Sawstop brake activation

petebucy4638

petebucy4638

Pete
Corporate Member
Tonight, while cutting a piece of KD clear pine, my Sawstop brake activated. It was fast and totally unexpected. I still can't figure out what triggered the brake. There was nothing metallic that could have possibly touched the blade, and my hand didn't touch it either. I don't have a scratch on me. The wood has a very low moisture content and has been sitting in my shop for weeks. I had ripped pieces out of this board several times earlier in the day.

I understand that something much have caused the fault. But I don't have a clue what could have done it.

It's doubtful that the Forest II blade can be repaired, however I'll call Forest on Monday to see if they want to take a shot at it.

It's been a great saw.I'm going out to the shop to put a new blade on it in a few minutes. Crazy!
 
J

JimD

Jim
Senior User
You will naturally get to look at the brake mounting and clearances putting in the new blade and brake.

I don't know your source of pine but I often buy shelving boards from the home center and try to find any staples in the boards. But sometimes I cut them. It shouldn't trigger the brake but I can envision some circumstances where it could happen (like your hand touches the top of the saw which touches a staple when the blade touches the staple).
 
Bill J

Bill J

Bill
User
They also have an adjustment procedure if you are having problems getting enough clearance. I had my dado brake fire the same way and couldn't get enough clearance and they sent me the attached procedure. I also had one fire because the miter was too close. Now I always run it past the blade with the saw off and look for the red light before cutting.
 

Attachments

  • KBA130925-001_Adjust_R2_Cartridge_bracket_for_Max_BTP_Clearance.pdf
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petebucy4638

petebucy4638

Pete
Corporate Member
Bill J said:
They also have an adjustment procedure if you are having problems getting enough clearance. I had my dado brake fire the same way and couldn't get enough clearance and they sent me the attached procedure. I also had one fire because the miter was too close. Now I always run it past the blade with the saw off and look for the red light before cutting.
Click to expand...
The clearance between the blade and the brake was not an issue.
 
W

Warped Woodwerks

.
Senior User
I have a SawStop... 3hp PCS.
I had to wait, 11 months and 2 weeks, before I had 220 ran for it (moved and while my new house was being built, the saw was in climate controlled storage for 9 months). As soon as I had the electrician install my sub-panel, I turned on the saw and nothing but RED flashing light.... For a few seconds... the red light stopped, and the only light on was the Green light. I rejoiced, flipped the paddle, and WHAM!!! Blade didn't even turn and the brake engaged. Nothing was on the table, nothing was touching the blade, the saw was brand new and had never ran before. Boy was I "ticked!"

Contacted SS the next day, 2 months of back and forth (troubleshooting), replacing a brake cartridge ribbon cable (with 1 hand, due to 3rd degree burns from my smoker).. Used a paperclip to jumper the port on the side to get error codes, PDFs sent to me for numerous things they wanted me to try. They sent me out an arbor block, which meant I had to remove the entire table top.. Umm, yeah. Told SS my 1 hand had 3rd degree burns on it and there was no way in H3LL that I could do that. They tried to get a tech out to my house, but the nearest tech was over 4 hours (if I recall) away. Then, they tried to get me to load the saw on a truck, which I don't have/own... and drive it to a techs location. "Umm, who is paying for the truck rental, mileage, gas, my personal time, etc.?"

After all of the videos I sent them, pictures, hours on the phone, replacement of the brake cartridge ribbon cable, and jumping through hoops...

They had the nerve to charge me a New Saw core fee, $2,500.. asked me to box up the bad saw, sent a replacement saw, and then they had a company pick up the saw (on their dime)... then I assembled the replacement saw, MONTHS later.. due to my 3rd degree burns...then crossed my fingers, plugged in the power cord... and 1st try... POWER AND GREEN LIGHT!!

I dealt with Trent Davis, 1 other tech, and Alex Gumpel... Even though they didn't want to take the saw back, their great customer service told them they had to.

I am not sure what the problem is, with your saw, but I hope it is nothing as severe as the issue I had with my SS.

Also... from Trent Davis.. the gap between the blade and brake doesn't have to be 100% accurate.


Hope all is well with your saw and you can get back to making sawdust asap!


Rory
 
M

Mark Johnson

Mark
Corporate Member
If you ever have the opportunity to try a 'Hammer Saw", I think you will be very impressed. I was headed toward purchasing a Saw Stop until Phil allowed me to try his Hammer. I was sold immediately. I certainly do not regret it.
 
J

JimD

Jim
Senior User
I like my PCS and have no desire to change it out but the safety feature is, in my opinion, an example of "no free lunch". Having to change cartridges to put on a dado blade is a hassle. Having to get the blade to cartridge gap right is a hassle. At least potentially not being able to get the gap right on a sharpened blade with reduced diameter is a limitation other saws do not have. Not being able to use a reduced diameter cheap blade when cutting wood with potential fasteners in it is another limitation. Occasionally having to deal with flashing lights for no obvious reason is an annoyance. But having all my fingers despite my mess up makes it worth it in my book.
 
ssmith

ssmith

New User
Scott
Indeed, there's always a tradeoff. My comments were targeted more toward the poor customer service rather than the saw itself. For a saw that costs north of $2K, there's no excuse for that.
 
M

Michael D Edwards

New User
Michael
Sell that P.O.S.! I had one that ruined three expensive blades and cost productivity. And the the top cracked!?! I don’t know how.
I have since been enjoying my Delta unisaw And to my great suprise still have ten fingers!
 
M

Michael D Edwards

New User
Michael
Yes, mine was stone. Otherwise it was a good saw. Just not happy with the cost and delays it caused. Fifty years of wood working without touching a spinning blade.
 
W

Warped Woodwerks

.
Senior User
riggsp said:
Steel City and Rigid are the only tablesaws with granite tops I've ever heard of...just saying
Click to expand...
I've never heard of SawStop offering anything else.. just a cast iron top, so not sure how the top would crack, unless someone dropped something strange on it and cracked it the ironm. Stone SS top? Ummmm.
 
tvrgeek

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
The few attempts at a stone top quickly went the way-side. Nice idea, but did not work out. Did not warp but heavier ( shipping cost) and difficulty in attaching wings, rails, machining, etc. I bet some careless folks broke out the T-tracks. Curious that they were contractor saws which would be even harder to do in stone than a cabinet saw. They may have limited the blade height. The "right" answer is the old one: Let the castings sit in the yard for a year before you machine them.

Yes, of the tens of thousands of saws SS sells, there will be a few problems and we only hear of the problems. Pretty sensitive electronics. One of the reasons I backed off from buying one and bought a conventional Harvey. ( so far, excellent CS) I pretty much only rip or trim panels with it. Sleds for any joinery, and my band saw has taken well over 3/4 of the work I used to do on the TS.

IMHO, bragging about how one still has their fingers on an old saw, usually no guard or riving knife, is like the folks who play Russian Rotulet. Some win, some lose. Of course, there is the original "flesh sensing" saw. Many made by Diston.
 
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