SawStop Blade Touching Question?

[James H Bennett]

I know this might be a dumb question, but here goes: Does the SawStop safety mechanism engage the brake if the blade is touched ONLY while the blade is moving? What about if the blade has stopped but the saw is still plugged in - will it still engage? I ask because for the past 30 or so years with another manufacturer's saw, I often slightly rotate the blade (by hand) to get a tooth right at the top for depth measurement, in addition to using brass measuring bars that occasionally touch the blade. I never unplugged that saw while doing this - dangerous? Well, maybe some folks might think so but I've never heard of a saw turning itself on, and I never have anyone in the shop while I'm working.

If doing a procedure like that on a SawStop would engage the brake, then it seems like there will be a LOT of unplugging and re-plugging during a work session.

[Paul F Franklin]

Only when the blade is moving. I do all the things you've described and there is no issue. It will trip if you touch it after you've turned the saw off but before the blade has completely come to a stop, but once it's stopped, it's safe to touch.

[Ron Citerone]

Only when the blade is moving. I do all the things you've described and there is no issue. It will trip if you touch it after you've turned the saw off but before the blade has completely come to a stop, but once it's stopped, it's safe to touch.

What Paul said emphasizing "Completely come to a stop." One time I brought a metal ruler in close to set the fence for the next cut, the blade was all but stopped and the ruler barely touched the blade and set it off.

[Mike Henderson]

What Paul said emphasizing "Completely come to a stop." One time I brought a metal ruler in close to set the fence for the next cut, the blade was all but stopped and the ruler barely touched the blade and set it off.

I unfortunately did the same thing.

Mike

[James H Bennett]

Thanks guys - now I feel better about purchasing one of those saws.

[Stan Calow]

Watch the lights on the front

[Frank Pratt]

You should definitely read the manual. Lots of good info in there.

[Jim Dwight]

There is also a switch on the saw, separate from the blade start switch, you can turn off if you want. I have turned it off because we were expecting a bad storm, for instance. No need to unplug if you want plenty of margin. But I normally just leave it "on" and have never had an issue. I touch the blade as long as it is not moving.

[Ray Newman]

Frank Pratt: suggested and i agree about reading the manual.

SawStop manuals are available on-line at:https://www.sawstop.com/support/manuals

[Frank Pratt]

Besides the quality of the saw, the SawStop manuals are very good as well. Easy to read, easy to understand, and thorough. If the manual can't answer your question, then they have very good tech support that will be happy to help out.

[James H Bennett]

Besides the quality of the saw, the SawStop manuals are very good as well. Easy to read, easy to understand, and thorough. If the manual can't answer your question, then they have very good tech support that will be happy to help out.

Well, actually - I had sent an email to their support folks and the reply I got back was what prompted me to post the question here. Not sure if the person didn’t understand my question, or what the problem was, but it was as if I had asked “what is 2 plus 3” and got an answer of “green”.

We are moving out of state and most likely will have a house built, so it’ll be a while before I’m an owner of one of these saws. But all the same, really looking forward to it, after having a very close call with disaster on my old Craftsman table saw last year.

[Frank Pratt]

Well, actually - I had sent an email to their support folks and the reply I got back was what prompted me to post the question here. Not sure if the person didn’t understand my question, or what the problem was, but it was as if I had asked “what is 2 plus 3” and got an answer of “green”.

Ya, I get that. Sometimes you need to have a voice conversation so both sides understand the meaning. I've had 2 or 3 calls to support with questions & they've been very good. The people I spoke with were also woodworkers so they really understood things.

[ED Budzinski]

Blade Brake is active until the blade "rotation" has stopped . Before turning the blade by hand I shut off the switch next to the "Start - Stop" paddle switch .

[Alan Schwabacher]

You plug in the saw, turn on the power switch and wait a little for it to self-check, then you can start the blade with the regular switch. If the blade is stopped, touching the blade is detected but it just flashes the lights at the front rather than triggering the brake, so you can test various things.

But as mentioned by others, "stopped" means really stopped.

Your customer service answer may have assumed you were talking about a different step.

[Chuck Saunders]

You won't have a problem once the saw has determined that it has come to a stop with a steady green light. At this point you can touch the blade all you want and no brake trigger. If you touch the blade and check the lights you will notice the red light flashing which means if the saw were running at this time the brake would trigger. This can provide a test for "Is this wood too wet?" or "Is this material conductive?". I turn the toggle switch off when changing blades and every night so that the saw will go through it's self test each morning.
Chuck

[Don Stephan]

I rotate the saw blade with the end of my plywood push stick when the blade is not moving.

[Roger Feeley]

What Paul said emphasizing "Completely come to a stop." One time I brought a metal ruler in close to set the fence for the next cut, the blade was all but stopped and the ruler barely touched the blade and set it off.


I was also warned about this. This is the worst kind of brake fire because the blade doesn't really dig into the brake and the unrelieved spring pressure makes it very difficult to get the blade and brake out. The good news about a slow speed brake fire is that your blade might be recoverable. I've had a total of three brake fires in the 6 or 7 years Ive had my saw. All were my stupid mistake. In one case, I was able to have the blade fixed and that one was when the saw was spinning down.

[Jim Dwight]

The manual is pretty good, better than any others I can think of. But I don't love the fact that I feel the need to keep it handy. There are better ways to give the status of the saw than blinking lights. So I keep it handy to be able to understand what the saw is trying to tell me. But at least I don't have to go to the internet to find out what it is saying.

[Frank Pratt]

The manual is pretty good, better than any others I can think of. But I don't love the fact that I feel the need to keep it handy. There are better ways to give the status of the saw than blinking lights. So I keep it handy to be able to understand what the saw is trying to tell me. But at least I don't have to go to the internet to find out what it is saying.

I think it would be a good thing if they'd provide a quick reference label that could be applied to a convenient surface. 'Cause ya, who wants to keep pulling out the manual.

[Mike Henderson]

I think it would be a good thing if they'd provide a quick reference label that could be applied to a convenient surface. 'Cause ya, who wants to keep pulling out the manual.

You could always make your own on your computer - or even hand written - and tape it close to your switch.

Mike

[Alan Gage]

You could always make your own on your computer - or even hand written - and tape it close to your switch.

Mike


That is the obvious easy answer. It's the solution I came up with when I bought my Sawstop 7 years ago. Unfortunately I still haven't gotten around to it but am reminded every time I pull the manual out. :rolleyes:

Alan

[Cliff Polubinsky]

My PCS came with a decal with all the light codes on the side of the switch box.

Cliff

[Frank Pratt]

You could always make your own on your computer - or even hand written - and tape it close to your switch.

Mike

I had that very thought as I was posting it. I'm going to do one & laminate it.

[Frank Pratt]

My (just arrived) ics has a nice magnetized quick receive card to stick on the cabinet. If you want their official one, I'm sure they'd send it to you

Thanks Aaron, I might just give them a call.

[ChrisA Edwards]

I fired the safety brake for the first time yesterday in five years of ownership.

This was a Dado brake cartridge.

I'd installed it and adjusted the yellow screw that sets the gap, plugged the saw back in and watched it go through it's start up self test sequence. I had already cut a Dado in another piece of wood, so I had that laid over the blade, as I wanted the exact same depth, so I raised the blade up past the depth of the previously cut Dado and was sliding the piece backwards and forwards feeling for when the blade disengaged the wood. This naturally was turning the blade while it was set too high.

I got ready to make the new cut, reached down and powered the saw on with the paddle switch and boom, well it was more like a click, the blade didn't rotate and the red light was flashing. I immediately powered the paddle switch off and when I realized the blade was locked, unplugged the saw.

I printed out the instructions from the manual on how to remove the blade and brake and when those didn't help I want to the Sawstop online tech support.They were helpful and sent me a couple of videos on the process, but it appears these were for a different model of saw. There is a locking mechanism that should engage when the blade is lowered all the way down, my saw (a PCS175) doesn't appear to have this feature. Also, since I swapped out the 110v motor for the 3HP 240v upgrade, my arbor doesn't appear to go quite as low as it did before and I think this is something to do with the replacement strut that also gets installs in the conversion.

So what caused this? ME! I normally use a WWII Combo blade, which I had sharpened. This appeared to make the blade slightly smaller in diameter. So when I put the WWII blade in, I have to adjust the yellow screw all the way to minimize the blade to brake gap. When I use my Rip blade, or in this case, my Freud Box Dado blade, I have to back the gap screw all the way out. I don't this I adjusted this correctly this time. Although the Dado blade could turn, the gap was too small and the SawStop rep told me that it the blade tip touched the plastic decal, it would trip.

So lesson learned, but with a new Dado brake installed, after a two hour round trip to Woodcraft, I was a little concerned about tripping the new brake cartridge, so I completed all my Dado cuts in the brake override mode. After I had finished them, I got brave and them turned the saw on in normal mode and all was fine.

The red arrow shows the only slight indent on the brake surface and this may have been made worse by me wrestling the blade and cartridge out.

https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/i452/cedwards874/DadoSafetyCartridge.jpg