Method and apparatus for maintaining a surface speed of a circular cutting device

A cutting device, comprising:

• an actuator configured to rotate a cutting wheel;
• a power source configured to provide power to the actuator for rotating the cutting wheel at an adjustable rotational velocity;
• and
• control circuitry configured to:
• determine a present diameter of a cutting wheel of the cutting device;
• adjust a rotational velocity of the cutting wheel based on the present diameter to have a surface speed of the cutting wheel at substantially a pre-determined constant surface speed;
• provide a warning when a change rate for a diameter of the cutting wheel is greater than a first threshold;
• and
• adjust the rotational velocity of the cutting wheel to zero when the change rate is greater than a second threshold that is greater than the first threshold.

A cutting device, comprising:

• an actuator configured to rotate a cutting wheel;
• a power source configured to provide power to the actuator for rotating the cutting wheel at an adjustable rotational velocity;
• and
• control circuitry configured to:
• determine a present diameter of a cutting wheel of the cutting device;
• adjust a rotational velocity of the cutting wheel based on the present diameter to have a surface speed of the cutting wheel at substantially a pre-determined constant surface speed;
• compare the present diameter with a previous diameter;
• determine a change rate of the present diameter;
• when the change rate is greater than a first threshold, adjust the rotational velocity of the cutting wheel to zero;
• and
• provide a warning when the change rate is less than or equal to the first threshold and greater than or equal to a second threshold.