A latch to keep the dead man bar held in doesn’t seem to be an insurmountable design challenge.
Right. Like, how easy would it be to put sliding doors in hand guards so you can reach in to adjust your work piece without having to stop the machining? And they should make flip-up safety glasses and fingerless electrical linesman gloves…
[sub]…and quick release baby seats…[/sub]
:smack: If the user can readily latch the dead-man switch closed, then it’s no longer a dead-man switch. [sub]Let him contemplate this on the Tree of Woe.[/sub]
And as soon as the manufacturer installs such a latch, bonehead customers will start leaving the dead-man switch latched on the entire time they’re using the mower - and then the first person who stumbles and gets hurt because the lawn mower didn’t shut off will sue the manufacturer.
If you think that people won’t sue a manufacturer even when it’s their own stupid choices that led to their injury, you’d be wrong. Check out this story of a lawsuit against Ryobi. Summary: SawStop technology is miraculous, but it’s also patented - and the licensing is awfully expensive. Ryobi decided not to license the technology for their table saws (so as to keep the cost down), a user cut off his fingers with a Ryobi table saw - and then successfully sued them for not licensing the patented safety techology.
This goes back to the earlier poster(s) who suggested that a product could be made with and without various safety features, and the customer could be allowed to choose between the two. This is exactly what happened here, and it didn’t turn out well for anybody.
Sheep are extremely dangerous and have no safety features.
I don’t.
Because you don’t want a lawnmower functioning when there’s no one riding/driving it?
Everybody’s car is different and your mileage probably varies (heh). My car has a seatbelt chime, too, but if I don’t fasten my belt, it stops chiming after about 30 seconds and doesn’t bother me again until the next time I start the car. But if yours keeps chiming and just won’t shut up, I can see how it would drive you crazy if you don’t disable it.
You very obviously have neither arthritis nor bursitis on your dominant shoulder.
Lets see how happy you are to do it when that particular motion feels like someone is prying your shoulder apart with a crowbar. Now repeat it 10 times in an hour.
Right, now stop being stupid about people and pain.
You just went as far the other way. Seriously 10 times an hour? Clean the yard, make your calls then mow the yard then drink.
That sounds like a fluke judgement. It doesn’t make sense for Ryobi to add hundreds of dollars to the price of a table saw for a safety feature. They may lose a case like this once in a while, but overall they are better off not adding the feature. And the consumer is too. A cheap safety feature is fine. But if the safety feature adds 40% to the price of the device, it’s not worth it.
Have they made table saw blade guards any easier to adjust? The mount for the blade guard is a thin piece of metal which must be aligned perfectly behind the blade. If it’s tilted either vertically or horizontally from the blade, the wood will catch on it. What sucks is that it is very difficult to make fine adjustments to the orientation of the blade guard mount. On my table saw I could never get it exactly right and eventually removed the guard.
For the non-OTC meds, have you asked at the pharmacy? I recall that snap caps were an available option 'round these parts at one time—just ask!
Second that bit about table saw safety attachments. Bought a saw, tried to use it for some sort of precise work, and immediately took off all the safety junk and threw it away. Basically made the saw almost useless. Actually, I’m so scared of the saw that I’m extremely careful and cautious while using it. (Use fingerboards and push sticks and so forth.) Probably that’s the best safety feature of all.
I did get a new lawnmower last month and love it. Has the wonderful feature that if you release the bale that controls the blade the blade stops, but the motor keeps chugging away. Starting the blade again merely requires pulling the bale back down. And releasing the bale that controls the drive train lets you pull the mower backwards without any fuss. The first several time I used the mower it took a little while to train me in this maneuver, which resulted in several brief but intense tug-of-wars, but I seem to be over this phase.
Or you don’t want an 8 year old playing Mario Andretti round the yard with a spinning blade?
You don’t see this in Singapore anymore, used to see it on imports in New Zealand. Most people used to fill the damn things up with glue 
I would if I knew how. Mine’s not a large power tool, but those long tapered lighters that one uses for candles and fireplaces drive me NUTS! They have this stupid “safety” feature where you have to hold a button in the whole time you’re lighting things. I have muscle issues that make this really difficult and painful, usually I have to use both hands, it’s awkward, and again, it hurts. I’d disable it if I could.
What the hell are you doing that you need to interrupt your lawn-mowing task ten times? Here’s some advice:
-save the tasty beverage until after you’re done.
-leave the cell phone alone until after you’re done (or if you’re expecting a call, give the phone to someone else in your household to answer, and they can come and get you if Obama actually does call).
-If your dog is prone to shitting directly in the path of the lawn mower while you’re cutting, put him inside until after you’re done, just like the lawn mower’s operating manual recommends. Your dog really shouldn’t be running around in the yard while you’re cutting it, in part because the mower sometimes flings rocks and other stuff, and your dog could get hurt.
-If your yard tends to be cluttered with all manner of debris and dogshit, do a walkthrough and clear all that junk out before you start cutting, just like the lawn mower’s operating manual recommends.
It’s very rare that I shut my mower down in the middle of cutting my yard. With a little planning, you can enjoy that same sort of continuity.
And if your shoulder really is that messed, up, maybe it’s time to admit that you’re handicapped and just get a mower with electric start. Or pay a neighborhood kid $20 to cut the grass for you.
It’s a pretty extreme fluke then, because when you read the details, they look like this:
-this was an on-the-job injury, and he received scant training from his employer.
-he was doing a rip cut with no guard, no riving knife, and no rip fence when the injury happened.
In short, he hadn’t read the manual, and was doing everything the manual says not to do - and the jury still found Ryobi to be 65% at fault.
This case sets a legal precedent that is now being used to help advance dozens of other suits for table saw injuries. Expect to see many more, until Ryobi finally caves, licenses the SawStop technology - and your new tablesaw jumps from $300 up to $1000.
Really? I shimmed mine once, and it was foreverafter perfectly aligned in the lee of the blade.
Another safety feature that impedes functionality! With Bic-type lighters I remove the spring steel piece that makes it more difficult for kids to use. My kids are grown up. The fireplace lighters are a PIA and I don’t know of a workaround.
Hey, it’s the weekend. My gf and I spend about six hours mowing, trimming, weed whacking. We choose to drink while we work. IMHO it is an acceptable risk.
ETA: Oh, BTW, it is beverages.