picciuto Posted September 21, 2011 Report Share Posted September 21, 2011 I'm new to woodworking and I have an older Grizzly 2HP table saw with a Freud thin kerf blade on it. It bogs down easily even with softwood. Today I was trying to rip a 3/4" think douglas fir at a 45° to make pieces for my French cleat tool organizing system. I get about 12"-14" down the rip and the blade comes to a stop. I'm taking the cut very slow. It's has a new Delta fence on it. I've measured the distance from the front of the blade to the fence and the back of the blade to the fence and it seems pretty dead on accurate (same tooth measurement). Any help would be appreciated. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picciuto Posted September 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2011 This is my first post on this forum. Hopefully I'm posting in the right place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechwood Chip Posted September 21, 2011 Report Share Posted September 21, 2011 How new / sharp is your blade? If you bought the saw used and didn't change the blade, that could be the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picciuto Posted September 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2011 I bought the blade new about 2 months ago. It doesn't have many miles on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SignWave Posted September 21, 2011 Report Share Posted September 21, 2011 Was the board pinching the blade, which would be visible by the kerf closing back in on itself? Were you using a riving knife/splitter/blade guard that rides in the kerf to prevent the board from closing back down on the blade? I'm guessing not, since you're using a thin kerf blade. Also, it's possible that the blade is aligned at 90*, but not so well when tilted. Did the motor actually stall? Perhaps the belt (if applicable) is slipping. Perhaps the arbor bearings are worn or lost their lube/seal? Maybe the motor bearings? Just some ideas to consider. The only time I've had my saw act up was a combination of a dull-ish blade and a board that wanted to close back up, with no splitter/riving knife. In my case, it tripped the breaker. FWIW, I have a couple of Freud Diablo blades now and they cut like butter, but they're still relatively new. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmac Posted September 21, 2011 Report Share Posted September 21, 2011 Can you tell if the motor stops, too, or is it just the blade? I would look for belts that are slipping on their pulleys, pulleys that are slipping on their shafts, or maybe even a loose arbor nut. -- Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crashn_bernstein Posted September 21, 2011 Report Share Posted September 21, 2011 I recently got a Grizzly 715 table saw. worked great out of the box, then about a month later it started to bog down. Changed blades, same issue. Slowed cut rate, same issue. I found my issue to be that the belt had lost the correct tension. Once that was adjusted, rip away! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picciuto Posted September 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2011 Thanks guys! I will do some more tests tomorrow and report back my findings. I'm assuming a 2HP motor and a new Freud blade should cut like butter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulMarcel Posted September 21, 2011 Report Share Posted September 21, 2011 It's likely the tension like the others suggested. If not, are you running it on an extension of a small gauge wire? Probably not the case, but can cause what you're seeing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted September 21, 2011 Report Share Posted September 21, 2011 even though its a new blade if you have been cuting alot of wood especialy green wood you can have some build up of resin from the heat on the blad. just toss it in some baking soda and water and steel wool any resin off then a thin coat of wax help it slip through the wood and keep resin from building up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimV Posted September 21, 2011 Report Share Posted September 21, 2011 Pine and douglas fir is notorious for pinching the blade as it cuts. As you make a kerf, the wood releases tension because the outside of the board is dryer than the inside and each side of the kerf bends back towards the blade and pinches it. It will be difficult to notice with the blade tilted at 45. Do you have the splitter installed? Sometimes even with the splitter, it will bend around the splitter and still pinch the blade. There are a couple other things to check as mentioned above, belt tension and blade distance to fence when tilted to 45. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechwood Chip Posted September 21, 2011 Report Share Posted September 21, 2011 Try buying a stack of shims at the big box store. Every foot or so, stick a shim in the kerf. If it's closing up as Tim suggests, that will fix it. If you still have trouble, it's not the kerf closing up. I once had a 2x pine board pinch the blade so hard that the saw blade stopped spinning. I had something similar happen at a 45 degree cut on a pine 2x4, and the more experienced guy whose saw I was borrowing just stuck in some shims and that solved it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picciuto Posted September 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2011 What a brilliant idea! I'm going to check the tension in my belt, clean and wax the blade and try the shim when I get home. My saw didn't come with a riving knife but I've been using a MicroJig splitter in a zero clearance insert for regular cuts. Obviously I cant use the zero clearance insert and the MJ splitter while doing 45s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted September 21, 2011 Report Share Posted September 21, 2011 you can make a zero clearance with your router using a trim bit to get the shape exactly the same as your current insert. then when you cut the hole in the center of your board just cut it at a 45 angle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulMarcel Posted September 21, 2011 Report Share Posted September 21, 2011 you can make a zero clearance with your router using a trim bit to get the shape exactly the same as your current insert. then when you cut the hole in the center of your board just cut it at a 45 angle. You mean for him to cut the blade slot with something like a V-groove bit? Wouldn't be zero-clearance on 45º. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picciuto Posted September 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2011 All is well! I tightened the tension on the belt, tightened the arbor nut and waxed the blade and it cut just fine. I'm pretty sure my issue was with the belt slipping. I'm new to this so I appreciate all your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picciuto Posted September 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2011 Also, I posted my plans and pics of my miter saw stand in the Sketchup Library. Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmac Posted September 22, 2011 Report Share Posted September 22, 2011 All is well! I tightened the tension on the belt, tightened the arbor nut and waxed the blade and it cut just fine. I'm pretty sure my issue was with the belt slipping. I'm new to this so I appreciate all your help! Super! (Everyone loves a happy ending.) For future reference, the arbor nut doesn't need to be super tight, so don't get the idea that you really need to crank down on it because you don't. -- Russ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidrn Posted September 24, 2011 Report Share Posted September 24, 2011 I am glad you found your solution, but this sounds like a problem I had with my Parks Planer a few years ago. Just for everyone else, I thought I would share a weird problem, that took a while to sort out. The motor on my planer was an older 2hp, the planer was cleaned up by an old machinist, and little did I know he rewired it from 110 to 220v. Unfortunately, he did not change the plug, it turns out I was running it on 110v. It would bog down with every board I ran thru it, after I checked the motor wiring pattern, and changed the plug, it ran like it was designed too.Just another problem to consider if you buy a used machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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