# This is not a good saw



## Ocelot (Mar 6, 2011)

So, you signed up here just to tell us about it?

Those gears certainly look bad.

I see a cart of sheet goods in the background. How many hours a day is this saw used?


----------



## pottz (Sep 15, 2015)

of all the reviews on sawstop ive never seen too many bad ones.that gear looks bad though.you can take any company from the worst to the best and you can find these kinds of situations,all companies get em,it's how they fix em that counts.it is a pita that you have to waste good shop time with repairs but shipping a table saw is even a bigger one.


----------



## craftsman on the lake (Dec 27, 2008)

There's a ton of grease on those gears. I just regreased mine for the first time after three years. I should have done it before this. I followed the video directions on the SS site and greased everything. First I cleaned everything off. You just put a little grease on a few teeth and then wind the gear back and forth to spread it. I'm wondering if you put a lot on and sawdust just caked into the teeth. It must have been hard to turn the trunion wheels?


----------



## Latinosrus (Apr 22, 2021)

This is the third one to go bad on this machine I used a Ridgid table saw 
For 11 years doing the same thing 
And I never have any major problem
I have the Sawstop for 6 months


----------



## pottz (Sep 15, 2015)

thats crazy,what does sawstop think is the problem.sounds like maybe defective gears ?


----------



## craftsman on the lake (Dec 27, 2008)

I looked around the internet to see if any other gear issues. The only thing was that some people had a hard time getting the blade down below the table if the sawdust built up on a gear. After cleaning it was okay. Nothing like is described here. This is definitely a head scratcher.


----------



## Redoak49 (Dec 15, 2012)

That is too much grease and will cake sawdust in the gears and will jam.


----------



## craftsman on the lake (Dec 27, 2008)

I posted this on the sawstop owners group. No one has ever seen or experienced anything like this. Looks like he may have the only one like it. Someone mentioned that there may be some work going on in the shop that has some corosive substances. Someone else took a close look at the gears and said that once you get by all the grid the gears looked fine. So, I dunno…..


----------



## Underdog (Oct 29, 2012)

How much do you want for it?


----------



## StevenWoodward (Aug 14, 2020)

> Hi I have been doing wood for 20 years
> I purchased the Sawstop profesional
> 1.75 and after 4 months star filing a part.
> Customer service only send you the part and you have to fix it yourself.
> ...


Sorry to hear you are having problems with an expensive new saw. I also have a SawStop so am naturally curious.

Were the gears actually slipping, or did they just look worn ?

Do you know what was wrong with the motor ?


----------



## Buck_Thorne (Jun 20, 2015)

> How much do you want for it?
> 
> - Underdog


Clever guy!!


----------



## mrg (Mar 10, 2010)

Way to much grease. Are you using dust collection? Do you blow the saw dust out?

Where you located, I'll take it off your hands.


----------



## smitdog (Aug 20, 2012)

I wonder if alignment of the gears is off causing them to mesh incorrectly. That would cause them to wear out quickly, no matter how much grease is on them. Don't let them keep putting a bandaid on it because there is obviously something causing them to fail that quickly and I don't think it's packed sawdust.


----------



## GR8HUNTER (Jun 13, 2016)

what did SAW STOP have to say about your issue ? :<((((


----------



## Ocelot (Mar 6, 2011)

I think smitdog might be onto something.


----------



## Redoak49 (Dec 15, 2012)

I think that without a good look at the gears it is impossible to really even guess.

A picture of the bad gears with the junk cleaned off is needed. However, that much grease and sawdust jamming the gears is not good.


----------



## pottz (Sep 15, 2015)

> I think smitdog might be onto something.
> 
> - Ocelot


+1 a good point i can see a bad set of gears but 3 times in that short amount of time doesn't make sense.


----------



## controlfreak (Jun 29, 2019)

For the gears to wear that fast two three things come to mind.
1) Something must be acting as a harsh abrasive.
2) Gears must be out of alignment
3) gears must be getting worked (used) a lot.


----------



## Desert_Woodworker (Jan 28, 2015)

> There s a ton of grease on those gears. I just regreased mine for the first time after three years. I should have done it before this. I followed the video directions on the SS site and greased everything. First I cleaned everything off.* You just put a little grease* on a few teeth and then wind the gear back and forth to spread it. I m wondering if you put a lot on and sawdust just caked into the teeth. It must have been hard to turn the trunion wheels?
> 
> - Craftsman on the lake


*
WARNING: This table saw lubrication tip will tick people off!*


----------



## darthford (Feb 17, 2013)

How can you hand crank through 3 sets of gears in that short a time period? Something is off.


----------



## LittleBlackDuck (Feb 26, 2016)

Not owning an *SS* I was hesitant in putting in my $2.57 worth, however, I've been following this thread with interest.

Not being an engineer (no trains in my back yard), scientist or mathematician, *cf* posed some points that hit home, 


> For the gears to wear that fast two three things come to mind.
> 1) Something must be acting as a harsh abrasive.
> 2) Gears must be out of alignment
> 3) gears must be getting worked (used) a lot.
> - controlfreak


other than too much grease or buildup of sawdust, which seem to be a popular response… neither of which rang bells to me for abnormal wear.

With 3 replacements, it's hard to criticise a product generically, however, the item (not product) seems faulty. Now in my layman's thinking and falling back on *cf*'s suggestions, *gears out of alignment* hints at a bad spindle alignment (or whatever the setup is) and any number of gear replacements will not fix that.

What I'm more concerned about is the support from the vendor/manufacturer.


1st. replacement… oops.
2nd.replacement… something's wrong.
3rd.replacement… either there's something wrong with the user or there is a faulty machine.

If it's a faulty machine, no one here will fix… and the onus is on the vendor/supplier.

I would like to hear the full "behind the sheets" story… like correspondences between OP and vendor…

Kinda remind me of the *ACK* post that accused, yet never came to a conclusion…. at least to the best of my knowledge.

I just find it hard to believe that someone with the *SawStop* profile would refuse statisfactory and conclusive support.

After all the banter, I didn't see any further response from the OP other than ********************canning the product and confirming 3 gear replacements. Is this a situation of someone just creating a LJ account to have an unconstructive bitch.


----------



## Peteybadboy (Jan 23, 2013)

LBD +1


----------



## craftsman on the lake (Dec 27, 2008)

> After all the banter, I didn t see any further response from the OP other than ********************canning the product and confirming 3 gear replacements. Is this a situation of someone just creating a LJ account to have an unconstructive bitch.
> 
> - LittleBlackDuck


Agreed. He's a new member and doesn't seem to have come back. Time to unsubscribe to this thread. It's filling up my inbox for little reason.


----------



## Redoak49 (Dec 15, 2012)

The reason I think the sawdust/grease is that it could have jammed the gears. When my saw becomes hard to adjust, I typically find sawdust needs cleaning out. If one kept cranking hard with the sawdust jammed you could bend and break things.


----------



## gotnonickname (Feb 4, 2014)

I feel for the guy who bought this saw and uses it for his cabinet shop from what I see from his photos. I am sure he bought it because it is safe and if he has employees he is trying to keep everyone safe in the workshop and it fit his current budget for a new tool.

But what I see with the wear of the gears is a piece that has been improperly drilled on the trunnion and the fit of the gears is way to tight. I also wonder if he is changing the bushings associated with the shafts or just the gears. I would replace gears and bushings. This my opinion and observation. When he changes the blade tilt, I suspect this is the gearset for that, he must really have to crank to get it to move.

SawStop customer service should have after the 2 second set of gear replacements asked for detailed pictures to see if the could see what was wrong. They should have a service tech on the phone with him during the parts replacement to help and try to figure out why these parts are failing. I hope they asked for the old parts to be sent back for analysis. After 3rd set of gears this should be a major incident and they should have requested the trunnion assembly be sent to them of sent or sales tech or field service tech to shop to see what's going on.
I understand his frustration with this issue and for the money spent on this saw, he should have better customer service.

I am glad to see someone using their saw that the manufacture claims is a professional cabinet saw and shows how the tool can hold up to shop service.
Modern cast steel gears, if they are steel, should not wear like that in any saw regardless of how much sawdust gets on gears. This truly looks likes a manufacturing issue.

I know I will piss some people off, but this should not happen and customer support really should be taking an interest in this. It`s their reputation to hold up and maybe there really is an issue with these saws over the long run for users that only use these for light work. This even could be a safety issue and even cause the anti feedback system to not work correctly.

I only hope this user gets the help from SawStop he needs to get to the bottom of this issue.


----------



## Redoak49 (Dec 15, 2012)

I also feel sorry for the guy. But, without better pictures of the gears there is no way to diagnose the problem. Even if he just cleaned them off and took a picture it would be better.


----------



## Redoak49 (Dec 15, 2012)

I have been looking at the gear in the picture to understand the damage. I have found a picture of that part for comparison purposes. I do not see the damage the OP is talking about.


----------



## BigAl98 (Jan 29, 2010)

I guess I'm stupid. You show a picture of worm gears which to me look like you have way too much grease on it. I can't say that the supposed gear damage is not just caked on grease around the gear rather than actual metal deforming or failure. Wipe off the grease and show me the actual teeth of the gear. If the teeth are messed up, try using a non grease lubricant(such as teflon or graphite?) for these gears…perhaps the wood dust/chips embeded in grease is fouling the teeth and is mechanically deforming the worm gear?

The other picture is of the saw, for what purpose? What is wrong on the picture of the front of the saw?

Also, did you really expect SawStop to send a tech out to your saw to replace the gearing? As far as I know, no consumer saw manufacturer has a tech force large enough and capable of doing that for the US. This is something you should have asked before purchase. More than likely the store you purchased it from may have been the likely candidate for that service anyway. Finally, your better off in knowing how to do the work anyway.

And why did you replace the motor? Total failure…stopped completely…does it smoke/overheat..does it turn…reduced power…trips often? Need better explanation to even approach some recomendation or similar experience. I feel that your frustrated and mad, and just trying to assail the reputation of the manufacturer as an act of desperation/revenge?

Also, the description seems to be a translation from another language. Is that true? Perhap use a better translator?


----------



## Woodmaster1 (Apr 26, 2011)

The sawstop in my classroom the worm gear dropped and the trunion slipped to 45 on its own. The Sawstop in the club shop has had the worm gear replaced twice in less than two years. It does happen no brand is immune to problems. I find it funny the two Sawstops I have used has had worm gear problems. I partially blame the users in the club shop. There is quite a few beginners that think they know what they are doing. Believe me I either turn my head and don't look because they won't listen to sound advice or yell at them because they are about to cause bodily harm. Being a retired shop teacher I have had to bite my tongue often.


----------



## LittleBlackDuck (Feb 26, 2016)

> ... Being a retired shop teacher I have had to bite my tongue often.
> - Woodmaster1


Watch it… *bitting the tongue* would not only do damage to your palette, but also to that *"idiot"* student… That's the problem nowdays, people are no longer prepared to *yell* at ignorance or arrogance for fear of offending rather than protecting.


----------



## Redoak49 (Dec 15, 2012)

Glad you posted Woodmaster.

In looking at the tilt mechanism, either the bracket holding the shaft or collar on the end of the shaft had to come loose or be damaged. When you replaced the gear, could you tell what happened? Of course, if the adjusting wheel was cranked too hard, it could be damaged.


----------



## Dark_Lightning (Nov 20, 2009)

I've had good luck with my JSS. One of my sons was cutting a piece of wood on it, got ham-handed, bound the blade, stopped the motor and tripped the breaker. I explained that it doesn't have the horsepower to just force wood through it. I don't think that it's damaged, but I haven't made a project on it since, so I'll be checking the alignments and so forth once I'm able (recovering from foot surgery).


----------



## LittleBlackDuck (Feb 26, 2016)

> ... I ll be checking the alignments and so forth once I m able (recovering from foot surgery).
> - Dark_Lightning


Next time try feeding the timber by hand…







or remove boots for better grip!


----------



## Tool_Guy (Dec 3, 2021)

> The sawstop in my classroom the worm gear dropped and the trunion slipped to 45 on its own. The Sawstop in the club shop has had the worm gear replaced twice in less than two years. It does happen no brand is immune to problems. I find it funny the two Sawstops I have used has had worm gear problems. I partially blame the users in the club shop. There is quite a few beginners that think they know what they are doing. Believe me I either turn my head and don t look because they won t listen to sound advice or yell at them because they are about to cause bodily harm. Being a retired shop teacher I have had to bite my tongue often.
> 
> - Woodmaster1


I can't say why on the replaced worm gear but the collar and bushing being pushed off the bevel shaft is very common with newbie users. It's simply caused by already being at a 90 and cranking VERY hard to the right and mechanical advantage of the gears push that stop collar off the end. Have fixed this many times at schools and cabinet shops. Always with new people with NO saw experience.

As far as the OP goes if he burned up the 1.75HP he obviously bought too small a saw. Look at it this way. You bought an F150 and are asking it to tow daily what an F350 should be doing. Sure the F150 can handle that occasionally but do you expect it to last as long as an F350 doing that day in and day out. Sounds like you have a PCS doing the job an ICS should be.


----------

