Tip for Sawstop owners: Preventing false brake firings

[Roger Feeley]

My lovely bride of 35 years sprung for a Sawstop Industrial. The Sawstop is cool but the bride is awsome! She is the best resource in my shop. I sold my old Powermatic 63 and for the first time in 30 years, I am without a table saw. I feel naked.

I heard a great tip for you Sawstop owners. Let's say you come home with a board from the lumber yard with a UPC code stapled to the end. If you cut through that staple, you will fire the brake, right? Maybe not. The tech support guy at Sawstop tells me that the staple is not enough metal to fire the brake. What does it is that a fragment of the staple may ride around on the blade and make electrical contact with the brake and fire it.

The solution is simple packing tape. Just coat the surface of the brake with good packing tape to provide a bit of insulation. They are looking at some sort of non-conductive coating on the brake to prevent false fires. For now, just put tape on and check it every once in a while to see that it hasn't worn through.

[Brian Penning]

Interesting, I never realized that the aluminum block also detects changes in current (Just tried it and it does).
That being said, the chances of a staple fragment getting stuck to the blade is pretty remote, no?

[Victor Robinson]

So the aluminum block is more sensitive to conductive contact? Or rather, the system is designed with minimal allowance for conductive contact with the brake?

[Richard Shaefer]

you have to be careful with staples, the contact area counts.
Cut a staple clean and square and the brake won't fire.
hit it at a skew and the contact area increases and the blade will fire.

[Ted Wong]

Interesting, I never realized that the aluminum block also detects changes in current (Just tried it and it does).
That being said, the chances of a staple fragment getting stuck to the blade is pretty remote, no?

It's happened several times in our shop.

[Steve Rosenlund]

Sawstop has started shipping their cartridges with a tape like material already on them very recently. My new saw came with the coating on both the dado and standard cartridges.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

So the aluminum block is more sensitive to conductive contact? Or rather, the system is designed with minimal allowance for conductive contact with the brake?

Its not that the staple touches the brake; the connection from the brake to the blade via the piece of metal (staple) would most likely make the saw think something (or someone) has contacted the blade.

Interesting workaround - thanks for the tip!

[Anthony Whitesell]

Its not that the staple touches the brake; the connection from the brake to the blade via the piece of metal (staple) would most likely make the saw think something (or someone) has contacted the blade.

Interesting workaround - thanks for the tip!


To keep it simple (and off the cuff since I've no data), I would have to say the blade is electrically isolated from the rest of the machine with the sensing electronics hooked between the blade and the machine. Based on this information would lead me to understand the blade brake is attached and directly electically connected to the table and the rest of the machine, while still isolated from the blade.

It's good to hear that Sawstop has started shipping the brajes with a covering, even if it may not be their final solution (ie., final covering).

[Daniel Smith]

I can confirm that simply hitting a staple doesn't trip the brake. I can also confirm that the resulting staple fragment doesn't necessarily end up in the saw. It can also end up buried 1/4 inch deep in your forearm. Either way, staples are to be avoided.

[Neil Brooks]

I can confirm that simply hitting a staple doesn't trip the brake. I can also confirm that the resulting staple fragment doesn't necessarily end up in the saw. It can also end up buried 1/4 inch deep in your forearm. Either way, staples are to be avoided.

So ... what we're learning, here, is that staples ALSO have "flesh-sensing technology ?"

;)

Yowch.

[David Giles]

From experience, multiple cut staples and pin nails will not fire the brake. Wet, sappy 2x4 wood will not fire the brake. Wet treated lumber will fire the brake. Contact with metal hold downs and miter fences will fire the brake. YMMV.

[Brian Penning]

From experience, multiple cut staples and pin nails will not fire the brake. Wet, sappy 2x4 wood will not fire the brake. Wet treated lumber will fire the brake. Contact with metal hold downs and miter fences will fire the brake. YMMV.

I agree. Been my experience also.

[Rusty Howard]

thanks for the info guys, as a happy Sawstop owner of the 175 I always enjoy getting any info, thanks again.

[Roger Feeley]

I can attest to Davids good advice that miter gauges will fire the brake. I was nibbling a wide dado with my Freud staked dado head using a Jessem miter gauge. I didn't realize that the aluminum extrusion was a bit loose and was sliding with the wood. $200 dado set down the pipe along with the brake. I have replaced those spiffy looking brass knobs on the Jessem with some Rockler cam clamps. Now I have a positive visual indication that that extrusion is tight.