Just ordered a MM16 - what do i need to do when it arrives

[Bob Cooper]

The Red stop button’s two state I think are

- pushed in for off
- twist and it pops out for on...no need to pull it per se

so with it out the white switch will depress deeper and mechanically click but no power

[David Eisenhauer]

I believe there is also a safety switch on the foot brake besides the ones on the doors. I guess you checked that one also.

[Brian Holcombe]

Right, you had not moved the foot pedal into its correct position in the last photo, so if you still have it out of position that may be a reason why it will not start:

It should look like this:



Mine arrived folded down like yours and that is a shipping setup, I presume to prevent damage of some sort.

[Erik Loza]

Right, you had not moved the foot pedal into its correct position in the last photo, so if you still have it out of position that may be a reason why it will not start.

This ^^^

There should be an audible click if you slightly depress the footbrake. If you don't hear a click, it means the start circuit is already open (as in, the machine thinks you are already depressing the foot brake in order to stop the saw). If that is what the issue is, it's just an adjustment to the steel tang that engages the footbrake micro-switch, which is pretty straightforward to perform. Hope this helps.

Erik

[Bob Cooper]

ok...i'll need to go out and check the foot pedal to see if i hear the click. NOTE: i did extend and screw the second screw into the pedal so that it looks like you're picture above...and i've moved it using the j-bar but let me go out to the shop and depress it and see if i hear anything click. If not i'll poke around and see if i can find the adjustment Erik mentions. hopefully i'll tell how it works once i see that microswitch

[Bob Cooper]

just checked and i can definitely hear the click of the micro-switch when i depress the pedal. Happens about 1/2 down the travel of the brake. Here's some pictures.

[Brian Holcombe]

I’d give Sam a call tomorrow and see what he suggests. Likely something pretty simple.

[Bob Cooper]

thanks...that's my plan. Saw looks and feels great i'm anxious to try it out. Only other thing i need to do i suppose is cut a piece of wood for the slot in the lower area related to dust collection. Well...that and put a blade on it.

[Jim Becker]

Bob, you cut the slot in the wood block by turning the wheel by hand with the blade tensioned and slowly pushing the wood into position while the blade cuts a kerf. This is always a non-powered operation. Consider it a "zero clearance insert" type thing.

I hope you figure out the mystery...'gotta be something, um...well...you know...

[Bob Cooper]

just hope the root cause is not *so* stupid that i won't want to post the answer.

[Jim Becker]

just hope the root cause is not *so* stupid that i won't want to post the answer.

You mean this kind of reaction?

[Bob Cooper]

Mystery solved. The Eaton switch was bad. Talked to the tech's in Atlanta and they confirmed that it sounded like a bad switch and they send me a replacement. i did ask how common it was for this part to malfunction and was told...not common at all. I believe Eaton makes good stuff so i don't expect it to go out. during the process i did learn how to easily detect if the cause is due to any of the interlock micro-switches. My symptoms were that the main switch just would not depress so something mechanical inside the switch is broken.

I've got detailed drawings of what wires go where that i could post should someone ever need them but they pretty much map to the drawing that came with the saw.

So...now that it runs i went ahead and put on the 1" Lenox carbide blade and i must tell you i was amazed at how easy it was to cut an 1/8" slice off of a block of wood. Granted my first cuts were douglas fir so it's a pretty soft wood but nonetheless i had zero tracking issue, etc. So i'm pretty pleased.

Also i really like the style of guides that it comes with...they screw in from the sides and its easy to sneak right up on the blade.

i don't have a blade tension guide so i'm just using the gauge on the saw as my guide and i'm kind of surprised at how little force it takes by turning the hand wheel to get to 1" on that guide. I imagined i'd have to really crank until it was difficult to turn but that's not the case at all...made me feel like i was under-tensioning as i've often read how much tension it takes to properly tension a 1" blade.

Next is to connect this thing to dust collection and cut that small piece of wood that goes inside the base that the blade passes through.

[Martin Wasner]

Bob, you cut the slot in the wood block by turning the wheel by hand with the blade tensioned and slowly pushing the wood into position while the blade cuts a kerf. This is always a non-powered operation. Consider it a "zero clearance insert" type thing.

I hope you figure out the mystery...'gotta be something, um...well...you know...

I hold the door switch, turn on the saw, and just shove the block into the blade. I've got stuff to do.

[Jim Becker]

I hold the door switch, turn on the saw, and just shove the block into the blade. I've got stuff to do.

It only takes about, oh...15-20 seconds to do the cut manually by turning the lower wheel/blade with one's left hand while pushing the block in. No way would I do this with the saw running under power.

[Martin Wasner]

It only takes about, oh...15-20 seconds to do the cut manually by turning the lower wheel/blade with one's left hand while pushing the block in. No way would I do this with the saw running under power.

It's probably safer than making a cut on the table top in the normal operation of the saw