Photos: Contributed
Felder PCS will be taking centre stage at IWF Atlanta.
Table saws are the backbone of every professional woodworking shop and company. They are also, statistically, the single most dangerous machine on the floor. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), table saws and sliding table saws caused an average of about 30,600 medically treated injuries every year in the United States from 2004 to 2021. These figures speak volumes to any business owner: One accident doesn't just hurt one person. It disrupts production, triggers insurance claims, and can permanently remove a skilled operator from the workforce.
At IWF Atlanta, held Aug. 25–28, Felder Group will address this reality head-on — and celebrate 70 years of precision engineering at the same time.
Taking center stage as one of the premier highlights of the event will be the company’s innovate PCS (Preventive Contact System). PCS provides maximum workplace safety in every machining situation. The system for sliding table saws is available for a wide range of machine classes – now also for the Felder K700 series in the mid-price segment for small and medium-sized woodworking businesses.
PCS — the practical automated safety system
Felder developed PCS in cooperation with TU Vienna and patented the system worldwide. In 2021, it won the AWFS Visionary Award. And in 2022, it took home the IWF Challengers Award — at this very show, in Atlanta.
The core principle: PCS monitors the danger zone around the saw blade 1,000 times per second — up to 16 times more frequently than competing systems — and detects the capacitive signature of human tissue before it makes contact with the blade. To do so, the system uses the saw blade itself as the sensor, measuring capacitive field changes in the surrounding environment. The moment a hand, arm or any other body part enters the danger zone, the entire saw unit — blade, shaft and drive — is driven below the machine table in milliseconds by an electromagnetic repulsion impulse. This defuses the hazardous situation within milliseconds, before contact. Unlike optical systems, sawdust and workshop contamination do not affect detection accuracy. Before each machine start, PCS® runs an automatic self-diagnostic — so operators always know the system is ready before the first cut of the day.
But where PCS fundamentally differs from every other blade-safety system on the market is what happens after a trigger event. Competing systems — including brake-cartridge-based technologies — damage the saw blade or machine parts and require expensive, time-consuming replacements before the saw can run again. PCS leaves the blade and machine fully intact and the operator resets the system with the push of a button and the woodwork can continue immediately. There is no unplanned downtime and also no service technician is needed.
K 700 Series with PCS
Felder now offers PCS across a wider range of machine classes. From the premium Format4 kappa 550 down to the Felder K 700. The Format4 kappa series represents the upper tier of Felder's sliding table saw lineup — engineered for high-volume production environments where precision, repeatability and throughput are key. The kappa 550 in particular is the machine of choice for furniture manufacturers, window builders and solid wood processors who push their sliding table saws hard, every day.
The Felder K700 series represents Felder's professional mid-market sliding table saw for shops that demand precision without the budget and workload of large companies. It is built to the same quality standards as the flagship Format4 line, including the X-Roll sliding table with a 10-year function guarantee and the Easy Glide pivot segment guide with a 6-year guarantee. For shops stepping up from entry-level equipment, the K 700 with PCS delivers a measurable and immediate improvement in both output quality and operational safety.
Meet Felder at IWF Atlanta and see PCS Live
IWF Atlanta is the most important woodworking trade show in North America and this year Felder returns with the broadest table saw safety lineup in its history and is celebrating its 70th anniversary.
"The trust that our customers in the trades, commerce and industry have placed in us for seven decades is the most important confirmation of our path and our greatest motivation for the future," says Hansjörg Felder, CEO of the Felder Group.
At Booth 5000/5010 visitors can watch a live PCS trigger demonstration — explore the K700 series and the Format4 kappa range in person, and discuss jubilee edition packages with Felder specialists on site.
