lenmeyer Posted March 5, 2011 Report Share Posted March 5, 2011 (edited) Surely a piece of metal large enough to give the resistance/conductivity to set it off would be one that damaged you blade anyway! Sawstop seems to be a product that throws up more urban myths than KFC I just purchased a Sawstop Industrial, sold my PM2000 to a friend (lousy dust collection but otherwise a strong machine), and started using it the first week of February. One urban myth promoted by the mfr., and earnestly repeated by their staff answering the phone, is that there "is no such thing as a false activation". WRONG! Three weeks of usage and I was ripping some 5/4 cherry when it went bang on me. Nothing near the blade, plastic pushstick and featherboard, no scales or squares at all, no scratches on my fingers. I was bummed and this shut me down for a few days since of course it was Saturday afternoon. So after they told me "no such thing..." I sent the brake with their own 60 tooth blade still embedded by priority mail to Oregon. They have had it now for 2 days with no response. It's in their hands to prove or disprove this urban myth, but I know it happened. It's not like that fusible link that holds back the shooter spring could never, ever fail from a manufacturing flaw or from vibration or anything! We'll see what is next. Yes Virginia, there is always a down side. March 28: The electronic analysis by SawStop indicated that could have been an ungrounded contact but it was not a conclusive reading so they gave me the benefit of the doubt and replaced both my cartridge and blade with new parts. I had to push a bit to talk with their Technical Service manager so if anyone gets the "see the hand" treatment initially keep trying until you get some satisfaction. At this point I'm somewhat neutral on their customer support because there have been some other "quality issues" and I have had mixed success in getting my concerns addressed. On the other hand my dealer in Mesa Az. has been great at helping me through some of these. Edited March 29, 2011 by turbochief Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charliedog Posted March 15, 2011 Report Share Posted March 15, 2011 I have heard or read a bunch of those SawStop myth, and I recenty was able to visit a display they had setup and the World Ag Expo in Ca and after drilling the poor guy for thirty minutes, the moral of the SawStop story as I understand it is it will engage if either you sitck your finger or hand in it, don't set you blade tollerence correctly, or try to shove a large piece of metal threw ( 8penney nail or miter gauge). And if you feel it engaged wrongly send them the brake cartrige and they'll read the program for errors on the machine and if its their error they'll make it right. I would love to have one and if I had the money I would buy one, good quality and I like my fingers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimB1 Posted March 15, 2011 Report Share Posted March 15, 2011 I don't have one but I have been checking them out for a few months now. I think the best thing and truest that I have heard about the SawStop came from the guy doing the demos at the Somerset NJ woodworking show. He said pretty much that the blade brake was not a safety feature. The blade brake just helps lessen the impact when all the safety features and practices fail. I absolutely agree with it. Regardless of any saw, the better the safety features and practices, the safer you will be. The blade brake just adds a level of support should all your safety practices fail. It shouldn't be counted as the end all be all of the precautions. Also, there are tons of other things that can go wrong on a tablesaw like hand and arm cuts on the wood itself, large splinters, eye damage, kickback, etc. that the blade brake cannot lessen the impact of and even with the blade break, there have been instances of serious cuts from the blade requiring stitches so people should think of it in the proper light. In the right circumstances, you may still get a decent gash from a SawStop but you probably won't lose a body part. That said, it is a very sturdy saw and has several other things going for it besides the blade brake. The dust collection is very good and the riving knife is nice. I also like the roller setup on it and the fence seems very sturdy. They also have a cool tool less zero clearance insert mechanism. I'm not sure if that makes it tough to make your own zero clearance inserts though... There seems to be some contention on if it ever falsely activates the blade brake. Honestly, it's a mechanical part. Anyone that says they will never fail is fooling themselves. Manufacturing defects occur in the best factories in the world and electronic components fail every day. It's bound to happen. However it isn't happening on a regular basis from what I can tell. So if it triggers incorrectly, the worst that happens is SawStop sends you a new cartridge and you are out a blade (could be expensive if you have a $300 dado set in or cheap if you have a $20 Irwin rip blade in) I think I'd be more concerned about the opposite happening, the blade brake not triggering when needed. That could be a far worse scenario. That is one that I have never heard of happening. I suspect that the startup test would catch anything that would stop an activation whereas a weak quick blow fuse might not be caught since it holds the charge and the device might trigger inadvertently if the fuse blows from just continued current or repeated charging/discharging as you turn the saw off and on. It is a fuse after all. If anything I wonder how they handle over time. I mean if you have the same cartridge in for 5 years, do they recommend changing it? I never thought to ask that one... Just a few thoughts on it from someone who has been doing research on them lately... -Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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