alt Hacker News>, I have an altendorf handguard sliding table saw, which will stop as fast as the sawstop,
The alternative approaches from other industrial saw manufacturers that are "non-contact non-destructive" are interesting:
- cameras and machine learning used by Altendorf "Hand Guard": https://www.altendorfgroup.com/en-us/machines/altendorf-hand...
- inductive proximity (same science as Theremin[1]) used by Felder "PCS Preventative Contact System" : https://www.felder-group.com/en-us/pcs
- SCM "Blade Off" (not sure of detection method ... looks like inductive proximity) : https://www.scmgroup.com/en_US/scmwood/products/joinery-mach...
But I've heard reports from 3rd-parties that Altendorf's camera detection method is unreliable/glitchy and doesn't work as well as Felder's system. Maybe Altendorf fixed the bugs.
Also, Altendorf's philosophy of using cameras & ML instead of inductive proximity reminds me of Tesla's philosophy using cameras instead of LIDAR (Waymo).
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theremin
EDIT ADD: >I'm not sure how comparable these alternatives are when two of them are "request a quote" kind of pricing, and the Altendorf is $7000+
My comment was about "industrial saws" so they're definitely not realistic alternatives to buying a jobsite SawStop for homeowners. I added italics to the adjective "industrial" to clarify this.
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> Also, Altendorf's philosophy of using cameras & ML instead of inductive proximity reminds me of Tesla's philosophy using cameras instead of LIDAR (Waymo).
Kind of seems like the opposite. I could be wrong, but in the case of the saw the cameras/AI are probably more expensive to develop and deploy than the inductive sensing. With the cars though, it's the cheaper option for sure.
I don’t see the point of a Sawstop-type system for an Altendorf-style panel saw. The whole point of that saw design is that your hands are nowhere near the blade!
I'm not sure how comparable these alternatives are when two of them are "request a quote" kind of pricing, and the Altendorf is $7000+, unless you're considering an entire cabinet. None of them will go on a job site with you, for example. I would love to test the Felder system though.