Orbb Posted August 4, 2017 Report Share Posted August 4, 2017 I was crosscutting a 1/2 inch piece of Baltic Birch plywood on my SawStop contractor saw last weekend when my brake went off. No part of me was near the blade, and the only irregular thing was that I was cutting a 45 degree bevel for a box. As expected, the blade was ruined. I emailed SawStop to figure out what happened, and got this response: Quote Hello, The brake has a memory chip inside that will shed a lot of light on exactly what caused the brake to activate. We will send another email with info to get that brake back to us, and get some answers. Who knew? Big Brother exists. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted August 4, 2017 Report Share Posted August 4, 2017 If the blade flexed and hit the throat plate that might have caused it. Nice to hear that they respond. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted August 4, 2017 Report Share Posted August 4, 2017 I don't know if they still do, but if the activation was from a flesh strike, which your's isn't, SawStop would replace the brake for free in exchange for the spent one so they could analyze activation of the brake. Remember it isn't just flesh, it can be metal, high moisture in the wood, anything conductive that comes in contact with the blade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post BonPacific Posted August 4, 2017 Popular Post Report Share Posted August 4, 2017 That's cool, a handy black box. Shows some dedication to improving the tech too. I wouldn't say it's quite a big-brother situation since you have to willingly send them the brake. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marmotjr Posted August 4, 2017 Report Share Posted August 4, 2017 Betcha it's a holdover from their R&D days. I would bet while developing the tech, they had a few misfires (for the reasons listed above), and they needed to trouble shoot the issue. So they probably added a chip that can store to EEPROM and it would store the voltages or what nots that trigger the brake. They probably have a list of various what nots that represent different conditions, flesh gives one reading, metal another, etc etc. /idle random thoughts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minorhero Posted August 4, 2017 Report Share Posted August 4, 2017 I used to belong to a club shop that also sold SawStop. I will say that the chip in the break is marketed as a feature. Probably the most common question people have concerns break activation and conditions for misfires. The folks at the shop would tell people that SawStop could figure out how breaks fire through that chip and the machine was smart enough to know the different ways a break could fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisc Posted August 5, 2017 Report Share Posted August 5, 2017 Is the brake going off a changing pants moment or do you stand there for a while wondering what just happened? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted August 5, 2017 Report Share Posted August 5, 2017 I love these promotions. Glad I don't have one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gee-dub Posted August 5, 2017 Report Share Posted August 5, 2017 8 minutes ago, lewisc said: Is the brake going off a changing pants moment or do you stand there for a while wondering what just happened? Very anticlimactic. There's a clunk and the blade is gone. If you wear ear protection you won't really even hear it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orbb Posted August 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2017 5 minutes ago, lewisc said: Is the brake going off a changing pants moment or do you stand there for a while wondering what just happened? It was a typical "something happened, check for blood and missing digits" moment. I was pushing the plywood through the cut, there was a loud bang and the saw stopped, and I was looking around to see what happened. I was a little perplexed because all went suddenly silent, except for the dust collector. I am pleased that the saw worked as intended. As for the force of the brake, I had to use a hammer to beat the brake off the blade. It tore a tooth off the blade in the process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nestor Posted August 5, 2017 Report Share Posted August 5, 2017 I was crosscutting a 1/2 inch piece of Baltic Birch plywood on my SawStop contractor saw last weekend when my brake went off. No part of me was near the blade, and the only irregular thing was that I was cutting a 45 degree bevel for a box. As expected, the blade was ruined. I emailed SawStop to figure out what happened, and got this response: Hello, The brake has a memory chip inside that will shed a lot of light on exactly what caused the brake to activate. We will send another email with info to get that brake back to us, and get some answers. I activated my brake while using an Osborne fence after I swapped it over to the opposite miter slot. I didn't move the fence over sufficiently, so totally my fault. I sold the fence. You said you were cross-cutting at a bevel. Were you using a metal miter fence? Is so, you may have inadvertently tilted the blade into fence if you were cutting in the left slot. ______________________________________ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drzaius Posted August 8, 2017 Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 On 8/4/2017 at 8:37 PM, gee-dub said: Very anticlimactic. There's a clunk and the blade is gone. If you wear ear protection you won't really even hear it. Ya, I hardly heard the clunk. The blade just disappeared & it took me a second to realize the brake had tripped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Tait Posted December 17, 2020 Report Share Posted December 17, 2020 This was nearly identical to my brake activation. I touched the blade to Excalibur’s aluminium fence after tilting the blade to 30 o. Like you said, totally my fault. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Anderson Posted December 17, 2020 Report Share Posted December 17, 2020 I had a true miss fire a few years ago with a dado blade. Turned the saw on, the the blade disappeared. Was so quiet I didn't even realize what happened for a second. Sent it to Sawstop, they noted the trip was 400 ms after startup (0.4 seconds) and was a real miss fire. Sent me a new cartridge for free. Also, because the saw hadn't really started, there as no damage to my dado blade, which would have been a several hundred dollar loss, but with dado blade and cartridge bonded together, was a bear to remove. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted December 17, 2020 Report Share Posted December 17, 2020 14 hours ago, Eric Anderson said: Also, because the saw hadn't really started, there as no damage to my dado blade, I wouldn't want to assume this is true. With any kind of force like this you can get a microscopic cracks where the carbide tooth is attached. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyJack Posted December 17, 2020 Report Share Posted December 17, 2020 I'm sure a sharpener will catch any flaws I the carbides... I've witnessed around 4 activations . I've not seen a blade that it didn't destroy at least a few carbides... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drzaius Posted December 17, 2020 Report Share Posted December 17, 2020 When I tripped the brake, it actually tore off a piece of steel that held the tooth from the blade disc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyJack Posted December 17, 2020 Report Share Posted December 17, 2020 The two wasted activations were on an incra. And the other cut nail. It didn't activated it but the piece got caught between the blade and brake causing at activation. It happened a couple more times but on metal laminate. Everybody didn't know the machine has to be turned off for metal cuts... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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