Just a FYI for saw stop owners

Thanks for the heads up… why do I feel like you learned the hard way!

-- "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good." Voltaire

I have done it a lot of times when changing to a dado cartridge and never happened. I thought it had to be plugged in to operate.

Interesting. I hadn’t heard (and did not know) that. Wouldn’t you have to contact some of the pins inside the connector to make it fire (asking out of ignorance)? Regardless, when that happened I’ll bet the cartridge made quite a jump across the table.

-- Our village hasn't lost it's idiot, he was elected to congress.

What did SawStop say when you contacted them about this?

It sounds hinky that it fired with no power on the connector. I bet SS would love to examine the fired cartridge, and would trade you for a free replacement.

Interesting. Never had that happen but appreciate the heads up. Can’t be hard to put a rag down to place it on now that we know. Be interesting to see what saw stop has to say about it.

-- Gary, Central Illinois

What did SawStop say when you contacted them about this?

It sounds hinky that it fired with no power on the connector. I bet SS would love to examine the fired cartridge, and would trade you for a free replacement.

- OggieOglethorpe

Exactly. Nothing in the manuals about this and I’ve never had a problem. (Have to wonder how the metal of the table could have any effect on the cartridge given there is no connection, electrical charge in the cartridge, and no blade to serve as a sensor.)

-- Tar Heelz, Durham, NC USA

Did the saw get turned on while switching out cartridges?

-- Daniel P

I really do not believe that you can set off the cartridge by placing it on a metal surface.

I wrote to SawStop this morning and this is the response that I got…

“The only way a brake cartridge can fire is when its actually inside the saw and the saw has power going to it.”

If someone claims this happens, they should be in contact with SawStop and have them examine and replace the cartridge.

Nothing to do with setting on metal. A cartridge has a trigger spring held by a thin fuse. It you slam the cartridge on something hard the fuse may break and the spring go off. I would guess SS should replace it in that case.

IMHO…....If you mis-treat an expensive piece of electronics by slamming it down, I do not think SS should replace it.

I think we’ve been trolled.

-- Rick M, http://thewoodknack.blogspot.com/

no no troll,not slammed down just somehow,it made a contact and fired,there is also people on you tube talking about it happening to them.
You can take this it with a grain of salt,but why not just be careful in case it’s true?( which it is).
here at 4:00 is another example of it happening.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw5RH8kKBTw

A large current of electricity is suppose to burn the tether that holds back the spring powered aluminium block. Are the tethers somehow being weakened by humidity, vibrations, handling? There have been other cases of premature cartridge fire while out of the machine.

no no troll,not slammed down just somehow,it made a contact and fired,there is also people on you tube talking about it happening to them.
You can take this it with a grain of salt,but why not just be careful in case it s true?( which it is).
here at 4:00 is another example of it happening.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw5RH8kKBTw

- daddywoofdawg

I was wondering if a static discharge would be enough to trip a disconnected cartridge.

-- Ni faru ion el ligno!

Don’t you love it when you post something to be helpful and then told you’re wrong. Anyhow, amazing that this happens and from your video, you are not alone. I would think this could be a huge liability to sawstop; a cartridge flying across the room. I for one would like to see this play out. Please keep us posted with your communications with the company.

-- I've almost got all the tools I need, almost.