A first on my SawStop

[Brian Penning]

Taking less than a hair off the edge of a piece of pressure treated wood and the saw simply stopped. Error code was the red light blinking as in contact with wet wood.
I've cut PT wood before with no problems but I guess being constantly in contact with the wood coating was too much?

[Eric DeSilva]

Taking less than a hair off the edge of a piece of pressure treated wood and the saw simply stopped. Error code was the red light blinking as in contact with wet wood.
I've cut PT wood before with no problems but I guess being constantly in contact with the wood coating was too much?

It might, in fact, have been wet wood. I've gotten some really, really wet PT lumber in the day. I swear there is something about the process that magnetically attracts water.

[Victor Robinson]

Stopped as in fired the brake or...?

[Kevin Groenke]

Could have been the copper in the treatment, could have been moisture.

The SS probably recognized that SOMETHING was wrong but that that SOMETHING wasn't a finger. If SS is confident enough that the "digital signature" of cutting treated and/or wet stock is different that that of cutting people, why don't they just let us cut it? Oh well, at least they've improved the product enough that the brake doesn't necessarily fire when questionable material is being cut.

-kg

[Paul Atkins]

It doesn't want anything to do with that stuff.

[Brendan Plavis]

Could have been the copper in the treatment, could have been moisture.

The SS probably recognized that SOMETHING was wrong but that that SOMETHING wasn't a finger. If SS is confident enough that the "digital signature" of cutting treated and/or wet stock is different that that of cutting people, why don't they just let us cut it? Oh well, at least they've improved the product enough that the brake doesn't necessarily fire when questionable material is being cut.

-kg

But if your finger happens to be that questionable material.... would you want the brake not to fire....

[Brian Penning]

It might, in fact, have been wet wood. I've gotten some really, really wet PT lumber in the day. I swear there is something about the process that magnetically attracts water.


Stopped as in fired the brake or...?


The wood was quite dry and the blade simply came to a stop.

[Will Overton]

The wood was quite dry and the blade simply came to a stop.

I'd contact SS to see if this is normal behavior and not some kind of malfunction. I've been doing a lot of reading about the SS lately and never came across anything that said the blade would stop other than when the brake was activated.

Could the blade have gotten bound in the wood and tripped some internal breaker?

[Brian Penning]

SawStop's reply....


Some treated wood has different amounts of chemical and moisture that can affect conductivity quite differently.
When the saw shuts down to a flashing red, the saw it trying to warn you. You have been lucky up to this point. ;-)
It’s always best to do a couple test cuts in bypass and look at the lights and see if there is a red led as you finish the cut. This will let you know if the brake would have activated or not if it had not been in bypass. This is covered in the manual if you would like to review it further.
Also call us any time you have questions if you like.

[Will Overton]

Thanks for the follow up.

Maybe I'll download and read the manual before my saw is delivered.

[Ellen Benkin]

Thanks for info from Sawstop. It's good to know you get a warning and that you can bypass the braking system if you are cutting wet wood. Do you know if "bypass" stays on until you change the setting or does it revert to the regular system when you turn the saw off and then on?

[mreza Salav]

Thanks for info from Sawstop. It's good to know you get a warning and that you can bypass the braking system if you are cutting wet wood. Do you know if "bypass" stays on until you change the setting or does it revert to the regular system when you turn the saw off and then on?

To use the bypass mode you have to turn and hold a key every single time you want to use it in bypass. So, you cannot accidentally run it in bypass mode.

[Brian Penning]

Another "lucky one" today (maybe?).
Was cutting some gold leaf cardboard for a friend and I just got the cut started when the saw blade stopped and the blade coasted down. Same as the 1st time.
I didn't even think of the gold paper covering the cardboard could possibly trigger the brake.
Whew!

[Joe Angrisani]

Brian.... If the blade coasted to a stop, it doesn't sound like the brake fired.

[mreza Salav]

My guess is: the rate at which the charge on the blade discharge isn't a 0/1, rather it can have a range from
a very highly conductive material (finger?) to something that is still conductive but not much. In that gray area the system determines it's something wrong with the material
but not enough to fire the brake. So it just shuts the saw down and gives the warning.

[Todd Bin]

Hello all SS owners,

I had this "blade coasting" phenomenon happen to me as well. At first I just adjusted the break spacing and it seemed to fix the problem. Then I could not get the saw to cut anything with out the saw turning off and the blade coasting down. I called saw stop and the guy asked if I had a different cartride I could try. I had a brand new one and put it on the saw and not issues. Called SS back and they said no problem. Send us the "bad" cartridge and we will send you a new one (free). No questions asked. Great customer service.

So two questions. One is does this happen if you try to cust completely dry wood (like plywood) and two do you have a different cartridge you could try.

~Todd

[Brian Penning]

Hello all SS owners,

I had this "blade coasting" phenomenon happen to me as well. At first I just adjusted the break spacing and it seemed to fix the problem. Then I could not get the saw to cut anything with out the saw turning off and the blade coasting down. I called saw stop and the guy asked if I had a different cartride I could try. I had a brand new one and put it on the saw and not issues. Called SS back and they said no problem. Send us the "bad" cartridge and we will send you a new one (free). No questions asked. Great customer service.

So two questions. One is does this happen if you try to cust completely dry wood (like plywood) and two do you have a different cartridge you could try.

~Todd

I'm quite sure it happened due to the gold leaf paper and I don't feel like taking a chance on the spare brake firing. The saw has been working perfectly.

[Mark Blatter]

Shortly after we installed our SS, someone was cutting a piece of styrafoam and triggered the brake. Found out that there was a thin aluminum coating on the underside that we didn't even think about.

I have hit 23 guage pin nails that didn't trigger it though.