British researchers have made progress toward developing materials that are able to bend light around them and render them less visible:
Link via Wired | Image: Warner Bros.
Metamaterials work by interrupting and channelling the flow of light at a fundamental level; in a sense they can be seen as bouncing light waves around in a prescribed fashion to achieve a particular result.[...]
Ortwin Hess, a physicist who recently took up the Leverhulme Chair in Metamaterials at Imperial College London, called the work "a huge step forward in very many ways".
"It clearly isn't an invisibility cloak yet - but it's the right step toward that," he told BBC News.
Link via Wired | Image: Warner Bros.
Comments (0)
Clever, though, even if it does need a new part once triggered.
Maybe an experiment for Jackass to try out??
An explosive charge fires a chunk of aluminum into the blade and destroys the blade in the process. The force of the blade stopping is what rotates it out of the way.
Blades run about 100$, the charge is expensive and the cost of the sawstop runs 500$ to each tablesaw. The inventor has been trying to lobby congress to pass a law that every saw sold has to carry his invention- which is why a number of home shop people do not enjoy the idea of this product.
Yes, I'd like one in the house. No, it will not be from him.
Also, the inventor may have made a useful thing, but he is a greedy #%^@#$*: He wanted $1000 per saw to license his technology (more than doubling the price of entry-level tools). When no manufacturers wanted to screw their customers that much, he went to congress to lobby them to force them to buy it. I wouldn't mind having one, but not at that price, and not to enrich him unfairly.
Plus, there isn't uch of a path to ground through a moist piece of wood (which registers perhaps 15-20% on a meter) on what I'm guessing is a ground insulated saw table.
I've never heard of a freak hot dog/saw accident
http://www.neatorama.com/2007/02/04/the-worlds-safest-table-saw/
deja vu....
Neat idea, but pricey. Might be worthwhile for shop classes with lots of new saw users. That said, anybody who lobbies Congress for laws to MANDATE their product is a scumbag. Mandated safety in general sucks. It's a big reason why we drive very expensive overly heavy gas sucking cars. If not for the efforts of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, small 4 passenger cars would be available in the U.S. that didn't weigh 3200# and cost $25K. Give people choice, whether it be for tablesaws, vehicles or whatever. The public will value safety features by how deeply they dig into their pockets. Don't force us into anything...
Replace expensive (~$600?) parts everytime some fool puts a finger/hotdog to the blade, or just let social darwinism run amok?
I guess the question is 'how much is a finger worth?'
And can someone change the title of this posting? I agree with BrianD - it's a "table" saw not a "circular" saw. Big difference - I came to this article because I thought SawStop came out with a product for circular saws (users of which, from my amateur carpentry background, are much more vulnerable to fingers getting cut than table saw users.)
1 It's only $50 to $75 to replace the sawstop cartridge after it has fired.
2 The blades are not always destroyed and sometimes can be repaired.
3 If the brake is fired and it was actually a "save" and not a person putting a hotdog or edge of the miter into it, Sawstop will replace the brake cartridge for free when you send in the discharged cartridge for analysis.
4 There is a quick and easy method for testing of a material may set off the Sawstop brake. If saw says that it may fire the brake, a bypass can be entered with a key to override the protective circuits.
5 The sawstop is more expensive than a non-sawstop table saw. The Sawstop has many features and is regarded as one of the best quality saws made right now.
I don't own a sawstop, and I don't want anything mandated on me by the government, however, I If I had the money I would be using one right now.
(appears to be an Oscar Mayer weiner)
People who lose their fingers to a table saw do not know how to use it properly. There are either too many distractions, or they take stupid chances. I know a guy who was ripping a piece of wood, and while ripping decided to look at the clock above the door to his shop to check the time, and the next thing he knew, his finger was on the floor, and blood was everywhere. What's so hard about finishing the cut (takes less than 5 minutes) then checking the time?
I know another carpenter who almost lost a finger because he was ripping small pieces. The piece, when finished being ripped didn't fall off the table, and he decided to try and lift it out, instead of turning off the saw, then removing the piece.
If you are going to buy a table saw (this goes to all those who think by going to the home depot, or working a summer with a carpenter when 16, they think they can do any renovation or form of woodworking), I highly suggest you read the manual, get a book on the machine, and if the option is available, take a class of some sort on safety and power tools.
I have an uncle who worked in a lumber mill, and a table saw operator who didn't listen, and wanted to rush production ended up dieing because the piece of wood kicked back on him and ended up piercing through his abdomen. Of course, it was an industrial saw for milling lumber which the average joe cannot afford, but even the cheap table saws are powerful enough to make you feel like you've been shot in the stomach.
I agree with safety features such as a transparent guard (not translucent), anti-kickback fingers, a splitter, and a riving knife. But a safety feature like this basically means you will be less careful, and "lose respect" as I say, for the machine.
Oh, and for the price for one of these (3000-5000), you're better off investing in something else in terms of a good quality table saw. For 3000 dollars you can get an entry level full sheet sliding panel saw, which is in the end a safer, more powerful, and better quality saw.
If only they could do it with circular saw and miter saw since it's far easier to chop off your fingers with those tools rather than a table saw.
and when the saw stop kicks in, you wont realize it until a minute passes by. it just slams down and disappears while you think your still cutting. i somehow set it off because of the miter gauge just touching the blade by just a millimeter
Dude after cutting thousands upon thousands of the same size pieces of wood per day you tend to get lulled into a bit of a fall sense of security. It's not always that easy to pay attention to what you're doing when your boss is on your back demanding you go faster...
Well, the guy got brave enough to use something besides a wiener........his finger!