Question for those whom own a Sawstop

[Patrick Walsh]

Have any of you ever had the blade just stop mid rip. Almost like the saw got bogged down.

I was ripping some 4x4 construction pine and the blade just stopped mid rip. The light on the switch was flashing red green red green back and forth.

I turned the saw off on two occasions backed the lumber out and started again. Both times the saw allowed me to finish the cut.

The wood has been in my shop for months and is dry as a bone. Not a chance of any metal to found. Im baffled as the saw is a 5hp ICS...

[Mike Henderson]

Contact SawStop. They've been very responsive to questions I've asked them.

Mike

[Mike Heidrick]

You need to gap the blade and brake. Thickness of a nickle for the spacing.

[Patrick Walsh]

Thanks for the insight.

I do remember reading that the brake and blade must have a nickle sized gap.

My saw is a older model. I did recently upgrade the riving knife assembly. I guess the gap could be off. On the other hand the saw rips sheet goods and thin stock no problem and has for a while..



i know the blade an
You need to gap the blade and brake. Thickness of a nickle for the spacing.

[Mike Henderson]

Thanks for the insight.

I do remember reading that the brake and blade must have a nickle sized gap.

My saw is a older model. I did recently upgrade the riving knife assembly. I guess the gap could be off. On the other hand the saw rips sheet goods and thin stock no problem and has for a while..



i know the blade an

I have an older SawStop, also. I accidently set off the brake and when I replaced it, I had problems getting the saw to start. The problem was that the riving knife was too close to the blade. The brake has software in it. Apparently, the old brake tolerated the distance between the blade and the riving knife but the new brake did not.

I went crazy for a while. I checked the distance between the brake and the blade many, many times and tried setting it wider and closer. Nothing worked until I called SawStop and they recommended checking the distance between the blade and the riving knife.

Mike

[Victor Robinson]

I had an issue a few years back on my PCS (think I posted about it) where the saw would coast down by itself shortly after startup, independent of load.

Sawstop sent me a kit to replace the tachometer.

[Robert Chapman]

Sometimes when ripping stock stresses in the wood are released which results in the wood clamping the blade and stopping it. I have had this happen a few times when ripping 3/4 inch hard maple. Usually you can remove the board and cut again with no problem sometimes I have had to wedge open the original cut and then finish the cut. It's interesting the stresses that are hidden in wood.

[Mike Henderson]

Sometimes when ripping stock stresses in the wood are released which results in the wood clamping the blade and stopping it. I have had this happen a few times when ripping 3/4 inch hard maple. Usually you can remove the board and cut again with no problem sometimes I have had to wedge open the original cut and then finish the cut. It's interesting the stresses that are hidden in wood.

Of course, one of the purposes of the riving knife (or a splitter) is to mitigate that pinch. As the board closes up the kerf, the riving knife will hold the kerf open. Not to say that a board couldn't clamp since the splitter is a bit narrower than the blade but I've never encountered that when working with a riving knife. I did encounter it on my previous saw that didn't have a riving knife and I didn't use a splitter.

One of the reasons I bought a saw with a riving knife.

Mike

[John C Bush]

I had the same issue when milling cedar. Out here (PNW-Go Hawks) cedar isn't kiln dried so I kept it in the heated shop for a couple of months. Don't have a moisture meter but the wood felt dry to touch. I was making bevel cuts on 16' 2x6s and several times the machine just shut down. All alignments were in order and the saw would restart so I continued until the brake finally fired. Called SS and they didn't offer to analyze the sensors and said there must have been enough moisture to cause an activation. I guess there is a "warning" shutdown of sorts. NOW I know.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I've had that happen and went through the manual. The blinking light sequence tells you what shutdown happened. I have the same saw, older 5hp ICS. The saw has an overload sensor, probably more like an overcurrent sensor, and the saw will shut down, probably to prevent a push back..... I was ripping 3.5" koa. It loads the motor pretty good.

[Danny Hamsley]

I had it happen numerous times, but ny sawstop is the 1.75 HP version. Growth stress can pinch the blade, even with the riving knife if the growth stress is significant, and that will cause the saw to overload and shutdown.

[glenn bradley]

Light patterns from the manual: