First off, Thanks to Everyone for chiming in and helping!
1. The wood appears to be cherry, which is very prone to burning during rip cuts;
2. The wood is 'reaction wood' and the kerf is closing up behind the blade (which makes it harder to push thru, since it's binding.; and
3. I don't see a splitter on that saw. A full kerf-width splitter will help in tow ways: a. it'll keep the kerf open, and b. it'll help keep the board's edge tight against the fence.
There is some cherry in there, but much more maple... and 'reaction wood' it was indeed. I set that shot up to illustrate the issues, after swapping blades back over to my Woodworker II from my CMT cabinet shop blade. Both blades had similar issues with performance. After my kickback week before last, I've been using my stock blade guard and splitter for all but the narrowest of rip cuts, that one particular cut didn't have the splitter on, but it had been for most of the day's cutting with perhaps one or two boards where I couldn't fit my push block between it and the fence.
Too many teeth on that blade for ripping IMHO. I know people do it and do it with success. In the second shot it looks like the material is pretty well away from the fence. That may just be the shot. If you can trip the breaker at ALL, I would resolve that. It is probable that your saw is under-performing if you can trip a breaker just by loading the motor ;-)
This is a 'new' problem, the WWII has always just mowed right through maple, walnut, you name it... 4/4 5/4 with equal aplomb. & trust me, resolving it is high on my priority list right now, hence this thread. I've got too much stock to deal with in the next couple of weeks to be forcing it through the blade like I had to today.
are you jointing an edge and face before you run it through the blade?
if its off just a hair, it will not run through the blade smoothly, and cherry and maple burn easily.
Cherry I expect to burn, and maple just a bit too, but this was seriously bogging down more than it ever has in the past.
As for jointing, I'm doing 'prep' for cutting boards, and I generally don't edge joint,before ripping. However one step I did not show was that all of the boards were 'guided' by a piece of 'factory' edge plywood screwed to them so I was getting a straight registration off of the fence. The stack in the first shot was the result of that process. I hadn't even begun to rip them down to 'working' width of 1.5 to 2.25" or so.
It could be a combination of just about everything mentioned. A board that "looks" flat isn't the same as one that's actually flat and has been face and edge jointed.....if they haven't been, it doesn't help your situation, and could be a contributing factor. The blade also looked plenty dirty, which can cause more burning, which causes more gumming, etc. Glenn's point about the blade having too many teeth could also be a factor....it looks like you've got a full kerf blade on a 1.5hp (13 amp) motor cutting wood that's 4/4" or 5/4", which is a challenge for that combination.
Fewer, cleaner, (maybe sharper) teeth should help....a 24T TK should loaf through that.
Perfectly flat straight wood should help.
Raising the blade a little higher could help too.
Just to cover all the bases, have you checked the fence for flatness? Is the saw hooked to an extension cord? (Too long and/or an underrated cord could starve the saw of juice, making it bog)
Well I'm pretty well sunk then... my entire shop runs off of a 'long' extension cord. Today was the first time I've had major issues like this. I'll see what I can do to 'shorten' the cords (ie, I'm using an extension cord to get power over to the north side of my shop, I can eliminate that, etc...) I did a bunch of cutting on pine over the summer, so I'm sure I have lots of resin on the blade. Google here I come for blade cleaning how to's.
As for blades, what I have is what I'm Going to have right now. I have the CMT cabinet shop blade, my stock blade (somewhere...) and the WWII, there is zero in the budget for new tools until this batch of cutting boards pays off with some sales. A sharpening/cleaning I could swing, a new blade, no way.
Mostly with that many boards burned I'd suspect too many teeth and perhaps a dulling blade. I hardly ever use more than a 24 to 32 tooth blade for hardwoods, more for ply, but not for hardwoods.
the WWII has always been a stand out performer in the past, I think it needs a good cleaning. I did closely inspect the blade for missing/chipped teeth and didn't see any that were any different than the others.
Man, these guys covered all the based already.
Ned, going to a thin kerf, 24 tooth blade made a world of difference on my Ridgid saw that's similar to yours. Adding a MicroJig splitter helped a lot, too.
I have a microjig in the drawer somewhere, I just have never installed it.
Again, I Was using my stock, wobbly as all get out blade guard, and that helped with the reaction wood (the rock maple was incredibly twisty/reactionary), but today species didn't seem to matter. I think Scott nailed it with the extension cords and it being underpowered... I can easily 'lose' 25' of impedence simply by plugging the TS in a different spot.
Another option I have which I've just thought of is to set a fence on my bandsaw and put my 1/2" blade on it (14" HF with riser, so 1/2" is as big as I dare put on it). I'd get more 'yield' per board from that system, then I could joint and rip etc... with relative ease.
Again, Thank you all for your advice!