that tablesaws do. As a result, if you have a healthy respect for keeping your fingers/body an appropriate distance from the blade, bandsaws are pretty safe compared to other woodworking tools, entirely because they behave more predictably from a physics standpoint than a circular blade does. The cast iron wheels also present a big challenge; that’s a lot of mass to stop within a few thousandths of a second.
I think the biggest gains for SawStop (or a similar/competing) technology could be made in jointers for all shops. Jointer cutting heads have a bit more mass than 10 inch table saw blade, but floor stander are usually pretty heavy and extra mass for a jointer is a good thing. The brake technology would probably need to work a bit differently, due to the smaller cutting surface and width of the cutting head. Nonethless, I think it would work pretty well with some adjustment to the SawStop tech.
I’d also like to see something for router tables, but I think it’s a bit more problematic to implement due to the tremendous variability in size, mass, and speed of the various router bits. Confident that SawStop could figure something out if the wanted to. Routers could probably implement some logic on a motor control board that compared motor load (sharp increase or decrease in load), g force on the tool (is the tool no longer being securely held?), and some test for conductive material (flesh on the bit) to determine if the should brake.
Shapers desperately need some improved safety equipment. However, I think they’ll need a different approach than the traditional SawStop method of electrifying the blade because many of the accidents that occur with shapers are pure “kickback” accidents where fingers are pulverized by crushing from impact and never touch the blade. The shaper seems like it might be a better candidate for an optically tracked system such as the Altendorf or Felder/Hammer system.
Nate
I noticed Stewart’s comment that they didn’t mention the safety brake… A SawStop BandSaw (even without a brake) would probably sell really well if it had the same high level of finish, quality control and customer service that they have now. There’s some good players in this space, but customer service at Jet and Laguna are sometimes a bit lacking. I’m confident that SawStop can go toe-to-toe with PowerMatic in this space, if they want to.
Case in point on customer service… I’m looking at buying a used, 5hp SawStop CB that’s nearly 20 years old. I wrote a note and asked them about brake availability (“we have no plans to discontinue those brakes”) and if their current accessories work with that saw (“yes, they do”). I got the answer back within 2 business hours.
Stuart
The router has no brake.
The band saw has only the suggestion of pending existence.
Nate
I was engaged in a thought experiment of where they should take their safety tech next, I should have stated that. Good on you for clarifying. I know that people come here for information on current tools and ensuring that folks have accurate information is very important. Cheers!
Nate
My cordless Dewalt router has a brake, when you turn off the switch the spindle stops. The corded trim router does not.
Adam
I think you would need a lot force to stop a shaper, that’s a powerful motor to stop, I personally couldn’t see that working.
Bonnie
It would probably have to be bolted down to the floor as well to avoid jumping when the blade brake kicks in.
Christian Reed (REEKON)
Might find some of these Festool Patents interesting especially the drawings for braking mechanisms (quite a few for miter saws):
Miter Saw
https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2024028430A1/
https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2023217788A1
Joe H
Back in middle school a kid in wood class cut his finger on a band saw. Didn’t cut it off but still it put the teachers on edge no pun intended.
Jronman
Is this maybe strategic timing? As the tablesaw patents run out you just reconfigure the patents a bit and refile. You now have some flesh detection patents specific to bandsaws and the market for this tech on lock down for another patent cycle.
Reflector
I like the technology but I am disgusted by Sawstop being obnoxious about their patent trolling. The portable Bosch saw was interesting due to it being nondestructive on the blade but it is clear what Sawstop is gunning for when they killed it from entering the US market.
Bonnie
Patent trolling is very different from being protective of a patent you are actively using.
scott
The router tech would be extremely easy to do and without killing the blade/bit. Same spring loaded pull back and a thru shaft that was connected to a sacrificial blade to throw a aluminum stop block into. I don’t know why SS has not done a double ended shaft with a sacrificial “blade” that they can throw the aluminum block into. That would allow you to use it with a dado blade etc., and never kill your blade but stop it just the same.
Birdog357
Because the inertia of the blade itself would spin the nut loose, then you have a loose high speed blade going everywhere.
scott
And as a patent guy this would look to get around the blade stopping feature. You would be doing a shaft stopping feature, not blade. It would be built on the sane capacitance circuit feature which is not patentable.
Bonnie
They do have the patent on capacitive flesh detection in tablesaws though.
Bob+Hinden
I have no idea if a SawStop bandsaw would make sense or not. I think the market size is dependent on the number and severity of band saw accidents. Same for other possible machine tool (e.g., router table, miter saws, etc.).
Anyone know where to look for woodworking accident statistics? Also, how they compare with table saw accidents.
Bonnie
The NEISS database is open and where most statistics for tablesaw injuries are compiled from. Bandsaws are code 0842.
OldDominionDIYer
SAWSTOP the epitome of bad corporate behavior driven by greed. It’s one thing to hold and defend your patent it’s a whole other thing to not license it to others. I WILL NEVER buy anything from them, ever…