Altendorf’s latest development for ensuring sliding table saw operator safety – Hand Guard - was developed to detect a potentially dangerous situation before any contact is made with the saw blade. The early-recognition system incorporates a pair of cameras that the company says can bring a 400mm saw blade spinning at about 5,000 rpm to a standstill in a fraction of a second if the operator’s fingers advance too close to the blade. Downtime is eliminated because the saw can resume work immediately after an incident occurs, the company says.