The sliding compound-miter saw is an orgy of Principle 15 – Dynamics. It can be adjusted for both vertical and horizontal angle and run along a slide to handle wide boards. Many have extensions to support long boards and adjustable stops for repetitive cuts at a specific length.
This is compounded (yes!) by the use of a folding portable stand. The Bosch Gravity-Rise stand is a great example.
Folding and rolling
As seen in this video by The New Woodworker, the Gravity-Rise stand has several Principles in use. Like the man says at the beginning, if all we wanted was to make a saw portable we’d tape roller skates to it. That’s good Principle 5 – Merging thinking!
With a simple turn of the handle, the stand can be collapsed to take up less space (Principle 7 – Nested Doll) and then redeployed where it is needed using leverage around a pivot for reduced effort (Principle 8 – Anti-Weight). When collapsed, the stand resembles a hand truck with wheels making it easy to move from one location to another (Principle 12 – Equipotentiality).
Once you saw it, you can’t unsaw it
Does this inspire any Principle thinking to a product or service you aim to improve? This category of tools is highly optimized and the convenience and capability features it embodies has been around for a while. Is there another job site tool that isn’t adjustable and that you have to lug around that could be similarly improved?
