TS55 Saw stuck in wood; got it out but could I have damaged saw?

[vesbon]

I was cross-cutting a long 2X12 Southern Yellow Pine board (I'm making my first workbench) and my TS55 got stuck.  I started the cut in the middle of the board, and when I got towards the end (edge) of the board, the saw immediately jammed.  It was stuck so hard I could not budge the saw. 

I slowly worked it out as carefully as I could (took about 15 minutes).  I didn't "muscle" with all my force, but I did have to pull on it quite a bit.  I basically rotated the saw around the edge of the 2X12 and finally pulled it out (with quite a bit of force). 

Is there anyway I could have damaged the saw? maybe bent the arbor or something?  This is the first time I've really started using the saw and I hope I didn't break anything. 

Thanks,
Greg

 

[danrush]

I suspect you're ok.  I've done worse with cheaper skill saws.  

You might want to take a close look at your blade, to make sure you didn't bend it.  One way to check is to run the saw through some material, at 1/2 the depth of the material, then measure the kerf left by the blade.  

Dan

 

[Brice Burrell]

Greg, I suppose it is possible. I would think the blade is more likely to be damaged than the saw itself. I think I would have tried to open the kerf in the wood with wedges to remove the tension on the blade. I'd be happy to trash the board rather than the saw.

 

[vesbon]

Thanks for the replies.  Good tip on opening the kerf with wedges.  I'll have to remember that. 

-Greg

 

[daviszr1]

The kerf closing in on the blade is likely the exact cause of your "jam" in the first place.  My workbench is of SYP (plans from the Schwartz book) and I even jammed a 3hp cabinet saw.  SYP can have some very high internal stresses.  It's cheap and does NOT have hardwood, slow growth, straight grain stability.

That being said, it's the best workbench I've ever worked on.

My suggestion is to cross cut as much as your plans will allow and then make the rip cuts.  Cross-cutting will reduce the amount of internal stresses you have to deal with in a single rip.  Hope that made sense.

 

[AlexThePalex]

I sincerely doubt you can damage the saw just like that. Professional power tools are generally built quite sturdy and are built to take this abuse, especially Festools. Only thing that I can imagine happening is the motor burning through if it's stalled and you keep pushing the trigger. But I guess you've released the trigger right away after it got stuck, so you shouldn't need to worry about that either.

 

[PeterK]

I am sure the electronic protections built in the saw prevented any motor damage. I have stalled mine with no issues. Just be sure to check the blade carefully for being bent. I bent one of mine when it got pinched.

 

[vesbon]

Yes, the blade stalled because the board kerf closed in on it.  When I finally got it out I couldn't believe how much it closed up.  That's alot of internal stress!

daviszr1,
The idea to use SYP came from Schwarz's book.  I'm first building a simple "beam and sawhorse-style" bench (from a FWW article by Josh Finn) and I wanted to use SYP for the frame of that bench just to make sure I could find it.  I'm in Chicago area... SYP is hard to find around here.  However, I soon want to build Schwarz's Roubo bench, so it's good I'm learning about SYP before it really counts.  Glad to hear it's a solid bench.

Anyway, sound like I probably didn't damage the saw (I did release the trigger quickly).  I tried to be as careful as I could, but man was it stuck. 

I think I'll use the bandsaw for the rest of my rough cuts on SYP (and then the jointer / planer).

Thanks,
Greg