Tablesaw popped fuse/breaker

[Eigenvector]

I was cutting some 16/4 poplar on the tablesaw and got halfway through it when the saw stopped dead.

At first I thought the blade had simply stopped but then I realized the motor was completely off. Breaker on the tablesaw has popped. Once I reset it and gave the motor some time to cool down it worked just fine.

I've never had anything like that happen to me so I'm wondering, what was the principle cause. Obviously without being there no one can nail it down, but in general would this be due to a dull blade and too fast a feed rate or simply overuse/misuse of the saw? I'd probably run 20 feet of this stuff through the saw prior. Let me be clear, I don't have a saw that can cut 4+ inches in one pass, so I was having to cut, then flip and finish the cut (and maybe that's the big no-no here)

[Jay R]

Might not be the saw alone.

Depending on the weather and local power use, your line voltage might be a little low.

This causes the motor to pull more amps and therefore run hotter.

Also causes thermal breakers to pop.

Where I live it is not unusual to see our 120 VAC drop to 100 to 102 on hot summer days.

[Chris Friesen]

What kind of saw do you have? Portable, contractor, cabinet? What is the amperage rating of the saw and of the circuit in question?

It's possible that the wood was warping and pinching the blade, or that you were simply drawing more power than the circuit could handle.

Chris

[Joe]

I would also consider converting my saw to 220. Is your saw outlet on a dedicated circuit or is there other things on that circuit? If there are other things on that circuit this will happen to you all the time.

[Eigenvector]

In a way that is reassuring. It tells me that the outlet that it was plugged into was the principle cause. It was certainly hot that day and the saw isn't on a dedicated circuit so it sounds like this was a case of not getting sufficient voltage and having the make up the difference with amperage.

I know the circuit itself is fine, I run 10/2 to all the shop 110V outlets both to minimize line loss and to provide an extra margin of safety. But I never considered the source of the power to be suspect.

I'll have to ponder the headaches of getting a permit to switch out to 220 - but it sounds like in my case that is the best thing to do.

[dpb]

Eigenvector wrote: ...

Possible, perhaps even likely, but certainly not conclusive... :)

We're still lacking any information whatsoever on the size of the motor, breaker rating, whether it actually was the breaker that tripped or the thermal overload on the motor, etc., etc., etc., ...

So, all 'tis speculation at this point... :)

What breaker size and motor size, current rating? There's the key...

You'd have to have a permit to simply pull a 220V circuit? What would be entailed in the run--if the panel has room and unless is in another location that would require an external run (say from house to unattached garage or similar), can't see why it wouldn't be something couldn't be done under most dispensations in code/permit requirements I've seen that have provisions for single-owner households for homeowner work.

--

[Leon]

Even half depth you were cutting 2 inches deep basically and the blade was not clearing the top of the wood. That is still a lot to chew for a contractors saw. Be sure that you are not using an extension cord when you are sawing thick material or make sure you are using proper sized cord and not too long. Be sure to use a "clean & sharp" blade. And feed a little slower.

[Lew Hodgett]

The old "Trying to get 8# in a 5# bag" routine.

Going to take at least 3 passes with a slow feed rate to get thru that stock.

Lew

[Eigenvector]

Well sometimes you have to make do.

Wrong tool for the job, don't have to tell me.

[LEGEND65]

What kind of blade? If you have to make due with the TS for this kind of stuff a 24T thin kerf rip blade makes a huge difference over say a full kerf 40T combo blade.

[Frank Boettcher]

For the sake of clarity, what do you mean by breaker on the tablesaw? Did the breaker in your electrical panel blow or the overload on the table saw motor.

If the former on an otherwise cool running motor, you were drawing too many amps on the circuit, combination of the work required for the operation and whatever else was drawing from the same circuit. If the latter, you overheated the motor and the overload protected it from damage.

Since you were not cutting clear through and without a splitter, fairly easy to bind the blade and cause an overload.

Frank

[Eigenvector]

The tablesaw fuse popped. I say popped because its labled "fuse" and it's a button that you push. Just being clear because it is ambiguous what I meant.

[Lew Hodgett]

For purposes of clarity and future use:

The table saw motor does NOT have either an internal fuse or a circuit breaker, it has a THERMAL OVERLOAD relay.

IOW, if the motor gets t hot, the THERMAL OVERLOAD relay trips.

When the motor cools down, pushing the reset button on the motor will allow the O/L relay to be reset and the motor to be restarted.

The only circuit breaker involved is in the panel board protecting the wiring feeding the saw motor.

As described above, the equipment performed as designed to function.

Lew

[Eigenvector]

Understood.