Sawstop accident.

[Joe Mioux]

I am embarrassed to post this but I thing its worth it.

Today, I wanted to cut some wood with my new sawstop. This was the first time I was going to use the new saw. So I was taking care to set things up correctly.

Unfortunately, I forgot one thing. I have an Osborne miter gauge and it was for my old table saw. I didn't reset the miter gauge back far enough from the blade.

while I was setting up for a bunch of repeated cuts, I forgot to reset the miter gauge.

With in an instant the blade retracted.

The amazing thing is how quiet and smooth this all happened. there was not a large jolt or a loud bang.

My miter gauge is amazingly intact.

I replaced the blade and brake, with a new blade and brake and continued on today.

Sawstop is truly amazing. I can't believe I did such a stupid thing. Hopefully my accident will serve as a reminder.
\

[Joe Mioux]

I am absolutely amazed at how little damage was done to the miter gauge.

If I would drop the miter gauge on the floor, it would create a bigger dent than what it received from the saw blade.

Again, I feel really stupid about this accident, but I feel its important to publish the results here at SMC.

One other point of interest, you would think that after the brake fired, I would want to quit. It was braking action was so nonviolent that I never once wanted to quit today. I am not sure I am conveying my sentiments well, but suffice it to say the SawStop did exactly what it was supposed to do.

joe

[Mike Canaris]

I don't understand,what triggered the brake?Did you feel anything?

[Joe Mioux]

my aluminum miter gauge caught the blade.

I didn't feel anything. MY fingers were and are always around the miter gauge slot on the table saw when making this cut.

joe

[Dewey Torres]

Well, that's what you bought the SS for right? How much was the new brake a blade to replace?
Dewey

[Don Bullock]

Joe, thanks for the post. I'm glad that everything, especially you, is OK. That's another reminder to me to be even more careful with my Incra miter gauge on my SS.

[rick fulton]

I don't understand,what triggered the brake?Did you feel anything?

Anything conductive will trigger the stop; even wet wood.

[Bill Wyko]

I've heard of this happening before from other SS owners so you're not the only one. You'll want to watch for that when you change angles too. I've done it to my incra twice but I don't have a SS so I cut the fence pretty bad.:cool:

[Eddie Darby]

"Sawstop is truly amazing. I can't believe I did such a stupid thing. Hopefully my accident will serve as a reminder." Joe
================================================== ====

I hope that everyone realizes that we are all not immune to this!:rolleyes:;)

[Allan Froehlich]

I am wondering if the aluminum triggered it or if it was your hands touching the miter attachment.

The reason I ask is because your skin is a good insulator, as long as you don't get to the deeper layers. For example, you don't get shocked when you pick up a battery and get electricuted when you touch both terminals.

[Brian Penning]

If there wasn't much damage to the gauge then there might also be little or no damage to the blade.
I'm still using the WW2 blade that was hit by the SS brake. Couldn't even find where the blade had been hit.

[Bob Genovesi]

Good information but have you tried the hotdog or finger test yet?

[James Phillips]

Anything conductive will trigger the stop; even wet wood.

This is a misconception. Wet wood will not trigger the brake. Maybe if you soaked it for a few hours in salt water. If the wood is wet enough to trigger the brake you should not work with it on any saw, because it is not going to be stable anyway. Green wood will not trigger the blade

[Kevin Groenke]

I am wondering if the aluminum triggered it or if it was your hands touching the miter attachment.

The reason I ask is because your skin is a good insulator, as long as you don't get to the deeper layers. For example, you don't get shocked when you pick up a battery and get electricuted when you touch both terminals.

The SS would have triggered even if he hadn't been touching the miter gauge. The arbor and blade are electrically isolated and a small electrical charge is electronically monitored. If that electrical charge changes significantly the blade can be triggered. In this instance the electrical charge would have gone to ground from the blade to the miter gauge to the saw's table. I believe SS is continuing to refine the electronic signatures that will trigger the brake vs those that will just shut down the saw (such as wet wood)

Actually the indicator lights on the SS go on even when you touch the side of a stationary blade with a bare finger, so uncut skin has adequate capacitance to activate the system. You can also use this feature to determine if a "mystery material" MIGHT trigger the brake.

A few other things to try not to do:
Do not make a plunge cut without removing the riving knife.
Check the blade/brake gap when changing blades.
Watch the blade/riving knife gap.
If you have an aluminum rip fence, watch the gap.
Avoid nails/staples - embedded should be ok, but if metal hits the blade and the table the brake will trigger.
Check all jigs/fixtures for metal - even fasteners.


It's a great saw, but it does come with some caveats.

-kg

[Joe Mioux]

The SS actually saved my miter gauge. I suppose that is some consolation.

Also, there is an overide switch to turn the braking system off. this is particularly useful if you want to cut aluminum or wet wood or pressure treated wood.

We use a fair amount of Cuprinol around here. When cutting this wood, I will probably turn brake system off. Cuprinol has copper in it.

[Greg Just]

Joe:

You stated you had to replace the brake - what is the cost of that? Do you need to do this everytime the saw shtus down?

Glad no one was hurt.

Greg

[Matthew Hills]

The SS actually saved my miter gauge. I suppose that is some consolation.

So, this seems to raise the question -- if your miter gauge hits your blade, how are you going to use the miter gauge in the future?

(and interesting note that the safety system can be disabled)

Matt

[Cody Colston]

The SS actually saved my miter gauge. I suppose that is some consolation.

From the pics, it appears that the blade contacted just the tip of the 45 degree end. That would hardly have ruined the miter gauge even if you had cut it completely off. BTW, I have that same miter gauge.

Matthew, the Osborne miter gauge is adjustable to vary the distance from the blade.

While saving a finger would have been significant, I wouldn't be praising the saw after ruining a $100? blade and replacing an $80 cartridge. I'd probably be saying bad words.

[Bruce Page]

Joe, I read an artical on the SawStop a while ago and they said that that was a very common occurrence.

At least you know it works!

[Jason White]

I did the same thing with my Incra miter guage. Not having a Sawstop, however, my Incra didn't make it!
:(



I am embarrassed to post this but I thing its worth it.

Today, I wanted to cut some wood with my new sawstop. This was the first time I was going to use the new saw. So I was taking care to set things up correctly.

Unfortunately, I forgot one thing. I have an Osborne miter gauge and it was for my old table saw. I didn't reset the miter gauge back far enough from the blade.

while I was setting up for a bunch of repeated cuts, I forgot to reset the miter gauge.

With in an instant the blade retracted.

The amazing thing is how quiet and smooth this all happened. there was not a large jolt or a loud bang.

My miter gauge is amazingly intact.

I replaced the blade and brake, with a new blade and brake and continued on today.

Sawstop is truly amazing. I can't believe I did such a stupid thing. Hopefully my accident will serve as a reminder.
\

[Joe Mioux]

Joe:

You stated you had to replace the brake - what is the cost of that? Do you need to do this everytime the saw shtus down?

Glad no one was hurt.

Greg

The Brake once fired is ruined along with the blade. A new brake costs $70. the SawStop blade is really high quality, I don't know what it costs, yet.

I replaced the brake and installed a new Forest WW II blade in the saw.


So, this seems to raise the question -- if your miter gauge hits your blade, how are you going to use the miter gauge in the future?

(and interesting note that the safety system can be disabled)

Matt

The Osborne miter gauge has an adjustable fence. Today, in order to confirm what I had done, I placed my old cross cut sled from my old ts into the slots of the SS. The SS blade is about a 1/2 inch to the left of the sled's kerfed opening from the previous sawblade/table saw setup.


Joe, I read an artical on the SawStop a while ago and they said that that was a very common occurrence.

At least you know it works!

Bruce, I promise some pictures of my garage-shop once I get this big table out of there. btw, this is a machine that you would truly appreciate.

BTW, the nick in the aluminum miter gauge is so insiginficant that you really have to look very close to see it. The saw hit the black sandpaper and just cut the very bottom tip of the fence.

I actually got pretty scratched up trying to remove the blade and brake. Nothing serious, but i did break the skin on my inside forearm reaching beyond the blade and catching the saw's teeth on my forearm.

joe

[Brian Penning]

The Brake once fired is ruined along with the blade. A new brake costs $70. the SawStop blade is really high quality, I don't know what it costs, yet.

I replaced the brake and installed a new Forest WW II blade in the saw.

joe

You might want to have the "damaged" blade checked out.
Even the SS tech told me that the blades are not always ruined. Mine was still good.

[Barry Richardson]

Well, since it was brought up, I set the Saw Stop off twice last week:(. Both total brain-farts on my part. First time I tried to cut a small piece of sheet aluminum. Brake fired the instant it made contact with the metal. We have had the two SS's for several months now. They replaced Unisaws that we often cut sheet metal on using a non-ferous blade. My mind was somewhere about three steps ahead on the project I was working on, didn't even think about the metal setting it off. Did almost the same thing three days later, was trimming a coffee table top made of ply with copper laminated on top. I was so concerned about getting the cut right (there was zero room for error) That when I had every thing set, I powered the saw without activating the bypass....Bang....again. Neither time was I close to danger from the saw.

As a note: I asked the sawstop rep if the blades were ruined after the brake fired, and he said not always, just carefully remove the blade from the chunk of aluminum and check it out. Sure enough, neither blade seems to be damaged, they still both cut fine and there is no detectable vibration. Although hey were both high-dollar triple-grind 80 tooth non-ferous blades that probably helped them survive. Cheers, Barry

[jason lambert]

I had a similar thing second cut on my sawstop and I have an incra fence this was a bevel cut with the fence about 1/4" -1/8" from the blade. Started the saw, blade didn't even get up to speed and the brake blew :(. Called saw stop sent the break in for analysis and they told me the metal set it off my only guess is the fence was to close to the blade, but the blade started indicating it was not touching and there are no marks on the fence. Guess they don't have the issue with the stock fence because it is not metal. I am adding a wood face on to my incra fence right now not going to do that again also I have just been using the bypass mode for any close cuts and may just continue that.

When I reported the problem to Tony at Saw Stop they said send in the brake for analysis and they would send a replacement free of charge. I sent the break back and never got a replacement even sent emails to follow up with no responce. :mad: The company is hitting my bad list fast. Second cut and I already needed a blade and break.

[Ken Waag]

Joe M.

Well your out $170 on the brake and a new blade, but you may have saved you miter gauge, might have prevented it from getting shot off the saw or sending shrapnel, and you know it works like it's supposed to. Guess the lesson is to run the miter gauge set-up through (with the saw off) just to check. From the replies, obviously lots of folks make this mistake Saw Stop or not.

Jason L.

I am suprised at your bad experience with SS. My Brother and I both own one and whenever we call we get instant service. My brother had trouble with his indicator lights and tried reinserting the brake cartridge, cleaning out the holder etc. He put his spare brake cartridge in and it worked fine. When he called SS they said send the cartridge in so we can look at it and we'll send you a new one. To his surprise they didn't even wait for the (possibly) defective cartridge, they sent him the new one immediately AND by overnight shipping. Try them again. I can't believe they'd leave you hanging.

[jason lambert]

It has been big headake I got someone when I call them a couple of times they saw this thread and responded to me which is nice also. Without going into the whole storie, they did loose the break when I sent it in, had to prove I sent it then they found it. Never got back to me after they analysed it called again. Ignored several email. But this could be isolated to one guy there. In any case I think this trip is a programming error or could be just bad programming but I am not willing to waste another blade and break to find out and I will not post anything till I am sure. The condition that this fired should of been close to imposable to hit based on what they told me about the programming, but they couldn't answer all my questions which is also suspect. In any case it is nothing that maks the saw unsafe or maybe I just had a bad cartage, power spike or something odd. I wil post how this resolves, hopefully they will replace the blade and break but I ma not keeping my fingures crossed.

[Jay Knepper]

Ridge Carbide, for one, can repair a damaged blade. The cost will be far less than replacing a premium blade.