Why is My Miter Saw is Smoking?

A miter saw is used for cross cuts, bevel cuts, and miter cut mostly. A miter saw is powered by electricity. When you use the miter saw, you can see a few problems due to its performance. Miter saw smoking is one of them. When the saw is used, you can smell the smell of smoking. So, do you know why a miter saw is smoking?

A miter saw can smoke due to a dull miter saw blade, dirty miter saw blade, improper sliding rate and RPM, using a fewer number of teeth saw blade, lignin melting on the saw blade, and carbon brush heating. The miter saw smoking two types such as wood burning smell and plastic burning smell. Wood-burning smoke can arise due to problems between the workpiece and the saw blade. Plastic melting smoke can rise due to problems in the miter saw motor.

What is Miter Saw Smoking?

Miter saw smoking is rising smoking from the miter saw motor or workpiece while cutting the workpiece. Miter saw smoking are two types such as smoking from the workpiece and miter saw motor.

Miter saw smoking can rise from the workpiece due to higher friction with the saw blade and the cutting surface. This can occur due to a dull miter saw blade, corroded miter saw blade, dirty miter saw blade, warped miter saw blade, aligning melting, and insufficient number of saw teeth in the saw blade. The smell of the workpiece smoke smell is wood burning smell.

Miter saw smoking can rise from the miter saw motor due to worn brushes, lack of lubricants, using too much time and debris in the miter saw motor. The smell of the miter saw motor smoke is a plastic-burning smell.

What are the Reasons for Miter Saw Smoking?

01. Dull Miter Saw Blade

dull miter saw blade
Dull miter saw balde

A dull blade or blunt blade is not a sharp miter saw blade. For many reasons, a blade can be dull. As a result of this its cutting edge can be damaged. When the saw blade is sharp, it can easily remove the chips from the material. When it is blunt, it will scratch it. As a result of this, additional power will need and it will increase the temperature due to friction.

Hence, we can see smoke rising from the blade. This smoke feels like wood smoke. So you should stop the cutting process and use a sharp saw blade. Due to the wood-burning, you will have to re-prepare the wood surface by sanding.

02. Dirty Miter Saw Blade

dirty miter saw blade
Dirty miter saw blade

If the miter saw blade is not cleaned properly it will be a dirty blade. Due to the sawdust and heated lignin, you can see additional sawdust layer has tightly adhered to the saw blade surface. When the saw blade is used the lignin can melt due to heat generation because of the friction.

As a result fo this we can see smoke. This smoke is the same as the wood smoking. It is better if you can clean the saw blade by using any suitable liquid

03. Improper Sliding Rate and RPM

When you use a miter saw with a lower RPM rate with a slow sliding speed you may see there is a smoke rise from the workpiece. This is a very common factor. When the sliding rate is slow it will rotate much time in the same position and as a result of this heat can be generated.

When the heat is generated, you can see some burning marks, as well as wood smoking, from the saw blade.

04. Fewer Number of Teeth of the Miter Saw Blade

The saw blade needs to take out the cutting chips from the cutting path. If the saw blade is with a lower number of teeth it can remove a high amount of chips. If the number of teeth is higher less amount of chips can remove. If you cut cross cut you will need a higher amount of teeth. If you cut the rip cut, you will need a lower number of teeth.

If the chips are clogged inside the cutting path additional friction can increase, and as a result of this, smoke can arise. So select the proper saw blade.

05. Lignin Melting on The Miter Saw Blade

If you use a miter saw for a long period you can see some sawdust have entered everywhere in the motor. When the dust is spread into the motor, it can melt due to high heat. When these are heated we can name this a lignin.

Dust can be added to the melted lignin, and when the saw is stopped, this lignin can be turned to solid. This solid paste can clog the brush’s mechanism, rotational mechanisms, etc.

When the miter saw is started you can feel some smell if there is no workpiece on the table. So this will be the reason.

06. Carbon Brush Heating in Miter Saw Motor

Most miter saw motors are made with carbon brushes. Carbon brushes are scratched with the commutator when it is rotating. As a result of this we can see miter saw sparking. Due to scratching the inside heat rises too much, the coil can be burned. Sometimes plastic parts can be burned. At this time you will feel a chemical smell or plastic smell from the miter saw table.

How to Prevent Miter Saw Smoking?

You can prevent the miter saw from smoking by following the below steps

  1. Regular maintenance the miter saw – You should maintain and service the miter saw properly by replacing carbon brushes and applying suitable lubricants.
  2. Clean the miter saw blade – You should clean a dirty blade by removing any build-up of sap, wood chips, or other debris.
  3. Install miter saw blade properly – You should install a miter saw blade with proper alignment and tightness.
  4. Use the right miter saw blade – You should choose the right saw blade for continuous and hard work by preventing overheat, and smoke.
  5. Avoid overloading the miter saw – You should avoid overloading the saw by trying to cut through material that is too hard or too thick for the saw can cause it to smoke. .

Tom Mackency

Tom Mackency

Hi, I am Tom Mackency. It has been 10 years that I have been working as a professional woodworker since 2013. I am really enjoying my carrier by creating many kinds of projects in my workshop. But mostly I like for home improvement projects. Home improvement and DIY projects are the most interesting things for me. More than that, the coolest things are power tools. Those are very precious and efficient than a decade ago. So I try to introduce so many things about power tools, woodworking, DIY projects, home improvement and many more interesting topics here.


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