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Sawstop won't start

whateg01

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Green light is solid. No red light. Manual says that means it's ready to use. Lights do normal stuff when the switch is first turned on. But no noises or other lights when you pull the paddle out. Thoughts?
 
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PCustoms

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No idea, my experience with them (granted this was the early models) wasn't overly positive.

My guess would be you'll have to start tracking back with a meter to see where the failure (no power) is. I'd think either the motor died, or the safety circuit isn't really activating itself (you have a "fault") or it's not passing power to the motor circuit.

The blade does spin/the stop isn't activated?

If all else fails, sell it and buy a real saw, some safety equipment and a brain? 😂
 
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whateg01

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...

The blade does spin/the stop isn't activated?

I'm not the biggest fan. I've lost track of how many brake cartridges I've replaced that fired for no apparent reason. Of course, people will often not admit that they were cutting wet af treated lumber, but I tend to believe most instances are for no known reason. We've sent cartridges in to be evaluated and all they can say is, yeah it fired because something triggered it. Well, duh!

Anyway, yeah blade spins freely. Nothing seems abnormal except that it doesn't do anything when you pull the paddle. If I didn't know anything about anything I would just think the paddle switch was defective. And it could be, but I want to have an idea where to look before I go back this evening to actually do real troubleshooting. Maybe I'll go back and plug it back in and everything will work normally again.
If all else fails, sell it and buy a real saw, some safety equipment and a brain? 😂
A couple days ago somebody was trying to cut some little blocks of wood in half on the miter saw. The fence was about an inch and a half from the blade so as soon as the blade touched the wood, it pulled it in and around the corner of the fence before ejecting it out the back of the saw. I looked up and over at the guy and he was standing there shocked. I go over and ask if he's ok and what was he doing. He shows me and I'm like, wtf were you thinking??? Lucky he kept his fingers. So yeah, get people with brains... I wish!
 

PCustoms

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A couple days ago somebody was trying to cut some little blocks of wood in half on the miter saw. The fence was about an inch and a half from the blade so as soon as the blade touched the wood, it pulled it in and around the corner of the fence before ejecting it out the back of the saw. I looked up and over at the guy and he was standing there shocked. I go over and ask if he's ok and what was he doing. He shows me and I'm like, wtf were you thinking??? Lucky he kept his fingers. So yeah, get people with brains... I wish!

Production, makerspace or private shop?

A long time ago in a land far away I worked at a place with a production wood shop. Our safety manager only had like 6.5 fingers (should tell you something) and IIRC we had like 11 high HP cabinet saws across all buildings. I can remember how many times I had to go cleanup from an incident, but I do remember having to ice a finger I pulled out of the sawdust once. That sure sticks in a teenager's mind...

Eventually insurance Co threatened to drop us, so they sold off the old iron and brought in SawStop and I got tasked with setting them up. So many trips due to conducting materials it wasn't even funny, so then of course it was left "off" all the time and you were stuck using a much lighter saw then you really needed.

This is the same place that would paint a 🎯 on the rolling backstop (mandated when a passersby got hit) and then screw on another layer of plywood whenever kickback launched material they it....
 
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whateg01

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Yeah, forget I said brains...

Have you unplugged it, and then plugged it back in? Seriously, give it time to reset.
No. Plugging it back in is the first thing I'll do when I go back this evening. I was on my way home from running errands when somebody texted me about it so I stopped and, confirmed symptoms, then locked it out.
 
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cgrutt

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I'll see if I can find the key and try it. I'm not sure yet
I'm not sure about this but would suspect if it starts there may be issue with cartridge alignment and/or blade is detecting some continuity (check to see if blade is clear of any dust and/or shavings, etc). Solid green suggests system is ready it may not be "seeing" paddle (loose wire and/or defective switch). Good luck.
 
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whateg01

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Only had great experience with saw-stop customer support... At least give them a call.
I'll try giving them a call but it's Friday evening and I didn't learn about this until just shortly before I left work today. I'm out of town all of this next week so I'm trying to get it working before I leave town so that the makerspace is not without a table saw for the whole week that I'm gone.
 

Ohio Andy

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I'll try giving them a call but it's Friday evening and I didn't learn about this until just shortly before I left work today. I'm out of town all of this next week so I'm trying to get it working before I leave town so that the makerspace is not without a table saw for the whole week that I'm gone.
I cannot comment on your problem, but for me I just had to replace a few caps... Good luck.
 

neophyte

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Production, makerspace or private shop?

A long time ago in a land far away I worked at a place with a production wood shop. Our safety manager only had like 6.5 fingers (should tell you something) and IIRC we had like 11 high HP cabinet saws across all buildings. I can remember how many times I had to go cleanup from an incident, but I do remember having to ice a finger I pulled out of the sawdust once. That sure sticks in a teenager's mind...

Eventually insurance Co threatened to drop us, so they sold off the old iron and brought in SawStop and I got tasked with setting them up. So many trips due to conducting materials it wasn't even funny, so then of course it was left "off" all the time and you were stuck using a much lighter saw then you really needed.

This is the same place that would paint a 🎯 on the rolling backstop (mandated when a passersby got hit) and then screw on another layer of plywood whenever kickback launched material they it....
My fathers step father worked for Budd manufacturing, and was missing a finger from a drill press accident.
Apparently, this was common.
I’ve only heard about the accident third hand, from individual not experienced with power tools, but I would presume sheet metal parts bring drilled would get stuck on a bit and spin around like a blade if someone let go of the spring loaded quill handle.
 
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whateg01

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My fathers step father worked for Budd manufacturing, and was missing a finger from a drill press accident.
Apparently, this was common.
I’ve only heard about the accident third hand, from individual not experienced with power tools, but I would presume sheet metal parts bring drilled would get stuck on a bit and spin around like a blade if someone let go of the spring loaded quill handle.
I grew up on a farm and, we had dogs and cats that got wet food. I had tonka trucks and tractors and combines. So I would have my own little farm next to the garden. I wanted a disc to pull behind my tractor and since every day I had 2 new dog and cat food lids, I saved them up then drilled a hole in the middle and made a disc. I have no idea how I never sliced a finger off drilling the holes. Maybe I was smart enough to use pliers to hold them? I dunno. There a lot of stuff I did as a kid that I wonder about now
 
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whateg01

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Stopped by after eating and plugged the saw back in. Same symptom. Solid green. No red. No anything when the paddle is pulled or pushed. I swapped out the brake cartridge since I'm not sure what else to do at this point. Also no change. So I'll call next week I guess.
 

Ohio Andy

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Stopped by after eating and plugged the saw back in. Same symptom. Solid green. No red. No anything when the paddle is pulled or pushed. I swapped out the brake cartridge since I'm not sure what else to do at this point. Also no change. So I'll call next week I guess.
I expect a mechanical problem.

With the saw fully off, can you spin the blade? Answer should be yes.

Obviously you have power checked the saw with the paddle fully down (off position)

You have verified that the door to see the motor is fully closed... I think it had a lockout micro switch.

Verify brake gap.. sorry do not remember the distance.

After that, I expect to put a meter on the lines to verify things such as continuity and to see if voltage is getting places.

I could be totally wrong, but I think that if the caps are bad you get an error code.
 
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whateg01

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I expect a mechanical program.
Bingo! Took the switch box apart. It uses a linkage that turns a cam that pushes on a micro switch. It's not pushing the switch. If I reach in and push the cam in farther, I can hear the switch click! The linkage that pulls on the cam was bent outward. Straightened it a bit and now everything works as intended.1000029250.jpg1000029251.jpg
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