Sawstop erroneous brake incident report

[merrill77]

As some of you may recall, I had the brake on my Sawstop PCS fire back in January, shortly after I bought it. I assumed that it was a result of the wood I was cutting (Ipe) or some small piece of metal on my crosscut sled or table (I'd been doing some metal work and had bits and pieces scattered). As a result, I ignored the advice here and did not send the brake to Sawstop for analysis (mistake!). Well, I had another incident about a week ago. In this case, like the last, the cut was complete and nothing was in contact with the blade when the brake fired. This time I was confident I had done nothing wrong, so I contacted Sawstop and they asked me to send the brake in for analysis. I got a response the day the package arrived at their office (on a Saturday!):

Thank you for the brake cartridge you sent to us. It appears the cartridge activated due to an intermittent connector in the switch box on the front of the saw. We apologize and are sending you a replacement brake and blade free of charge, since this one appears to have activated due to a defect. We are also sending a replacement switch box.

I replied with a few more questions and mentioned that I had replaced the contactor which requires wiring into the switchbox (contactor upgrade is required for conversion to 220v), and got this response:

Rest assured you've not done anything to cause this problem, unless you have accidentally spread the contacts in your white Molex inline connector in your switch box. We're sending a replacement switch box along with the brake. It appears that in final test on a few of our switch boxes, the tester was using a test plug on the white Molex connector that slightly spread the contacts, resulting in the connector going intermittent in some cases. Your new switch box will clear up the matter.

I responded with a thanks, and mentioned that I had 2 mis-fires due to this problem and felt I was owed another brake cartridge as well. Box arrived yesterday with the new switchbox (which, BTW is more than a simple switch - there is a good bit of electronics in there), 2 brakes and 2 blades. I installed it last night and tested out the saw. Only time will tell if this fixes the problem, though. I can't decide if this incident makes me more or less confident in the product. On one hand, this is obviously a problem that shouldn't happen - I'm sure Sawstop would agree with that. On the other hand, it seems good that the electronics will err on the side of caution - and that anything unusual would trigger the brake. One thing I can say, however, is that their support is excellent! No talking to drones in another country who don't really know the product. Roger Garcia, the service manager, answered the phone when I called and their responses throughout the process were both prompt and professional. Chris

 

[MarkE]

That's good customer service right there.

 

[manfre]

Good to hear that all got sorted. Did they send you the same type of blades that were damaged or the ones they sell?

 

[drw]

Chris, I am sorry that you experienced this problem, but it is good to know that you received such good service from SawStop. Although I have not experienced any issues with my SawStop (knock-on-wood), I would prefer that the brake activate erroneously than not activate when it is needed.

Donn

 

[merrill77]

Good to hear that all got sorted. Did they send you the same type of blades that were damaged or the ones they sell?

They supplied their blade, which I haven't really evaluated yet. Fortunately, both blades that I lost were $20 blades.

 

[red]

It's good to hear they took care of you.

Red

 

[JimD]

This seems like excellant customer service. The incident seems like something that would be a large concern for Delta or other table saw manufacturers relative to licensing the technology. If a "minor" issue in the switch triggers the brake, then there are likely to be warranty costs that there would not have been otherwise if the brake is installed. It makes it ludicrous that the inventor argued that a ~$100 Ryobi saw should have had this brake. What you are really saying with that argument is there should be no table saws that do not cost enough to incorporate this.

Jim

 

[merrill77]

This seems like excellant customer service. The incident seems like something that would be a large concern for Delta or other table saw manufacturers relative to licensing the technology. If a "minor" issue in the switch triggers the brake, then there are likely to be warranty costs that there would not have been otherwise if the brake is installed. It makes it ludicrous that the inventor argued that a ~$100 Ryobi saw should have had this brake. What you are really saying with that argument is there should be no table saws that do not cost enough to incorporate this.

Jim

Thanks for the comment Jim. While I don't disagree with your comment, I fear this is going to quickly lead to the dreaded "sawstop is good/evil" discussion, so I'm going to try to close this thread.