Smoke? Not good. Even wood smoke.

[WestofLongBeach]

I am really new to using a table saw. Like a nerd, I bought it thinking that with learning some cautions and techniques on my own I would be OK with it.

The fact is, though, that up until now I have only used my 3100 a few times, and there is a long enough time between uses that I have to re-learn more than I should. Oh, well.

Last night I was ripping 1 3/4" x 1 3/4" pieces out of a maple 2x4. The only hardwood I have worked with so far has been poplar, and I am starting to think that my troubles came from assuming that the maple wasn't a lot harder than the poplar.

N E Way, a couple of inches into the cut the wood started to smoke. When I turned everything off and looked down at the plank, I saw that the sawdust was brown, not the color of the wood.

Smoke was emitting from below the blade, and I removed the dustcatcher. This was the source of the smoke. Cloth bag containing a highly oxygenated, flammable granular material which is smoldering? Not my idea of fun. Emptied the bag, checked for smoking stuff, and decided I didn't know what I was doing.

The blade and saw are new, and I have aligned the blade and it is correctly aligned with the fence.

Was I pushing too hard on a large, hard piece that needed some patience, due to my limited experience? Poplar a softer wood than maple?

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Crash2510]

on large pieces of maple I think you would be better off with a descent 24 tooth rip blade

The original blade is no match for hard maple IMHO

[leehljp]

1. Is the riving knife attached? Sounds like the wood is pinching the blade.
2. It also could be the rip fence not set right, i.e. too close at the rear out of parallel.
3. It also could be the board itself pinching the blade as it is cut.
4. A dull or gummed up blade will cause burning. Cleaning the blade will help in many cases.
5. And last, feeding technique causes problems on some occasions. The proper way to feed is place the board against the fence and WATCH the board as it slides against the fence not at the blade entrance. Keep slight pressure on the board so that it rides the fence.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Rip blade would definately be in order.

However, don't slow down! Speed up! Burning typically is indicative of either the wrong blade or not moving the material quick enough. Of course a dull blade will slow you down, thus resulting in burning.

Hard Maple is the hardest domestic wood you will find. It is much harder than poplar. Heck red oak is much harder than poplar.

Google Janka Hardness Scale to get an idea of wood hardness.

[RodKirby]

Please forgive the question...

You DO have the blade mounted the right way? The teeth should be aimed at you - NOT away from you.

"a couple of inches in" should NOT have heated that much.

[Slik Geek]

Please forgive the question...

You DO have the blade mounted the right way? The teeth should be aimed at you - NOT away from you.

"a couple of inches in" should NOT have heated that much.

Excellent question. With a fresh blade, it will cut surprisingly well even when installed backwards - but will certainly heat up quickly and start smoking. Making rapid blade changes can cause the brain miss important details - especially when you are changing the blade from the back of the saw. DAMHIK.

[LCHIEN]

several things come to mind.

Feeding the wood too slow causes burning. Generally you want to feed the wood fast enough and steadily enough that there is no burning going on.

The opposite problem is that feeding the wood too fast can cause the motor to stall; basically the wood can't be cut fast enough and the motor stalls from taking too big a bite.

When you can't feed faster and the motor lugs down (audibly slows) the belts will break or the motor windings will overheat and destroy the motor.

When you can't feed faste enough to prevent burning then you have not enough motor power and need help. The last order of business would be getting a more powerful saw, if all else can't be fixed.

Before getting a new saw with a 220V 3 HP motor, you need to think about these things:
Are you feeding too slow just to be careful - if so then feed faster
Maple is a hard wood, much more so than poplar so it will tax your machine more. Still, a stock BT3 should be able to rip 2" thick maple.
If you are feeding too slow because the motor is straining, then
1) do you have everything properly aligned - blade, rip fence, riving knife, (yes you said you checked this) but this is a big cause of problems.
2) is your saw properly supplied with power - no extension cords or at the worst, maybe an extension cord of 12 Ga. and shorter than 12 feet... Are there no other power sucking devices on the same circuit? Is the 120V between 110 and 120 when running the saw under load? (Have someone else read the voltage!)
3) is the blade clean and sharp
4) do you have the right kind of blade - a quality 24-Tooth ripping blade will work best here, they're not real expensive.

[WestofLongBeach]

Please forgive the question...

You DO have the blade mounted the right way? The teeth should be aimed at you - NOT away from you.

"a couple of inches in" should NOT have heated that much.

RodKirby,

Excellent question, and I for a moment thought of a tale told by a friend in construction who had his new worker mis-mount a blade.

But, no, the teeth face me. I'm starting to lean toward the 24-tooth blade some have suggested.

[WestofLongBeach]

on large pieces of maple I think you would be better off with a descent 24 tooth rip blade

The original blade is no match for hard maple IMHO

Crash & LChien,

Thanks for the suggestion re: the blade. You may well be right. I will come to that conclusion once I have checked the suggestions by Hank Lee, that look like reasonable steps to take.

[WestofLongBeach]

Hank Lee,

Thanks for the suggestions:

1. Is the riving knife attached? Sounds like the wood is pinching the blade.

It is attached, but I will look tomorrow night when I start reviewing this list with the saw in front of me.

2. It also could be the rip fence not set right, i.e. too close at the rear out of parallel.

I said it was aligned, but it's worth checking. For one thing, though, there was no noticeable pressure against the wood by the fence.

3. It also could be the board itself pinching the blade as it is cut.

If the riving knife weren't there, I'd think so. But with it installed?

4. A dull or gummed up blade will cause burning. Cleaning the blade will help in many cases.

I will look at that.

5. And last, feeding technique causes problems on some occasions. The proper way to feed is place the board against the fence and WATCH the board as it slides against the fence not at the blade entrance. Keep slight pressure on the board so that it rides the fence.

I use a featherboard to keep some pressure on. No apparent reason to think it presses too hard.

It is surprising to me that feeding too slow can cause burning, but OK, I hear. As for the new blade, once I go through the above, I will have a better idea whether to put out the extra bux.

[IBBugsy]

I use a featherboard to keep some pressure on. No apparent reason to think it presses too hard.

I'm also a NewBee but that mention of featherboard triggered a thought: The featherboard needs to be aligned in front of the blade. You don't want to be pushing the board in towards the blade after the cut. Hopefully, you knew that...

[WestofLongBeach]

I want to thank everyone for taking the time to analyze what was going on with me trying to rip maple with a native Ryobi blade.

I ended up concluding that the blade was the problem, so got a Freud Diablo 24-tooth ripping blade. It was not the top of the line, so it has a kerf I'm not in love with.

Oh, well, that's what you get for $30. I have another issue with the blade, of which more in another thread. This one is ripe to die.

Thanks to everyone again.

[WestofLongBeach]

I'm also a NewBee but that mention of featherboard triggered a thought: The featherboard needs to be aligned in front of the blade. You don't want to be pushing the board in towards the blade after the cut. Hopefully, you knew that...

Uh, no, glad to hear it, though. In this case the featherboard happened to be so far from the blade that it had to bear before the blade, anyway. In the future, I'll be careful of that. Thanks.

[chopnhack]

I too have "smoked" my TS and had found that by making multiple passes it can be avoided. I was resawing a 2x4 (don't ask) and tried to do it in one pass - this was the first cut on the saw and I was curious how it would handle it. Needless to say, I managed to start a fire below the blade!

[Bill in Buena Park]

Jeff, All,
I'm curious, having burned a cut on a board or two due to dull blades and slow feeding -- but I've never had the "smoldering granular material" described by the poster (saw dust, I presume). Is this something peculiar to burning a cut in maple, or have I just managed to avoid producing this effect?