Table saws have many problems. Among them, smoking is one of them. When we are working we can see, a table saw can be smoking due to main 10 reasons. If you are not a professional woodworker, you will not identify the correct reason and solution. So let me explain to you Why is your table saw smoking?
Table saw is smoking due to these reasons such as motor overheating, capacitor burning, sawdust burning, using a dull blade, misangle blade, wrong blade height, dirty blade, bent blade, inclined workpiece, and incorrect feeding rate. These can be fixed by using a proper blade with correct cutting methods.
These reasons can be categorized mainly into two. Electrical smoking and wood smoking are them. You can identify the smoking by seeing the smoke color and bad smell. So let’s see, what are the reasons for table saw smoking all in detail.
Related Topic
01. Motor Overheat
When we are working using a table saw for a long time, its motor can be heated due to friction and electricity. The armature is rotating inside the motor, and brushes are touching the commutator. When the brush touches the commutator, it can be heated. When the electricity and coils are heated too much, their melting parts can be melted due to heat, and the smoke can rise up.
When there is a problem with the bearing, it can be heated due to friction. When the bearings are heated, they can spread all over the motor. So check the bearing and keep the dust-free motor.
Solution
- So when there is smoke form the motor stop the table saw and let it to cool. Do not work continuously.
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02. Capacitor Burning
Due to the heat up, capacitors are unable to store the electrical charge. Overheating causes high internal gas pressure inside the capacitor case. When the capacitor is burning, you can feel the electrical smell. When the capacitor is burning, we can observe motor is not starting, overheating, and vibrating the motor.
Solution
- Provide enough air space around capacitor as it can cool the around surface of the capacitor.
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03. Saw Dust Burning
Sawdust is the debris of the wood. When the sawdust is entered into the motor, it can burn due to motor rotation. When the sawdust enters the brush area, it can dry grinding and as a result, smoke can rise. When the lignin is melted due to heat, sawdust can adhere more and more. When the motor is heated up, lignin can be melting, and sawdust can be burned due to motor rotation.
Solution
- Clean the motor free from dust.
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04. Dull Blade
The dull blade is not sharp as it needs to cut the wood. When the blade is dull, it is unable to remove the chip by cutting it sharply. It tends to scratch the wood with high RPM. As a result of this, wood tends to burn due to friction. You can observe scratch mark on the cutting surface.
Solution
- Use the sharp blade
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05. Misangle Blade
When we cut the wood, we should maintain the proper angle. We have to feed the workpiece right along the saw blade rotating path. When the blade angle is inclined, and when we push the workpiece towards the blade, it will scratch with the blade, and heat will go up due to blade rotation. As a result of this, it will burn, and smoke will rise.
Solution
- Maintain the proper blade angle
06. Wrong Blade Height
When the blade height is too low, teeth friction can be high. As a result of this, you can see some splinterings from the top surface. Due to high friction, you can see some burning marks, and sometimes smoking can rise.
Solution
- Maintain the proper blade height
07. Dirty Blade
When the saw blade is used continuously, sawdust can be collected on the blade surface. Sometimes lignin melting also increases this. Some time thickness of the blade can be increased due to this sawdust. When we use this kind of saw blade we can observe additional abrasion due to this. As a result, the surface can be heated up, and then smoking can rise easily. So keep the blade clean if it is dirty.
Solution
- Keep the blade clean using a suitable liquid
How to Clean the Dirty Saw Blade?
A dirty saw blade can be cleaned using Laundry detergent or Tool Cleaner. You had better follow the below steps.
Things you need
- Brush/Piece of cloth
- Water
- Detergent powder
- Tool cleaner
- Aluminium pan
Dirty Saw blade cleaning method
Step 01 – Remove the saw blade from the table saw
Step 02 – Lay the saw blade on the aluminum pan
Step 03 – Pour water and detergent into the pan as it submerges
Step 04 – Spray the tool cleaner if you use that
Step 05 – Keep 05-10 mins
Step 06 – Brush the saw blade again and again
Step 07 – Wipe the table saw blade
Step 08 – Fix the saw blade to the table saw
08. Bent Blade
A bent blade or damaged blade can cause the wood to smoke due to friction. When the blade is bent it can hardly touch the surface while rotating. The surface will be scratched and it will turn to black (burn mark) on the surface. The bent blade can cause the smoke of the saw table, and using the proper blade, we can reduce that.
Solution
- Use a proper saw blade.
09. Inclined workpiece
When the workpiece is inclined and it is out from the sawing line, it can be smoke due to the hard scratching blade and wood surface. Normally, the workpiece should be lined up with the cutting blade and cutting path. When we push the inclined blade surface, touch the workpiece. So heat up and smoke rise.
When correcting the cutting line this can be seen. And surface burn of the wood can be seen.
Solution
- Feed the workpiece line up with the saw blade
10. Incorrect Cutting Speed
The cutting speed of the wood piece should be compatible with the RPM. If the RPM is high, we can feed the material high rate. If the feed rate is law and RPM is high, it will contact the surface much time, and as a result of it,, we can see burn marks on the surface with smoking the table saw.
Solution
- Maintenance the proper cutting angle
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Health Effect of Table Saw Smoking
Table saw smoking due to wood smoking and electrical smoking. So let’s see how is smoke affects the human body?.
Wood smoking is a mixture of solids, gases, and liquids. It is like cigarette smoke. it contains hundreds of air pollutants that can cause cancer and other health problems. When the smoking particles inhale they can remain inside the lungs for months and it will cause many cancers also.
Harmful organic chemical in wood smoke
- benzene,
- formaldehyde,
- acetaldehyde,
- acrolein, and
- polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
When you open to smoke for a long time you can have below health effects.
- irritated eyes, throat, sinuses, and lungs;
- headaches;
- reduced lung function, especially in children;
- lung inflammation or swelling;
- increased risk of lower respiratory diseases;
- risk of heart attack and stroke.
- chronic lung disease including bronchitis
- chemical and structural changes in lungs; and cancer.
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