Radial Arm Saw Recall

[YY1]

I have a 1960's DeWalt/Black and Decker (yes both names on it) that is built the same except there are clamps that hold tension to sandwich the fence, making it re-positionable.

I LOVE that saw. Paid $25 at a yard sale.

If the "defect" is that there is no blade guard, I'd just get my $50 and be happy.

Operating a saw should be done with extreme car anyway.

Knowing your equipment and being aware of your surroundings for the win.

 

[Ron H]

I have one of these as well. I basically rebuilt the whole first floor of my house with it. It's a great tool. But like any tool, if used inappropriately, you can get hurt.

Too many lawyers, too many people expecting huge payments because they were idiots, and too many judges and juries allowing crap lawsuits into court and awarding damages.

I worked for a large machine tool builder in Milwaukee that had a great history then dwindled away due to the foreign market and people brought in to run it that didn't know the difference btw a socket or end wrench. Another story; but the liability claims we had and paid were incredible. People would take off or disable guards, lose fingers, and the company still had to pay out product liability claims or spend tons just defending these claims..

 

[zyzzyx]

So, back in the 90's I saw an ad in a Trade Magazine called "Fine Homebuilding"
for a new table saw called "Saw Stop". I worked for G.E., and I thought it looked
like a great Idea for all of our shops to buy these because of the costs of Workman's
Comp claims and guys cutting fingers off now and then. In a large machine shop
environment everyone thinks they're an expert! Hell, I can operate an 80" lathe,
why does anyone think I can't run a saw? So we bought a couple to see how they
worked, and they were great! Costs more than a regular table saw, but they work.
The replaceable safety cartridge was around $115.00 back then, but they're about
$80.00 now. No more claims. The guy had to start his own company though because
none of the big boys wanted to raise the price of their saws!

 

[Ron H]

So, back in the 90's I saw an ad in a Trade Magazine called "Fine Homebuilding"
for a new table saw called "Saw Stop". I worked for G.E., and I thought it looked
like a great Idea for all of our shops to buy these because of the costs of Workman's
Comp claims and guys cutting fingers off now and then. In a large machine shop
environment everyone thinks they're an expert! Hell, I can operate an 80" lathe,
why does anyone think I can't run a saw? So we bought a couple to see how they
worked, and they were great! Costs more than a regular table saw, but they work.
The replaceable safety cartridge was around $115.00 back then, but they're about
$80.00 now. No more claims. The guy had to start his own company though because
none of the big boys wanted to raise the price of their saws!View attachment 874831 View attachment 874832

Is this the one where they demo the immediate stop using a hot dog? Having been in industrial engineering/safety been through hundreds of shops over 40 years and worked in one before going on to school. My hobbies have kept me using metal and woodworking machines. Some bitched about the cost of this safeguard; but then a cutoff finger can run ten's of thousands and ruin the WC Mod. Having investigated dozens of amputation and fatal injuries as part of my work, the root causes were all over the board, more had to do with employees taking it upon themselves to remove or bypass guards; the last friggin thing the company 'expected' they'd do. And some were more intrepid risk takers. Could write a book..

 

[zyzzyx]

Yes it is. The saw works great except for one problem. The mechanism senses
electrical continuity between the blade and the table. As long as there is none
or let's say that the resistance is high, the saw continues to run. When the circuit
senses low resistance or continuity, It explosively drives an aluminum sacrificial
wedge into the blade causing it to immediately stop and rotate about ten degrees
backwards. So here is the problem. One of our night shift guys allowed some outside
scaffold guys needed some plywood cut one night. Our guys said "Have at it".
They went outside in the dead of winter and drug in a frozen stiff snow covered
piece of plywood and promptly put it up on the table and when the plywood touched
the blade, BAM! Fire One. Needless to say, the saw was out of business until the
next morning when our maintenance guy could change the safety pack .Other than
that, they're great!

 

[Ron H]

Contractors - another issue leading to liability and osha hassles. If a company allows contractors to use their equipment they're open to being sued and/or osha violations if equipment may (1) not be all safety compliant and (2) if the guy running the equipment doesn't have training to use it resulting in injury. Roofing company I did work for received an osha citation when one of their guys used another contractor's ladder on the job site that wasn't set up properly. In another case, a fatality, the company allowed use of their scissors lift without knowing if the guy had safety training or otherwise doing safety training, they got smacked for this by osha and also endured a 3rd party lawsuit from the deceased's family since he wasn't an employee of the company opening a legal avenue for 3rd party liability. I used to say to those who thought this was total BS and would say '**** it I'm not going to be concerned about it' (when we still actually used the yellow pages) look up the number of attorney's in the book then look up safety firms. Roughly a 300 to 1 ratio when I took a look. Having endured some depositions, I found it odd that everyone (the lawyers) were all over 'safety' like flies on **** to the wild extremes - all the lofty finger pointing only problem is it was always after someone was maimed or dead.

 

[zyzzyx]

If any of our guys got caught removing any machine guards, They would
immediately be given a warning notice and time off. 2nd time, more time
off. 3rd time, terminated. The company really Really doesn't want us to
get hurt, and obviously, they don't want a law suit.

 

[69a100]

Contractors - another issue leading to liability and osha hassles. If a company allows contractors to use their equipment they're open to being sued and/or osha violations if equipment may (1) not be all safety compliant and (2) if the guy running the equipment doesn't have training to use it resulting in injury. Roofing company I did work for received an osha citation when one of their guys used another contractor's ladder on the job site that wasn't set up properly. In another case, a fatality, the company allowed use of their scissors lift without knowing if the guy had safety training or otherwise doing safety training, they got smacked for this by osha and also endured a 3rd party lawsuit from the deceased's family since he wasn't an employee of the company opening a legal avenue for 3rd party liability. I used to say to those who thought this was total BS and would say '**** it I'm not going to be concerned about it' (when we still actually used the yellow pages) look up the number of attorney's in the book then look up safety firms. Roughly a 300 to 1 ratio when I took a look. Having endured some depositions, I found it odd that everyone (the lawyers) were all over 'safety' like flies on **** to the wild extremes - all the lofty finger pointing only problem is it was always after someone was maimed or dead.

Sounds like the same stuff going on with the KC-46 assembly line!