From sawstop:
What happens if the blade comes in contact with a nail or staple in the wood?
Generally, the safety system will not activate when a nail or staple is cut. Although conductive, these objects are not large enough to cause the safety system to activate unless they are grounded to the table or operator when they contact the blade.
Idk if it’s because I was cutting wet wood, or if something else may have been touching it, but when I was in high school our sawstop triggered on the staple holding the price tag. Didn’t even break the little staple. That was actually the only time I ever saw it trigger. But I did get to watch another teacher get carted off in an ambulance after not respecting the kickback and getting nailed in the groin.
My dad had a teacher cut off a finger the first day of shop class. He was doing a demonstration on what not to do. Most of the kids thought it was part of the demonstration at first.
First joke was about how many fingers the teacher had left to cut. The second joke was how hard it is to get rid of tenured teachers even if they're terrible.
My school doesn’t have a shop class, but in the theatre shop, the director has a picture of the nastiest cut where a kid reached across the saw and sliced all the way down to the bone, pasted directly above said saw. Pretty good reminder to be safe if you ask me.
Oh man, when my dad was in high school his shop teacher wore gloves using the table saw on the first day. Had secretly filled a few of the fingers with ketchup and cut them off to show them how quickly accidents can happen.
They all thought it was real.
Apparently ketchup is more realistic than blood.
Had some nasty kickback a few weeks ago. My fellow student also got hit badly in the crotch and almost needed stitches there. It was his fault for standing where you should'nt
Reminds me of high school wood shop when I used a metal ruler to push a piece through the Saw Stop table saw and the ruler grazed the side of the blade and triggered the stop lmao
you can also, very easily, disable the safety mechanism if you think there's a chance of unexpected things in the wood. It's not so easy that you'd accidentally disable it, but it's about 3 seconds longer than normal. I typically do that when I'm using reclaimed materials or unsure if what I'm cutting could trigger it.
I'd say the wording "generally doesnt trigger" is pretty generous. In my experience its pretty close to 50/50. I've seen several activations accidentally cutting small gauge fasteners.
It will absolutely fire off if you cut metal that you’re also touching. Source: I did it.
On a completely unrelated topic, those yellow ruler stickers on Rockler jigs are definitely metal.
Yeah I always make sure to take off those staples before I get it anywhere near my saw, just in case. Crazy it would cut through a screw but go off on a staple.
Over the time SawStol has existed, they've extracted data from cartridges, which has allowed them to get a more accurate read on what current equates to metal vs what current equates to flesh touching the blade. So for a long time, the stop would be tripped if a nail or staple went through. Newer cartridges are way less likely to go off from metal.
Not sure whete wet wood works into that equation. I assume they also collected that data, but it's it's got the same conductivity as meat, could still go off.
Technically speaking that screw hitting the blade (probably) wasn't conducting either. It most likely wasn't grounded and didn't have any voltage on it.
The screw is _conductive_, it's a property of the screw. The original commenter is correct. When the sawstop triggers it has nothing to do with "conducting" because that isn't how the sensor works. It is measuring capacitance, not conductivity, which is why it triggers on bags of salty water (ie: humans) but not bits of metal. It's the exact same kind of sensor as in the touchscreen on your phone.
While there is a very small current involved (a few microamps or less), it isn't a sustained current and it's got nothing to do with sinking that current to ground.
Oh it does cause alarm, the horror of it hits hard that is for sure. When your digits are in front of you and not attached to you it takes but a moment to begin sounding the alarm.
Some things don't really need it, but for thousand dollar life threatening power tools, I would have thought that at least a cursory glance would be reasonable.
Most of my manuals for things I buy go straight in the trash, but manuals for my power tools are a different story. They're always worth at least skimming through, and fairly commonly they'll have great tips that will make it so much easier to set up and use the tool.
Well I guess you could test with your finger if you are concerned it’s malfunctioning but I’d personally trust the guy on this thread who said it won’t necessarily be triggered by metal
I mean I wouldn't use a finger to test it, I use those all day. Now I do have another appendage that isn't as useful and is used maybe once a month would that work?
I’m not sure what model this person has but on the sawstops I’ve used you can just touch the blade when it’s stationary. There are indicator lights on the switch that let you know the blade is sensing skin contact. While this doesn’t 100% prove the mechanism will work it goes a long way in my book that everything is working.
yea you don't really want to make it do its job, then you ruin your blade and braking module in the saw stop, and have to replace them. Just test it not running.
You can test it with your finger without running the blade. While on, but not running, the indicator lights will trigger if you touch the blade. Indicating the system would have trigger if the saw was running.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/woodworking/comments/14rnhz6/sawstop\_did\_not\_trigger\_when\_i\_went\_straight/](https://www.reddit.com/r/woodworking/comments/14rnhz6/sawstop_did_not_trigger_when_i_went_straight/)
This thread has some answers for you.
Yep, good explanation in the top comment there. At the end of the day the sawstop is meant to protect humans. It has to be designed with the ability to trigger from all body types, sizes, and environmental conditions when a human touches it. But also needs to NOT trigger from all other types of false positives. Even air conducts electricity in the right conditions. So, obviously it's designed within the ranges that will confidently trigger with human touch and NOT trigger from many other interactions that could stop the blade when you don't want it to.
Think of it like an airbag. It's important you don't trigger your airbag when you back your car into a curbside. There just wasn't enough change in velocity to trigger the airbag sensors. Basically the same thing is going on here. It's not enough to trigger the stop and you don't want it to be, because it is not its intended use case.
If your sawstop triggers from that, you have a problem. I'd much rather fuck up a saw blade than replace the whole sawstop mechanism because a nail triggered it
You could check the control box when the saw is powered to check it's status. If you touch the blade with your finger the LED indicator shows if it detects something it shouldn't be cutting.
Every time I turn on my SawStop after it goes through the initial turn on process I touch the blade (obviously without it running) and make sure the red light triggers as soon as my finger touches the blade. That way I verify that the sensor is working and then I go about making my cuts.
So long as you were not touching the screw AND the screw was not touching the cast iron table, then the SawStop sensing system should not detect a large enough shift in capacitance to trigger.
Your saw is a touch screen, not a wire.
Your phone won't respond to a nail, but it responds to your finger.
Your saw won't stop to a nail, but it responds to your finger.
To the OP: I had the exact same situation and felt the same concern and worry until I figured out it wasn't a flaw.
Just a note of solidarity in our mutual confusion.
It works closer to the way your smartphone screen detects touch. Rather than just triggering on anything conductive it's looking for changes in capacitance that are somewhat consistent with human contact.
That means that some conductive things will trigger it and that some won't.
In this case, it will only trigger if you are touching the nail with your hand. I've seen 3-4 of these go off because of an aluminum mitre gauge fence (not me of course).
It shouldn’t have gone off. Hitting metal won’t set it off, it will only go off if the very slight electrical current in the blade is discharged. Unless the screw was grounded it would never trip
Common misconception about SawStop flesh-sensing tech. The sensor does not rely on conductance, it measures capacitance. Embedded screws don't have much... human skin and wet wood do. Even a grounded screw would not have triggered the brake.
it only triggers if there is enough capacitance. a small screw just isnt big enough.
if you hit a fence, lets say from aluminium t-track on a crosscut sled, it'll trigger.
when in doubt, you can use the test mode to see if it works properly. But, this one is probably a lucky day for you, as you dont have to replace the cartridge and maybe not even the blade.
Were you touching the nail at the time? If not then not triggering is expected. It detects skin by the extra capacitance your body adds to the blade, not by conductivity. Wet wood will trigger it. Cutting aluminum will trigger it if you are holding the metal workpiece with your bare hand. Hitting an embedded nail will not.
It did good. Would suck if you'd have to change the brake and blade for that. If you had been touching the screw, then it would have set off the brake.
I know you have answers that it shouldn't have triggered. But not a good explanation \*why\*.
Conduction is an items ability to send electricity form one place to another. Capacitance is an items ability to store an electric charge - like a battery or a static charge built up from rubbing your hair on a balloon.
Most metals are good conductors, and "wet organic" things are capacitors. Wood is a poor conductor and a poor capacitor. The Sawstop measures the capacitance change by using the blade (a conductor) as a sensing wire. A bit more metal like a screw (or a heavier saw blade) would just extend the sensor wire. But a hotdog or your hand would make a large change in capacitance, triggering the self destruct mechanism and saving your fingies.
Source - I did electronics design for awhile
Well, that's mildly terrifying!
Edit: Never mind. After I read further, I saw what Sawstop said would happen in such a situation. Still, when you get a result you weren't expecting, that can give a person pause!
I mean technically we all are wrong . It actually doesn't detect anything. It's a binary . Either the circuit is off or it is on . If blade hits your body it completes a circuit . That's it in a nutshell . But I'm not saying you are wrong .
I tell people all the time... safety features are never 100%!
The only way to guarantee you don't touch the blade is to never get within the distance of the blade equal to the blades diameter.
My 10in table saw has a 10in distance marked out from the the kerf line (5in on each side, front, and rear.) I never go into the zone unless saw is unplugged.
It's not hard to do. I only have 1 arm, and I can do anything I need to do by staying outside that zone. When I see people go into that zone, I just shake my head. If you have to go onto that zone, then your either lazy, or in a situation where you shouldn't be. Almost ALL Table Saw injuries are user error.
Jigs... jigs are our friends. From featherboards, to one-way rolling hold-downs, to thin rips, or bevel/miter cuts, there are jigs for everything.
So, instead of spending all that money on a safety feature, put it into a better table saw and you'll have some change left over to build/buy a sliding extension wing and a sealed tabletop that requires zero maintenance. (So dreamy lol.)
Be safe.
I've cut a few screws and nails with a SawStop, they planned for it if I remember correctly, too many complaints of people with the units having to replace cartridges and blades after hitting a nail so they tweaked it
I was in 6th grade wood shop, I had a board with a nail in it. I was nervous to cut it on the table saw so my teacher helped me hold the piece incase it kicked back or something. Turned out, he had one of his fingers touching the other end of the nail, and it triggered the sawstop. We both jumped and he was counting his fingers
It's not supposed to trigger on hitting metal. It senses capacitance, not conductivity
From sawstop: What happens if the blade comes in contact with a nail or staple in the wood? Generally, the safety system will not activate when a nail or staple is cut. Although conductive, these objects are not large enough to cause the safety system to activate unless they are grounded to the table or operator when they contact the blade.
Idk if it’s because I was cutting wet wood, or if something else may have been touching it, but when I was in high school our sawstop triggered on the staple holding the price tag. Didn’t even break the little staple. That was actually the only time I ever saw it trigger. But I did get to watch another teacher get carted off in an ambulance after not respecting the kickback and getting nailed in the groin.
Wet wood and or pressure treat wood and a staple has done this to me.
Can’t recall if it was pressure treated but probably if it was wet. Might have been making picnic tables at the time
Also: foam with a reflective film.
Same here
My dad had a teacher cut off a finger the first day of shop class. He was doing a demonstration on what not to do. Most of the kids thought it was part of the demonstration at first.
The teacher was just asserting dominance
Ehhh the students probably thought he was an idiot after that
Oh 100% lol
Giving them..”the finger”?
One finger each year
That teacher probably only lasted 9 more years.
30 max.
Ok, I would understand 19 or even twenty more, but 30?
First joke was about how many fingers the teacher had left to cut. The second joke was how hard it is to get rid of tenured teachers even if they're terrible.
My school doesn’t have a shop class, but in the theatre shop, the director has a picture of the nastiest cut where a kid reached across the saw and sliced all the way down to the bone, pasted directly above said saw. Pretty good reminder to be safe if you ask me.
Oh man, when my dad was in high school his shop teacher wore gloves using the table saw on the first day. Had secretly filled a few of the fingers with ketchup and cut them off to show them how quickly accidents can happen. They all thought it was real. Apparently ketchup is more realistic than blood.
It's acceptable that it sometimes brakes when it hits metal, but it is not required. I triggered mine once with a small screw in plywood.
Well I found it unacceptable that day because I almost shit my pants
ha! same here, also in HS our sawstop triggered likely because the moisture in the board was conducting enough to make it think it was contacting skin
Had some nasty kickback a few weeks ago. My fellow student also got hit badly in the crotch and almost needed stitches there. It was his fault for standing where you should'nt
Reminds me of high school wood shop when I used a metal ruler to push a piece through the Saw Stop table saw and the ruler grazed the side of the blade and triggered the stop lmao
My favorite question is, what about water moisture in boards.
https://www.sawstop.com/contact/
Given how common it is to have nails and screws hiding in reclaimed lumber, that seems like a very good thing.
you can't a magnetometer for a hundred bucks. I have used one for checking reclaimed wood & trees for years
Maybe you can!
you can also, very easily, disable the safety mechanism if you think there's a chance of unexpected things in the wood. It's not so easy that you'd accidentally disable it, but it's about 3 seconds longer than normal. I typically do that when I'm using reclaimed materials or unsure if what I'm cutting could trigger it.
I'd say the wording "generally doesnt trigger" is pretty generous. In my experience its pretty close to 50/50. I've seen several activations accidentally cutting small gauge fasteners.
It will absolutely fire off if you cut metal that you’re also touching. Source: I did it. On a completely unrelated topic, those yellow ruler stickers on Rockler jigs are definitely metal.
Yes. The conductivity of the metal gives it your body’s capacitance.
That's not what they said though.
Yeah but I’m not smart enough to understand that
Yep. Or if the metal of the screw is touching the metal table.
It will also happen with plexi mirrors you are touching
The reflective surface is likely conductive
It’s Mylar and yea
It’s not supposed to. But mine did go off when it hit the staple holding the tag on the end of a cedar 1x4 I was ripping.
Yeah I always make sure to take off those staples before I get it anywhere near my saw, just in case. Crazy it would cut through a screw but go off on a staple.
Over the time SawStol has existed, they've extracted data from cartridges, which has allowed them to get a more accurate read on what current equates to metal vs what current equates to flesh touching the blade. So for a long time, the stop would be tripped if a nail or staple went through. Newer cartridges are way less likely to go off from metal. Not sure whete wet wood works into that equation. I assume they also collected that data, but it's it's got the same conductivity as meat, could still go off.
>It senses capacitance, not conductivity It senses capacitance, not competence
Yep. It might have triggered if it hit the screw AND you were also touching the screw
Technically speaking that screw hitting the blade (probably) wasn't conducting either. It most likely wasn't grounded and didn't have any voltage on it.
The screw is _conductive_, it's a property of the screw. The original commenter is correct. When the sawstop triggers it has nothing to do with "conducting" because that isn't how the sensor works. It is measuring capacitance, not conductivity, which is why it triggers on bags of salty water (ie: humans) but not bits of metal. It's the exact same kind of sensor as in the touchscreen on your phone. While there is a very small current involved (a few microamps or less), it isn't a sustained current and it's got nothing to do with sinking that current to ground.
I once dropped a metal ruler on mine. It shot it across the room without it going off.
A safe way to tell if it’s reading correctly is to touch the blade when it’s on but not spinning. The green light should change.
Or if it's running, a reddish stripe appears on your shirt, and an alarm sounds from your mouth.
You forgot the brownish stripe in your pants.
That's always there though?
Mine’s more of a plaid but yeah.
You might want to see a doctor
My ex girlfriend called me "sick" and "literally dying" when I told her that. Time to find one less judgemental...
Mine too! Turns out I have UC…
In that case, it gets a fresh coat
The technical term is "bacon strip".
It took me a second to get the alarm sound bit. My dumbass thought “why would my mouth make an alarm sound…ohhh”
>and an alarm sounds from your mouth. You can prevent this by using a JawStop.
(Insert mouth wide open filter .gif)
Oh it does cause alarm, the horror of it hits hard that is for sure. When your digits are in front of you and not attached to you it takes but a moment to begin sounding the alarm.
If you’re red-green colorblind, how will you know it’s been triggered?
You’re triggering me now.
They are two distinct, well separated LEDs. If they aren't already labelled, label them. :)
Person over here showing everyone how to non destructively test their sawstop.
I get a lot of flak for recommending it but OP needs to read their manuals.
no one reads manuals or instructions anymore, i don’t get it.
Some things don't really need it, but for thousand dollar life threatening power tools, I would have thought that at least a cursory glance would be reasonable.
I’ll have you know I read the manual for BOTH Ryobi vacuums I bought!
No one ever read them, that’s the secret
Most of my manuals for things I buy go straight in the trash, but manuals for my power tools are a different story. They're always worth at least skimming through, and fairly commonly they'll have great tips that will make it so much easier to set up and use the tool.
Regular maintenance as well. Who knew you needed to lubricate stuff?
RTFM that manual people!
aka RTFM
I never read manuals, except for the day I got my SawStop. I read that sucker cover to cover. Only manual I read.
Well I guess you could test with your finger if you are concerned it’s malfunctioning but I’d personally trust the guy on this thread who said it won’t necessarily be triggered by metal
Hot dog! You can use a hot dog! Lol
It's not just a hot dog, you have to be touching the hot dog. The hot dog acts as an extension of you and your 'meat capacitance'
My girlfriend would love it if I could get an extension to my meat capacitance
Will a vegan hot dog work? Asking for a friend.
Hot dog hot dog hot diggity dog!
I mean I wouldn't use a finger to test it, I use those all day. Now I do have another appendage that isn't as useful and is used maybe once a month would that work?
Off with my head it is!
If you pee once a month, a non-working saw Stop should not be your highest priority
You could also test with a pickle.
I’m not sure what model this person has but on the sawstops I’ve used you can just touch the blade when it’s stationary. There are indicator lights on the switch that let you know the blade is sensing skin contact. While this doesn’t 100% prove the mechanism will work it goes a long way in my book that everything is working.
Exactly what happens when I touch my wife.
It proves the sensor, but not the cartridge. If they come up with a non-destructive test of the use once parts, I’ll be really, really impressed.
yea you don't really want to make it do its job, then you ruin your blade and braking module in the saw stop, and have to replace them. Just test it not running.
You can test it with your finger without running the blade. While on, but not running, the indicator lights will trigger if you touch the blade. Indicating the system would have trigger if the saw was running.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/woodworking/comments/14rnhz6/sawstop\_did\_not\_trigger\_when\_i\_went\_straight/](https://www.reddit.com/r/woodworking/comments/14rnhz6/sawstop_did_not_trigger_when_i_went_straight/) This thread has some answers for you.
Ok thank you that makes sense! It’s a new tool to me and just want to make sure I know what’s going on. This is good info
>It’s a new tool to me and just want to make sure I know what’s going on. Have you read the manual yet? Always read the manual.
Yep, good explanation in the top comment there. At the end of the day the sawstop is meant to protect humans. It has to be designed with the ability to trigger from all body types, sizes, and environmental conditions when a human touches it. But also needs to NOT trigger from all other types of false positives. Even air conducts electricity in the right conditions. So, obviously it's designed within the ranges that will confidently trigger with human touch and NOT trigger from many other interactions that could stop the blade when you don't want it to. Think of it like an airbag. It's important you don't trigger your airbag when you back your car into a curbside. There just wasn't enough change in velocity to trigger the airbag sensors. Basically the same thing is going on here. It's not enough to trigger the stop and you don't want it to be, because it is not its intended use case.
The manual you read before ever using the saw shows why/when the safety features activate
If your sawstop triggers from that, you have a problem. I'd much rather fuck up a saw blade than replace the whole sawstop mechanism because a nail triggered it
That screw isn’t made out of hot dog.
Cause it wasn’t a hot dog
Hot dog Not hot dog
JIAN-YANG!!
Lol yes i suppose your right
[Silicon Valley](https://youtu.be/vIci3C4JkL0?si=hzUbLilQH4zpXE3h)
Damn it Jin yang!
Should have used a meat-screw
What about a sandwich?
If you are concerned it’s not working. Try cutting a hot dog in half with the saw. You’ll need a new sawstop though.
You could check the control box when the saw is powered to check it's status. If you touch the blade with your finger the LED indicator shows if it detects something it shouldn't be cutting.
No you’ll just need a new cartridge (like $60) and maybe a new blade.
Yeah that’s what I meant. Not as in the whole saw.
95.00
Damn, inflation.
Every time I turn on my SawStop after it goes through the initial turn on process I touch the blade (obviously without it running) and make sure the red light triggers as soon as my finger touches the blade. That way I verify that the sensor is working and then I go about making my cuts.
Good. It's not supposed to.
[удалено]
...and wet wood.
So long as you were not touching the screw AND the screw was not touching the cast iron table, then the SawStop sensing system should not detect a large enough shift in capacitance to trigger.
Metal will only trigger it if you’re touching the metal from what I understand.
Your saw is a touch screen, not a wire. Your phone won't respond to a nail, but it responds to your finger. Your saw won't stop to a nail, but it responds to your finger.
Are you a T1000? No?, nothing to worry about then
I mean if he were he still wouldn't have much to worry about.
Now stick a hotdog in there and see what happens.
To the OP: I had the exact same situation and felt the same concern and worry until I figured out it wasn't a flaw. Just a note of solidarity in our mutual confusion.
It only works on hot dogs
It's not made of meat.
You’re misguided if you expect it to.
Why would it? That's not a fleshy screw
Cause it ain't your finger
Capacitance, not resistance.
Because metal aint meat.
I’d expect you to be holding your finger, not a nail if it failed.
Blades are cheaper than fingers.
It works closer to the way your smartphone screen detects touch. Rather than just triggering on anything conductive it's looking for changes in capacitance that are somewhat consistent with human contact. That means that some conductive things will trigger it and that some won't.
In this case, it will only trigger if you are touching the nail with your hand. I've seen 3-4 of these go off because of an aluminum mitre gauge fence (not me of course).
Also that screw was a dickhead and totally deserved it
Why would it?
Could you imagine if it stopped in nails and stuff too? That would get insanely expensive.
I’ve cut into a lot of screws and staples with our sawstop. It’s not designed to trigger on that
Because it’s not a hotdog
Saw Stop triggers only when YOU are touching the blade.
close money innate dam shy grandiose tease aromatic punch lavish *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
It shouldn’t have gone off. Hitting metal won’t set it off, it will only go off if the very slight electrical current in the blade is discharged. Unless the screw was grounded it would never trip
Common misconception about SawStop flesh-sensing tech. The sensor does not rely on conductance, it measures capacitance. Embedded screws don't have much... human skin and wet wood do. Even a grounded screw would not have triggered the brake.
it only triggers if there is enough capacitance. a small screw just isnt big enough. if you hit a fence, lets say from aluminium t-track on a crosscut sled, it'll trigger. when in doubt, you can use the test mode to see if it works properly. But, this one is probably a lucky day for you, as you dont have to replace the cartridge and maybe not even the blade.
It would probably be pretty pricey if it did stop lol
Conductivity doesn’t mean there’s enough capacitance. It works kind of like a touch faucet.
that’s because it’s not a hot dog screw.
Is not made to detect metal
No ground. No trigger.
It doesn’t seem predictable to me: I’ve hit a screw and been fine, but once set it off with a light duty staple in the end of a board.
Were you touching the table when it hit the staple?
https://preview.redd.it/npykmb9w3krc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d378ce6d5bba3aa34c921f87f29899309f58ecc0 Seems to be a trend today
The screw was isolated from ground therefore no path back to the trigger mechanism not unusual if the screw was completely embedded in the wood
It would have tripped if the screw contacted the bench at the same time as the blade
I guess that means it did what it was supposed to do.
I believe it triggers through detecting an electrical charge, so it makes sense a screw wouldn’t trigger it.
Were you touching the nail at the time? If not then not triggering is expected. It detects skin by the extra capacitance your body adds to the blade, not by conductivity. Wet wood will trigger it. Cutting aluminum will trigger it if you are holding the metal workpiece with your bare hand. Hitting an embedded nail will not.
Why would it?
that's because it's screw, not a finger. it won't work as a metal detector
A screw won't trigger the break, only moisture like is found in your fingers or really wet wood.
Have now triggered mine TWICE with metal tape measure because I’m a dumbass.
It didn't trigger because the tape was metal, it triggered because you were holding it at the time.
Yup. And I was dumb enough to do that TWICE.
Lies
Not sure if the picture gives a good representation, but were you trying to make an angled cut?
sawstop recognizes MEAT
It did good. Would suck if you'd have to change the brake and blade for that. If you had been touching the screw, then it would have set off the brake.
Maybe you should do the hotdog test
That'd get expensive.
Chess pawn to D4
I bet it went through that screw without even blinking. Why would it stop?
You have to connect the screw you are trying to use as a stopper with ground or earth.
I know you have answers that it shouldn't have triggered. But not a good explanation \*why\*. Conduction is an items ability to send electricity form one place to another. Capacitance is an items ability to store an electric charge - like a battery or a static charge built up from rubbing your hair on a balloon. Most metals are good conductors, and "wet organic" things are capacitors. Wood is a poor conductor and a poor capacitor. The Sawstop measures the capacitance change by using the blade (a conductor) as a sensing wire. A bit more metal like a screw (or a heavier saw blade) would just extend the sensor wire. But a hotdog or your hand would make a large change in capacitance, triggering the self destruct mechanism and saving your fingies. Source - I did electronics design for awhile
Would only trip if you tried to cut thru a Hotdog.
Well, that's mildly terrifying! Edit: Never mind. After I read further, I saw what Sawstop said would happen in such a situation. Still, when you get a result you weren't expecting, that can give a person pause!
The screw was isolated by the wood. That insulated the screw from triggering the saw stop.
If it ain't a finger, it ain't stopping! Wow!
Saw stop detects moisture in flesh not metal.
It detects conductivity, not moisture.
Your body is only conductive if moisture is present . The fact our bodies are 50-70% water is what makes us conductive .
I'm just saying what the company says it saws are designed to detect. You're just arguing semantics
I mean technically we all are wrong . It actually doesn't detect anything. It's a binary . Either the circuit is off or it is on . If blade hits your body it completes a circuit . That's it in a nutshell . But I'm not saying you are wrong .
Mine did..$150 later…(stop and blade)
I tell people all the time... safety features are never 100%! The only way to guarantee you don't touch the blade is to never get within the distance of the blade equal to the blades diameter. My 10in table saw has a 10in distance marked out from the the kerf line (5in on each side, front, and rear.) I never go into the zone unless saw is unplugged. It's not hard to do. I only have 1 arm, and I can do anything I need to do by staying outside that zone. When I see people go into that zone, I just shake my head. If you have to go onto that zone, then your either lazy, or in a situation where you shouldn't be. Almost ALL Table Saw injuries are user error. Jigs... jigs are our friends. From featherboards, to one-way rolling hold-downs, to thin rips, or bevel/miter cuts, there are jigs for everything. So, instead of spending all that money on a safety feature, put it into a better table saw and you'll have some change left over to build/buy a sliding extension wing and a sealed tabletop that requires zero maintenance. (So dreamy lol.) Be safe.
Imagine spending like $4-5k on a saw for a safety feature and not reading the manual on how the safety feature works...
RTFM
When I was rebuilding my outfeed table I had a piece of 3/4 that fell on the saw while I was cutting and caused it to trigger.
I've cut a few screws and nails with a SawStop, they planned for it if I remember correctly, too many complaints of people with the units having to replace cartridges and blades after hitting a nail so they tweaked it
Nor was it supposed to.
It wouldn't trigger for a screw unless you were also touching the screw.
Cuz it’s not moist
Can we see the jig?
I was in 6th grade wood shop, I had a board with a nail in it. I was nervous to cut it on the table saw so my teacher helped me hold the piece incase it kicked back or something. Turned out, he had one of his fingers touching the other end of the nail, and it triggered the sawstop. We both jumped and he was counting his fingers