# Sawstop troubles



## LD/SDintraining (May 9, 2017)

So my school has a Sawstop Contractor Saw and whenever we go to rip wood (mostly 3/4" plywood) the saw just stops midway through a cut about 4 cuts in. Sometimes it'll do more and then stop but it mostly stops after a few cuts. When it stops we have to pull the wood out, lift it up, turn it off and then turn it back on and most of the time we can keep going but sometimes we have to stop for a bit and then come back to it later. Any ideas on why and how we could fix that?


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## Amiers (May 9, 2017)

its not blowing your cartridge and enabling the brake? Just stops?


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## LD/SDintraining (May 9, 2017)

Correct. It just stops and then we turn it off and then back on and it starts going again most of the time.


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## techieman33 (May 9, 2017)

Have you contacted SawStop?


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## LD/SDintraining (May 9, 2017)

No I haven't. I thought I'd ask here first and see if anyone has had the same problem and if they have how they solved it.


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## Colin (May 9, 2017)

Ask SawStop regardless because it doesn't sound normal, but do you see error codes blinking at your power switch? That would help them troubleshoot. One thing that will cause it to shut down without tripping the brake is that the saw checks for moisture content in the material and will shut down and throw a blink code if the wood is too wet for the brake to function correctly. Unless you're cutting green or otherwise very moist wood all the time, that shouldn't happen though.


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## Amiers (May 9, 2017)

Colin said:


> Ask SawStop regardless because it doesn't sound normal, but do you see error codes blinking at your power switch? That would help them troubleshoot. One thing that will cause it to shut down without tripping the brake is that the saw checks for moisture content in the material and will shut down and throw a blink code if the wood is too wet for the brake to function correctly. Unless you're cutting green or otherwise very moist wood all the time, that shouldn't happen though.



Ditto, if the brake isn't engaging then I would say the wood is to wet. It runs off of electrical impulses to stop the blade, water can effect that in a negative way. 

Call Sawstop regardless and explain it to them.


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## Dover (May 9, 2017)

That sounds a lot like a thermal overload, especially the part about needing to wait and come back later. Does the saw sound like it is struggling when it is cutting?


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## microstar (May 9, 2017)

Dover said:


> That sounds a lot like a thermal overload, especially the part about needing to wait and come back later. Does the saw sound like it is struggling when it is cutting?



Along the same line, are you sure the saw blade is sharp? Maybe switch blades and see what happens. Obviously if you try to cut too fast with a dull blade, the motor will bog down and thermal out.


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## LD/SDintraining (May 9, 2017)

Okay. Thanks so much!


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## TNasty (May 10, 2017)

Amiers said:


> Ditto, if the brake isn't engaging then I would say the wood is to wet. It runs off of electrical impulses to stop the blade, water can effect that in a negative way.
> 
> Call Sawstop regardless and explain it to them.




Dover said:


> That sounds a lot like a thermal overload, especially the part about needing to wait and come back later. Does the saw sound like it is struggling when it is cutting?



Both of these sound quite likely, along with @microstar 's point about the blade.
Just go through with process of elimination. Do the easiest thing first- just replace the blade. If that doesn't fix it, get in contact with the company. They'll probably ask you about the blade, but why get on the phone to just get a solution you could've done yourself?


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## EdSavoie (May 10, 2017)

Just be careful, be mindful of the fact that you're troubleshooting a device that hurtles a sharp metal disk at high velocity.


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## Van (May 10, 2017)

EdSavoie said:


> Just be careful, be mindful of the fact that you're troubleshooting a device that hurtles a sharp metal disk at high velocity.


One would HOPE that anyone doing ANY maintenance on ANY machinery has the presence of mind and TRAINING to know that you must first unplug/Lock-out-Tag-out any device that one is working on.
DO NOT 'F' around with machinery if you do not know what you are doing, defer to a Qualified technician. 
Not knowing exactly what you are doing right now, doesn't mean you can't learn but it could me fingers. 
I'm extremely proud of the fact that I have 35 years in the shop and 10 fingers.


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