Set off the SawStop brake by turning it on?

Woodshop
#1

So after 4-5 years of using the SawStop I somehow triggered the brake this morning. What’s weird is how it happened. I had just changed the blade like I have so many times. Put the cover back on, reset the height, and then turned it on. It immediately triggered. I was not touching the saw anywhere besides the switch. I had no wood on the left side of the guide bar. Nothing near the blade at all.

Has anyone ever had this happen or have any idea why it did? I replaced the brake, put the blade back, and everything worked fine.

I have purchased a new brake that I’ll drop off in the cabinet tomorrow. Just wondering what I could have done wrong. Tad expensive of a just cause it felt like it today issue.

#2

@Team_Woodshop

#3

Hope you kept the tripped brake. They have diagnostic capability that can determine if it was a fluke trip.

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#4

It’s in the cabinet next to the good replacement spare.

#5

Also should mention it was my personal blade, a 10" Diablo. Practically brand new, used the same blade yesterday for 20+ cuts.

#6

Ian should be able to send it to Sawstop for analysis and free replacement if it should not have failed.
@IanLee

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#7

Did you adjust the cartridge height to make sure the blade clearance was within tolerance, most oit blade have been sharper repeatedly so the cartridge has to be raised to keep a proper gap for the mechanism to fire properly in the event of a trigger, depending on how small our blades have gotten it might have crossed that threshold when you put your unsharpened truly 10” blade in and been too close and contacted

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#8

From what you describe, the most likely problem that occurred is that your blade was touching the brake cartridge. This happened to me about 2 months ago with my dado stack. The stack was not damaged and I’m still using now. I talked with SawStop about the problem and described what happened and they said that the most likely problem was that blade touching the brake cartridge.

Now when I change blades I make sure that blade spins. Hope this explains what might have happened.

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#9

there is also a gauge to check the distance of the brake from the blade. It will blink and stop if the brake is too far from the blade as well. I saw it last on the right side of the saw by the tools.

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#10

Thank you, very helpful!

#11

Thanks! You guys have explained a lot, and I did not check the brake distance properly. I don’t remember the brake and blade touching, but it’s very possible I wasn’t paying attention to that or was too close. I assume this has to be the reason since when I turned the machine on, the blade didn’t so much as budge before the brake tripped. I now know what to look for and will hopefully not blow another brake in the future.

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