Is something wrong with my TS?

[Eric Hartunian]

Hi all,
I have a new Ridgid TS3650. I have it setup and running, but have a question. When I turn on the saw, there is a slight "bounce" to the motor, and then it runs smooth. The jolt from the motor startup is causing the motor to bounce a bit on the cantilevered mount. Is this normal? I have never owned a contractors saw before, so I'm not sure if this is something to be expected or not. I am sure that if the motor had some kind of soft start feature, this wouldn't happen. Just to be clear, I followed the instructions to the letter, everything is tight, and once the motor gets to speed, it is nice and smooth.

Thanks,
Eric

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Eric.....it's a little late right now but I can check mine in the morning and let you know if mine does it. It wouldn't surprise me if it does.I'll check mine early in the morning when I go to the shop to do some turning. I'll post back on this thread and let you know.

[Tom Veatch]

... When I turn on the saw, there is a slight "bounce" to the motor, and then it runs smooth. The jolt from the motor startup is causing the motor to bounce a bit on the cantilevered mount. Is this normal? ...

Assuming the motor is free to rotate about it's mount such that the motor weight tensions the drive belt, I'd say what you are seeing is perfectly normal. As long as the motor isn't bouncing around when the blade is running at speed, I don't believe there is anything to be overly concerned about.

The rotary inertia of the arbor and blade causes the motor to try to "climb" the belt as the blade comes up to speed. The effect is self limiting since the "motor bounce" momentarily reduces belt tension and allows some small slippage between the belt and pulley until the blade is fully spun up. I'll predict that the effect will be even more pronounced with a stacked dado set installed.

[Lee Schierer]

I'm not familiar with your particular saw, but some saws use the weight of the motor to tension the belt and allow the blade to be raised and lowered. With a conventional V-belt, particularly a new one, the belt is pretty stiff and has a bit of memory when it is new so it assumes the shape around the pulleys. When the motor starts, the belt tends to stay curved at both ends, this causes the belt to be a bit short so it pulls the motor up very quickly. The momentum of the motor causes it to rise up to far then gravity takes over and pulls it back down, so you see the bounce. Switching to a link belt will eliminate this problem. Also if you don't care to switch you can tighten up the pivot a bit so there is more friction to lessen the bounce. As the belt ages it will have less tendency to take a set.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Eric,

I have a Ridgid TS3650. I went to the shop immediately after getting my first cup of coffee...coffee cup in hand I started my saw. It does the same as yours. If your saw is like mine, there is no tension adjustment on the belt. The belt relies partially on motor weight and partially on the large spring between the motor mount and the saw base for tension. I'd say what you are seeing is normal. Mine has been that way for 4 1/2 years now and it has functioned well for me.

[Eric Hartunian]

Thanks alot, guys. I'm glad this is normal, because I really like this saw. I may look into a link belt, though.

Eric

[Lou Morrissette]

You got me curious. I had to go to the shop and try my 3650. Yep, it does jump when first started. Smooths right out though. Great saw.

Lou

[Alan Tolchinsky]

I have a Delta CS and when I switched it over to 220 I noticed the motor REALLY jumps on start up. This seems to be normal for all the reasons stated above. The motor does spin up to speed much faster since I switched over to 220.

[David DeCristoforo]

Perfectly normal. Large motors without a "soft start" will "torque" when you put the juice to them. If you have a router without a soft start, I'll bet it does the same thing.

Davikuni Yoshiforo

[Joe Chritz]

You don't need a link belt. The set up you have is every bit as good if not better.

Using a ribbed belt (ala serpentine from an auto) it has to use machined pulleys and normally runs every bit as good as a link belt on a standard v pulley.

If it doesn't have a ribbed belt then disregard but mine does and I am not aware that they changed. It is one of the small things that makes that particular saw a very good value for the money.

FWIW, mine has a tunk at start up and a slight vibration I attribute to the leveling feet and open stand.

Joe