Official Luthiers Forum!

Has anybody ever mounted the stewmac 6" fret slot blade on the Saw Stop saw?

the saw won't operate unless it detects a blade within a certain distance from the brake mechanism...e.g. it ain't gonna happen unless you do some serious hacking of the thing as best I know

I have the saw. To hot wire it for a smaller blade, you attach a stiff wire to the brake block and bend it and adjust the spacing between it and the blade so the saw thinks the blade is the correct distance from the block. This method won’t allow the saw to stop the blade if you touch it (of course, it will also keep the safety mechanism from destroying the blade to stop it).

Rather than hot wire it, I had The Blade Manufacturing Company in Columbus make me a 10” blade that cuts an .023” kerf (I did have to adjust the kerf myself). I haven’t tested the brake mechanism (with this or any other blade) but SawStop claims a thin kerf blade may not be stopped when it’s rammed into the brake block.

interesting claim from Saw Stop about thin kerf blades...I've never closely examined the system after a blow up but one image in my memory indicates that as the chunk of metal is shoved into the blade it might also deform to grip both sides which would be why saw stop makes that statement...as a note I've never set it off because of proximity of my body, rather by once forgetting to turn off the system when ripping aluminum and once when a piece of wood was too wet...pretty impressive when it goes off, I have a clear memory of a blue flash of light (the charge I assume)

What is meant by "adjusting the kerf"? Also, 8" blades would work in the saw (as in a dado)''

Mike

To use the 8” blades, you have to buy a brake cartridge sized for them. With that cartridge, you could get an 8” blade made for your slot width. I didn’t want to buy the 8” cartridge, so I just had the blade made at 10”.

My blade as delivered cut a .021” slot. Expecting some springback, I laid it over a .002” feeler gauge on an anvil and tapped every other tooth to bend it over .001”. Then, I flipped the blade and worked it around tapping every other tooth over the feeler gauge so that alternate teeth stuck out in alternate directions .001” from the plane. As expected, it then cut a ,023” slot. After a few years, I had to sharpen the blade and do it again. Tapping and sharpening 200 teeth might seem like a big deal, but it only took a few minutes.

It won’t run in bypass mode with a small blade?

_________________
Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

I don’t know. I think bypass mode has to be set each time you start it.

It does, but it's easy.

_________________
Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

If you want to test if it will run in bypass mode with the small blade, try it with a 7 1/4 blade or any small blade you have to see if it will run. In normal operation, it has to detect the blade within a small fraction of an inch of the stop block. I don’t know if bypass removes that requirement.

As a note to an earlier comment: the cartridge is powered by a spring. The spring is held contracted by a wire wrapped around it. When the saw detects a touch, it puts a current through the wire instantly melting it and releasing the spring. There is no explosive charge. It’s a pretty nifty design.

Bob, what did your blade cost? And why did it not come 0.023?

Many years ago, the blade was about $130. I think it came .021” instead of .023” because it’s awfully hard to mill to that tolerance. Either it got hot when they milled it and when it cooled it was thinner than measured hot, or they tried to take into account the burr when it’s sharpened. I didn’t call them back and ask. I could deal with it, so I did. I’ve since ordered another custom blade from them and it was exactly what they promised. (It’s a small, family operated company. They remembered me years later when I asked for another custom blade.) You might tell them that mine came a little thin and ask if they can make it cut exactly .023”. Or, they might decide that guitar makers are too much trouble. I like being able to figure out what I need and then being able to call someone to make it for me. We used to have a machine shop here in Fredericksburg. The chief machinist would start grinning when I came in. It was always fun.

I have one of the LMI fret saw blades, so this post looked interesting. I just watched a YT video entitled "SawStop Service Tip: Initiate and Use Bypass Mode." The process is easy as Jim says. Unfortunately, from what the video says, it does not appear the bypass mode will help for a too small blade.

It only helps in the case of something that would trigger the brake, i.e., cutting aluminum, or wet wood, or something like that, but not a small blade. The reason is that the first thing one does to go into bypass mode is initialize the safety system, then one turns the key, and does the process to enter bypass mode. So it would take a proper sized blade to go into bypass mode, and there seems to be no point in the whole process where one could stop, and then change from the proper sized blade to the smaller blade. Bummer.

I've read articles about the stiff wire, but I chickened out. However for me, all is not wasted, a while back I wanted to cut some aluminum, and now I know how that can be accomplished. Tom