Funny Saw Stop anectode

[Rich P]

I was in my local Tapp Plastics store to scrounge up some remnants of polycarb and when I was paying the guy asked me what they were for. Told him I'm using them to block off some openings on my "new" PM66 to improve dust collection. He thought maybe that might be a good idea for their saw (which is a Saw Stop unit...they sold off all their old unisaws last year). I mentioned that I had heard the Saw Stops had good dust collection and he mentioned a few problems. The most interesting factoid was they had experienced a few "false positives" cutting plastic that had a Mylar (conductive) coating. Sure enough the stop kicked in at around $200 a pop. I mentioned the Ryobi suit and then a kickback blocker I saw on FWW and he related some kickback incidents with the Saw Stop. I didn't think you could get kickback with cutting sheet of plastic but apparently you can. Just goes to show, power tools are "powerful" no matter how much we try. Please, let's not turn this into a Saw Stop rant, I just thought the real world feedback was interesting.

[cabinetman]

Kickbacks cutting acrylics aren't usually caused by material pinching at the rear of the blade, but could be from a buildup of melted material during the cut. Most likely cause is operator error, letting stock drift off the fence and not maintaining a directed cut.

Having the proper blade, with an appropriate feed rate minimizes the possibility.
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[Stytooner]

The biggest thing with plastics is the proper blade. Without that, anything can happen. Even with that though, you have to use good technique. Getting loose on the fence and lifting up are likely the largest contributors of kickback on plastic sheet goods.
With an improper blade, all bets are off and Murphy's law rules. Plastics are more dangerous than wood I think. The various different properties of a variety of plastics can be much farther apart than for woods.

I had been curious as to certain plastics carrying a charge. I know some plastics can't be used as an insulator. Some can.

[germdoc]

I had a patient who is a woodshop instructor for a local HS. They changed all their TS's to SawStops last year. Don't know if they're cutting any plastic with it though...