SawStop Up and Running

[Anthony Anderson]

I love this saw:D :D :D. Although it has taken three weeks to get everything worked out, I am still glad I bought it. Just installed the factory blade to test out the saw, just in case something unexpected happened, and the saw is very nice. The SawStop blade is decent, but I will install one of my Freud blades tomorrow. The delay from the time you pull the paddle switch to the actual time the motor kicks in, was different, but I will get used to that quickly, I'm sure. Nothing unusual during setup. Now I can't wait to start making some things again, it was getting old without working on anything for three weeks. On start up, I ducked, because I though there was a jet taking off:D, not really, but it obviously has A LOT more power than the old Craftsman contractor saw:). More to come on the saw later, after I have had a chance to use it, but as everyone else, I am sure I will love it.

Also, upgraded the Jet 1100 30 micron bags to a JDS 1 micron canister filter, and it is a night and day difference, in terms of performance, beween the canister and the standard bags. Plus it makes for a healthier shop. Well I am a happy camper right now, and will hopefully be making sawdust again tomorrow. Thanks for listening. Regards, Bill

[Mike Heidrick]

Congrats on the saw! I do not notice much of a delay on my saw and the blade is instantly at speed. I pull the paddle and by the time I look at the blade it is at speed.

Maybe you were talking about the self check delay. Flip that switch and it is 6 seconds before you can use the paddle. I like the diag test - lets me know everything is good to go and that the bake is all checke out. Once I start cutting I use the padle for start and stops. Once all my cuts are done for awhile I flip the ready switch off.

Why three weeks for your setup?

[Anthony Anderson]

Thanks Mike. The delay is when I pull the paddle to start the blade. There is about a half second to a full second delay from the time I pull the large red paddle until the motor starts/blade starts spinning. Does your saw have any delay at all? Hopefully this is normal.

The reason(s) for the delay (long story) was the rails were either not shipped or lost by the shipping company and went to never never land. It took 6-7 days to get another set from SawStop. I didn't continue with setup, as I was limited without the rails. After the rails arrived (a week later) it took another few days until I could get the saw to the basement. Once in the basement I turned the elevation handwheel and the elevation assembly miter gears made a horrible racket. I even wonder if this saw was QC'd. At this point it was Friday, and could not call SawStop until Monday. I tried to adjust the miter gears, but there was no way those things were right. Anyway, to make a long story shorter, on Tuesday afternoon they decided to Overnight a new set of miter gears, got those Wedesday and installed that evening. Those were not as bad, but still made a noticeable noise. Called SawStop the next day, and they decided to ship another set of spiral miter gears from Taiwan(new design, the old ones were standard miter gears). Those were supposed to go out from Taiwan on a Friday (Taiwan time), and I would have them Monday or Tuesday. Tuesday came and no miter gears. Called SawStop, and the gears somehow didn't make it out on Friday. The gears finally came yesterday (Wednesday). I installed them and they work perfect. The SawStop in the distributor's store had the regular miter gears, and they worked perfectly as well. I just happened to get two sets that were bad. Just my luck:D. But that is the three week story. Nice people at SawStop and the distributor/retailer has been great. But this saw should not have been sent out like this. It would take no time at all to quickly go over the simple things such as elevation and tilt mechanism and the like. But all is well right now, and I really like the saw. Regards, Bill

[Dan Lee]

Anthony
Good to hear the miter gears solved the problem. I'am waiting for a new set also.

[Anthony Anderson]

Dan, the gears work very nice-the machining appears to be much better. But I have used (on display) the SawStops with the standard gears and they work smoothly also, must be a rare occurance. How long have you had your saw? Bill



Anthony
Good to hear the miter gears solved the problem. I'am waiting for a new set also.

[Matt Donohue]

Bill,

Congratulations on the new SawStop!


I just bought a Sawstop also and set it up this week (pictures to follow in a day or 2) and also started out with the Sawstop blade...just to make sure everything worked ok. After a few days of using the saw, I decided to install my new Freud blade ,with the red anti-friction coating, that I bought a few weeks ago from Amazon. After I installed the Freud blade, I got a random error when I turned on the Sawstop to do its checks. :confused: I say random because if I rotated the blade by hand and tried again, sometimes it would be ok and the next time I would get the error again. I figured that the cause was the red coating on the Freud blade so I sanded through the coating for about 2 inches around that arbor to give more metal on metal contact. This solved the problem. :) I think the cause was the coating was preventing the low voltage signal from getting from the arbor to the blade. I think the reason it was random, is because the red paint prevented the signal from getting to the blade from the sides and the arbor threads only provide minimum contact with the blade. Just a thought.

Enjoy your saw! I know I am.:D

Matt

[Homer Faucett]

Bill,

Congratulations on the new SawStop!


I just bought a Sawstop also and set it up this week (pictures to follow in a day or 2) and also started out with the Sawstop blade...just to make sure everything worked ok. After a few days of using the saw, I decided to install my new Freud blade ,with the red anti-friction coating, that I bought a few weeks ago from Amazon. After I installed the Freud blade, I got a random error when I turned on the Sawstop to do its checks. :confused: I say random because if I rotated the blade by hand and tried again, sometimes it would be ok and the next time I would get the error again. I figured that the cause was the red coating on the Freud blade so I sanded through the coating for about 2 inches around that arbor to give more metal on metal contact. This solved the problem. :) I think the cause was the coating was preventing the low voltage signal from getting from the arbor to the blade. I think the reason it was random, is because the red paint prevented the signal from getting to the blade from the sides and the arbor threads only provide minimum contact with the blade. Just a thought.

Enjoy your saw! I know I am.:D

Matt

I was worried about this with my saw. I purchased the LU84, and was concerned that the PermaShield coating would cause the safety feature to be ineffective. However, I have not had any problems. I never received an error message, and I have tested it in the standby mode, with it registering my touch each time.

I am very happy that this blade works with the safety system, as the difference in cut quality and speed between this blade and the stock Sawstop blade is night and day. I loved the think kerf version on my old contractor saw, and this full kerf model on the Sawstop is fantastic.

Before changing blades from the stock blade to this Freud combo, I was frankly disappointed with the saw in terms of feed rate and cut quality as compared to my old contractor saw. Simply switching out the blade completely changed that. I am now a very happy camper!

[Peter Melanson]

Congrats on the Saw!! It is a good one, I've had mine set up for about 3 weeks and having fun. Unfortunately I just sold my house so I have to break it down and move in to a rental until our new house is done, the good new is the new house will have a full shop in it. Congrats again

[Bill Eshelman]

I wouldn't have bought a Saw Stop,
I saw a demo of one and it couldn't even cut through a hotdog.
:D

[Dan Lee]

Dan, the gears work very nice-the machining appears to be much better. But I have used (on display) the SawStops with the standard gears and they work smoothly also, must be a rare occurance. How long have you had your saw? Bill

About 3 months. Its funny I never really noticed the noise or thought it was a problem until your first post. The elevation as is works as smooth as my previous saw. But not as smooth as the tilt mechanism

BTW I've been pleased with customer service from the get go they assured me that they will do anything that is required to solve the problem

[Anthony Anderson]

I wouldn't have bought a Saw Stop,
I saw a demo of one and it couldn't even cut through a hotdog.
:D

Just don't touch the hotdog while you are running it through, and the cuts it just fine, and since they were cut with the SawStop, they taste even better:D :D .

(quote Peter Melanson)
Congrats on the Saw!! It is a good one, I've had mine set up for about 3 weeks and having fun. Unfortunately I just sold my house so I have to break it down and move in to a rental until our new house is done, the good new is the new house will have a full shop in it. Congrats again

Congratulations on the new shop Peter. Moving everything is a real pain, but worth it in the end. Good Luck.

[Anthony Anderson]

About 3 months. Its funny I never really noticed the noise or thought it was a problem until your first post. The elevation as is works as smooth as my previous saw. But not as smooth as the tilt mechanism

BTW I've been pleased with customer service from the get go they assured me that they will do anything that is required to solve the problem

Dan I have had a very positive experience with SawStop as well. And as with you, they assured me that they would do everything necessary to take care of the situation. And I honestly believe they would/will. I really want to see this company do well, as it took a huge leap of faith for them to go this far, and put something on the market that has, no doubt, helped many people already, when "other" companies said "safety doesn't sell".

I hope they can get the contractor saw on the market soon, as it will open a whole new market for them, and make available, and hopefully affordable, a great contractor saw to people who want quality, and safety as well - referring to both the riving knife as well as the braking feature. Regards, Bill

[Anthony Anderson]

Matt and Homer, I was told by SawStop that the signal is transferred from the arbor to the blade via an electrical frequency that can be transmitted to the blade, so the blade does not need to make actual metal to metal contact with the arbor. However, they do make sure to tell you, and it does say in the manual too, that the teeth of the blade should not have any coating on them, so the computer can detect the slight drop in voltage immediately. But you guys already know that. But I am with you Matt, if I am getting error codes with my Freud blade, I will take the coating off the arbor hole just to be safe. Thanks for the heads up. Regards, Bill