Table saws can make working with wood a breeze. They can also take fingers off the unwary in the blink of an eye. To help avoid the latter, Bosch has come up with its Reaxx portable jobsite table saw, which can tell the difference between a piece of wood and a finger, and drop the blade out of the way to prevent a messy accident.
Table saws that can detect and avoid slicing off fingers aren't new, but the technology has its limitations. The SawStop system, for example, uses the difference in conductivity between wood and flesh, then stops the blade before it can cause more than a nick. Unfortunately, it does so using a brake that ruins the blade, which needs to be replaced before work can resume.
The Bosch Reaxx table saw, on the other hand, uses the Bosch Active Response Technology platform to detect wayward fingers. Unlike SawStop, the Reaxx doesn't brake the blade. Instead, a piston release drops the blade and pushes it out of the way before it can cause serious injury.
According to Bosch, the advantage of the Reaxx table saw is not only that is prevents accidents, but that it can be easily reset in under a minute. The mechanism is activated by a two-shot cartridge, which only needs replacing after two incidents. All that needs to be done is to rotate the cartridge and reset the drop mechanism before work can resume.
A bypass is built in to allow the saw to be used on conductive materials that might otherwise trigger the drop mechanism, but an on-board control system prevents this being used without permission. Various lockout options are also built into the system to prevent a worker from simply turning the safety off and an LED light panel displays the saw's status ranging from okay to use, to bypass, to red for the saw is locked and won't operate.
In addition to the panel, the Reaxx table saw also comes with an NFC-enabled phone app to allow supervisors to monitor the saw's status, lock the saw, and to authorize which workers can work the bypass.
The Bosch Reaxx table saw will be available later this year for US$1,499.
The video below shows the Reaxx table saw in action..
Source: Bosch
