LAS VEGAS, Nevada USA — The old saying goes that if it weren't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all.  Unfortunately, Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets seems to be getting more than his share.  Ulrey was taken to the hospital Sunday evening as the result of an accident.

Ulrey's friend, Don Ball, made an online announcement yesterday about the accident, claiming that Ulrey was working on rocket kits and had an accident with a saw, resulting in the near loss of three fingers and a thumb.  "Boy when it rains it pours," Ball said.

Ulrey had just been forced to announce the court-ordered liquidation of the Just Rockets inventory, which was announced last week.  In his announcement, Ulrey claims to have received a certified letter from his estranged wife's attorney, ordering him to start liquidating Just Rockets' inventory to meet the settlement demands of their divorce.  Under the agreement, Ulrey will be able to keep the Just Rockets, Inc. corporation, which owns BSD High Power Rocketry, but Just Rockets itself will be liquidated.

With this accident, now BSD High Power Rocketry is now closed to new orders, and will remain that way until Ulrey's recovery is complete.  

In an update, Balled reported that Ulrey is now home and resting, but in a lot of pain. "It took 6 hours of surgery to help keep all of his fingers and thumb, taking veins and tendons from other part of his arms to complete the repairs," Ball said. "He was told he was very lucky and would regain most of his hand usage."

06-10-2008 06:10 PM  #1
Rocket Flier Certified Level Three   Joined: Dec 2006 Posts: 168	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident Quote: accident with a saw, resulting in the loss of three fingers and a thumb. Where did you read he lost 3 fingers and a thumb? Quote: Scott had a accident with a SAW, close to claiming (3) fingers and thumb.

06-10-2008 06:28 PM  #2
redgp4 Certified Level Three   Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 16	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident I want to wish Scott a speedy recovery and hope his luck turns toward the good side.

06-10-2008 06:29 PM  #3
ddmobley Administrator   Joined: Jul 2006 Posts: 3552	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident Quote: Where did you read he lost 3 fingers and a thumb? Same place I read that a spell checker would catch missing words like "near".

06-10-2008 09:25 PM  #4
Clark Tripoli L2   Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 16	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident As stated on BSD's website: This last Sunday afternoon 6-8-08, while working on some kits he needed to get out, Scott had a accident with a SAW, it came very close to claiming (3) fingers and his thumb. He was rushed to the Hosital and stil remains there now. --------------------------------- I just want to wish Scott the best of luck and a speedy recovery.

06-10-2008 11:37 PM  #5
Steve_Shannon Growing more clueless...   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 2067	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident Any deep hand injury can take years to recover, if recovery is possible. I would hope that people who live close to Scott might be able to drop by and see what they can do to help.

06-11-2008 05:45 PM  #6
deandome Certified Level One   Joined: Jan 2008 Posts: 14	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident What kind of saw; tablesaw? bandsaw? circular/jigsaw? This evokes a contenteous thread in another forum I visit about SawStop; a table saw that stops INSTANTLY if it senses flesh. At demos, they run a hot dog into the blade and it's literally unscathed....you just need to replace an $80 brake 'cartridge'. The saws are supposed to be great overall, but they're about $1K more than comparable regular saws: www.sawstop.com The contention comes from the fact that the inventor/patent holder...a lawyer...tried to license it to the big boys (Delta/Jet/Craftsman/etc.), and they laughed at his freakishly high demands. So he then tried an end run by going to the Consumer Product Safety Commission & have them mandate such a feature in new saws (knowing the big boys would have to crawl back to him. Interesting story here: http://www.designnews.com/CA6360672.html I've always been in the "he's a greedy weasel pretending to be a crusader" camp, and I hope that the big boys work around his patent & run him outta town (normally, I root for the little guy, but not here). Then again, I haven't lost/nearly lost any fingers. I hope ALL of Scott's woes are eased soon, and I thought this product/story might interest people here, as I see a lotta table saws in photos of rocketeer shops.

06-11-2008 10:18 PM  #7
deandome Certified Level One   Joined: Jan 2008 Posts: 14	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident Sorry...I meant to say it's a TABLE saw, not circular

06-11-2008 11:08 PM  #8
WolfStar Nite Launcher   Joined: Dec 2006 Posts: 11	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident I't was a table saw. Scott is now home and resting, but in alot of pain. It took 6 hours of surgury to help keep all of his fingers and Thumb, taking veins and tendons from other part of his arms to complete the repairs. Hwe was told he was very lucky and would regain most of his hand usage I would like to thank everybody for their comments and prayers. more to come as I get it, Thanks!

06-12-2008 09:04 AM  #9
Loopy NAR Level 1   Joined: Dec 2007 Posts: 96	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident Thanks for the update, WolfStar. Tell Scott we're all pulling for him in all his difficulties right now.

06-12-2008 05:26 PM  #10
CJK Certified Level One   Joined: May 2008 Posts: 18	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident Quote: I've always been in the "he's a greedy weasel pretending to be a crusader" camp, and I hope that the big boys work around his patent & run him outta town (normally, I root for the little guy, but not here). Then again, I haven't lost/nearly lost any fingers. It's clear you know nothing about the hazards of the professional wordworking industry. Saws from the "big boys" lack even the most basic safety features (riving knife, blade brake, "floating" dust collection hood) required on saws sold in Europe. Why? Too expensive to retool. The SawStop technology works and saves limbs. Aside from the human cost (a hand without a thumb is virtually useless for any precision work), the cost to the woodworking industry every year is enormous. You are rooting for the wrong side here. -- Chris

06-12-2008 10:59 PM  #11
deandome Certified Level One   Joined: Jan 2008 Posts: 14	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident I'm not talking about the professional woodworking industry...they can afford saws like these & workers can demand them.; Most 10" 3hp or less cabinet saws are bought by hobbyists. Adding $500-1000 to the cost would reduce kill sales. If you're spending $1500 plus, you can make your own decisions on how much $to spend for safety vs. performance. Gass's tactics were greedy; he was demanding $hundreds& per saw, and, I believe, exclucivity on cartridge production (not to mention the immense costs or redesigning/retooling existing saws to work with the system). Then he gets shot down, so he goes crying to the CPSC & tries to nanny-state his way to obscene profits. And he wasn't just gunning for big saws...he wanted/wants this forced on pretty much every table saw).. If he cared about safety, he'd offer it for a reasonable fee and invite others to improve on his ideas. Did Mercedes try to corner the airbag market? NO. It's like you invented the catalytic converter & then convinced the EPA to require them & they had to buy from him. No...he's shown himself to be a greedy jerk who's actions probably HURT the cause for safer saws! Had he played nice, chances are mfgs. would have worked with him eagerly & almost every saw would have this feature by now. He is/was looking for a government-mandated monopoly where he can demand whatever price he wants. I hope/think the big-boys are working hard on systems that work around this patent. Quote: It's clear you know nothing about the hazards of the professional wordworking industry. Saws from the "big boys" lack even the most basic safety features (riving knife, blade brake, "floating" dust collection hood) required on saws sold in Europe. Why? Too expensive to retool. The SawStop technology works and saves limbs. Aside from the human cost (a hand without a thumb is virtually useless for any precision work), the cost to the woodworking industry every year is enormous. You are rooting for the wrong side here. -- Chris

06-12-2008 11:30 PM  #12
Porthos II Certified Level Three   Joined: Aug 2007 Posts: 35	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident If you read the article, the problem seems to be that right now if you cut your finger off it’s your fault. The saw comes with the ability to sever your fingers, you know it, and if you sever you fingers, you did it with full knowledge. As soon as you put a safety feature on the saw, the saw is now designed to not hurt you, and if you get hurt, the manufacturer is liable. Sad, but true…

06-13-2008 11:41 AM  #13
ddmobley Administrator   Joined: Jul 2006 Posts: 3552	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident Quote: As soon as you put a safety feature on the saw, the saw is now designed to not hurt you, and if you get hurt, the manufacturer is liable. Sad, but true… In today's society, are we really every responsible for anything? It's always someone else's fault, and many times we can get paid if we can "prove" it. Erik's dead on on this one.

06-13-2008 11:58 AM  #14
Steve_Shannon Growing more clueless...   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 2067	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident Quote: If you read the article, the problem seems to be that right now if you cut your finger off it’s your fault. The saw comes with the ability to sever your fingers, you know it, and if you sever you fingers, you did it with full knowledge. As soon as you put a safety feature on the saw, the saw is now designed to not hurt you, and if you get hurt, the manufacturer is liable. Sad, but true… Which creates a legal incentive NOT to add product safeguards.

06-13-2008 12:13 PM  #15
UncleVanya If pigs had fins...   Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 3262	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident Quote: It's clear you know nothing about the hazards of the professional wordworking industry. Saws from the "big boys" lack even the most basic safety features (riving knife, blade brake, "floating" dust collection hood) required on saws sold in Europe. Why? Too expensive to retool. The SawStop technology works and saves limbs. Aside from the human cost (a hand without a thumb is virtually useless for any precision work), the cost to the woodworking industry every year is enormous. You are rooting for the wrong side here. -- Chris I don't want to distract from the point here. Scott is hurt and a saw that could have been safer may be part of the problem. But these saws are not in common use in the US so that point is mostly theory. Is this a good comparison of the Euro saws to our table saws? If so it doesn't sound like their blade brakes are nearly as effective as the Saw Stop technology - I wonder why they are not required to use that method? I have a wood working friend who hates Saw Stop because of others who tried them. They found that the blade brake feature was prone to go off if the moisture content of the wood was too high. They also found that blades could be damaged by the brake and between the cost of the replacement brake and a 100.00 blade many were irked by the false triggers. Several of these non-professional wood workers found that they had a false alarm every week... that gets very expensive fast. In rocketry most of our wood is fine grade plywood and our other materials like tubes are not moisture prone. I wonder if the Saw Stop (or other technology like it) would be useful to us without the high rate of false triggers.

06-13-2008 12:14 PM  #16
UncleVanya If pigs had fins...   Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 3262	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident Quote: I'm not talking about the professional woodworking industry...they can afford saws like these & workers can demand them.; Most 10" 3hp or less cabinet saws are bought by hobbyists. Adding $500-1000 to the cost would reduce kill sales. If you're spending $1500 plus, you can make your own decisions on how much $to spend for safety vs. performance. Gass's tactics were greedy; he was demanding $hundreds& per saw, and, I believe, exclucivity on cartridge production (not to mention the immense costs or redesigning/retooling existing saws to work with the system). Then he gets shot down, so he goes crying to the CPSC & tries to nanny-state his way to obscene profits. And he wasn't just gunning for big saws...he wanted/wants this forced on pretty much every table saw).. So since European saws have blade brakes (maybe not as effective?) why would the manufacturers not turn to that technology and move ahead with another already existing option and market it?

06-14-2008 02:01 PM  #17
deandome Certified Level One   Joined: Jan 2008 Posts: 14	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident Blade braking is not anything like SawStop; all it does is slow the blade down a bit quicker once you shut it off vs. letting it 'coast' to a stop. Adds a bit of safety, but nothing like the SawStop. Euro saws's riving knives & guards are a bit safer, too, but nothing here is game-changing like the SawStop. And to defend it even more...reports of inadvertent triggerings w/wet wood are questionable & anecdotal...I'd be surprised if there were more than 2-3. People & reviewers LOVE the saw! Above & beyond the safety thing, it's very well made & equipped. I just think the inventor/owner is a weasel.

06-14-2008 02:31 PM  #18
UncleVanya If pigs had fins...   Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 3262	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident Quote: Euro saws's riving knives & guards are a bit safer, too, but nothing here is game-changing like the SawStop. And to defend it even more...reports of inadvertent triggerings w/wet wood are questionable & anecdotal...I'd be surprised if there were more than 2-3. So no where is this type of technology available except from the rat? Ah well... I hate to feed a rat but if the false positives are overblown then I might be in the market for this saw.

06-15-2008 10:35 AM  #19
H_rocket Certified Level Three   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 552	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident Quote: I just think the inventor/owner is a weasel. Because he wants to make money for his efforts? Or because he is charging a steep fee for his product?

06-15-2008 11:00 AM  #20
ddmobley Administrator   Joined: Jul 2006 Posts: 3552	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident There is nothing wrong with wanting to make money for your efforts. But there are accepted methods, like putting it to market and letting the market determine its success or failure. Slithering around behind hastily assembled government-sponsored monopolies tends to garner the wrong impression.

06-15-2008 11:09 AM  #21
heada Certifiable   Joined: Apr 2007 Posts: 922	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident I don't begrudge anyone making money from something they designed. If he designed it and can sell it, let him sell it from what people are willing to pay for it. Free market at work and in most cases, it works very well. I don't agree with someone doing an end run around the free market (regardless of reasons) and trying to regulate themselves a market. If you look at the safety equipment on all modern table saws in the US, everything is there to protect the operator from injury. There is a slitter behind the saw to prevent binding, there are anti-kickback devices and most importantly, there is a blade guard. If all these safety devices are left in place then a modern table saw is a very safe piece of equipment. I wish Scott a full and speedy recovery. -Aaron

06-15-2008 11:42 AM  #22
H_rocket Certified Level Three   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 552	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident Quote: There is nothing wrong with wanting to make money for your efforts. But there are accepted methods, like putting it to market and letting the market determine its success or failure. Slithering around behind hastily assembled government-sponsored monopolies tends to garner the wrong impression. I kinda see what you are saying. He did offer it to industry and they turned their collective noses up. Then the end run to the safety agencies. Stuck me as kind of a conundrum. He felt he had a solution that could help prevent injury and yet could not garner adoption. So he tries to force the issue and still turn a buck. Yeah, a bit skeevy.

06-15-2008 01:43 PM  #23
deandome Certified Level One   Joined: Jan 2008 Posts: 14	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident Like I said, the saw is good, Uncle Vanya...but keep in mind that for this kind of money, you can get a Laguna/Felder Hammer/Rojek 'euro-saw' with a sliding table & everything! Sliding tables rock (I have one on my mighty Ryobi BT 3000!!), and they are in & of themselves a nice safety feature. Great dust collection, lots of great features. I'd zero in on the Laguna or Rojek, as they offer versions w/US std. 5/8" arbors, so you can use easy-to-get blades. What's also kinda weasely about the SawStop (though a more commonplace level of weaselality) is that they nickel & dime you on accessories, liker, um...THE FRIGGEN FENCE!!! By the time you get what you want/need...and get it delivered....I think you're nearing $3500-4K. Places like Laguna can/will deal with you on some of that stuff, and they have special offers from time. But Rojek seems to offer the best price for a this level of tools. But noone will begrudge you 'feeding the weasel' w/SawStop. I totally respect the machine & it's groundbreaking safety even if I loathe the way they're trying to shove it down my throat.

06-15-2008 03:37 PM  #24
UncleVanya If pigs had fins...   Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 3262	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident Quote: Like I said, the saw is good, Uncle Vanya...but keep in mind that for this kind of money, you can get a Laguna/Felder Hammer/Rojek 'euro-saw' with a sliding table & everything! Sliding tables rock (I have one on my mighty Ryobi BT 3000!!), and they are in & of themselves a nice safety feature. Great dust collection, lots of great features. I'd zero in on the Laguna or Rojek, as they offer versions w/US std. 5/8" arbors, so you can use easy-to-get blades. What's also kinda weasely about the SawStop (though a more commonplace level of weaselality) is that they nickel & dime you on accessories, liker, um...THE FRIGGEN FENCE!!! By the time you get what you want/need...and get it delivered....I think you're nearing $3500-4K. Places like Laguna can/will deal with you on some of that stuff, and they have special offers from time. But Rojek seems to offer the best price for a this level of tools. But noone will begrudge you 'feeding the weasel' w/SawStop. I totally respect the machine & it's groundbreaking safety even if I loathe the way they're trying to shove it down my throat. Hummmm... for 4K - I may just get someone else to take the risks and sit back and relax while calling for another beverage until the parts arrive.

06-15-2008 06:07 PM  #25
denverdoc Rana sapiens   Joined: Aug 2007 Posts: 2959	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident Anyone know whether this guy went to law school before or after his invention? Actually in doing some research a far different picture emerges (at least in this article) than unmitigated greed using weasal tactics by getting big bro to coerce the tool makers into using it. Sounds more like payback time, and perhaps even genuine concern that a better mousetrap be used. http://www.inc.com/magazin...0701/disruptor-gass.html Also with scale, appears the cost to the saw might only increase 100 to 150 USD. Looks like the greedbags might not be Gass but the makers? http://www.taunton.com/fin...s/sawstop-revisited.aspx I'm not sure 7 percent is not over the top, but as apatent attorney he presumably is in a position to know whats fair and customary.

06-23-2008 12:33 PM  #26
Mike Fisher Kit Monkey   Joined: Aug 2007 Posts: 33	Re: Scott Ulrey of Just Rockets, BSD suffers shop accident Quote: I't was a table saw. Don, What part of BSD's production requires the use of a table saw? Mike Fisher Binder Design