Portable circular saw kickback data base and evaluation

Abstract

"OBJECTIVES AND PHASES: Portable circular saw kickback is the phenomenon which occurs when the kerf closes on the rear portion of the blade thus causing forces on the blade that tend to propel the saw up and out of the kerf and back towards the operator. At their meeting of 27 July, 1977 the PTI (Power Tool Institute) Portable Saw Committee (J.S. Bennett, Chairman) requested that W. L. Carson, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Missouri-Columbia prepare a proposal to investigate portable circular saw kickback. PTI subsequently funded the proposal which contained two general objectives: 1) to develop a kickback evaluation system acceptable to the portable saw industry which will quantitatively and reproducibly create and measure saw kickback, and 2) to generate an empirical data base for defining conditions creating the "worst" saw kickback. The results of the investigation were to provide the portable saw industry with the needed information: 1) to develop voluntary safety standards, and 2) for conducting standardized kickback tests to evaluate and compare the performance of anti-kickback devices. The encompassing objective of particular interest to the consumer was the potential for improvement in portable saw safety which should result from this cooperative industrial-university project."--Page 1.