Kickback control methods for power tools

A power tool comprising:

• a housing;
• a brushless direct current (DC) motor having a rotor and a stator, wherein the rotor is configured to rotationally drive a motor shaft about a rotational axis;
• a switching network electrically coupled to the brushless DC motor;
• a sensor configured to sense a characteristic of the power tool;
• a wireless communication interface configured to communicate with an external device;
• and
• an electronic processor coupled to the switching network, the sensor, and the wireless communication interface, the electronic processor configured to:
• receive, from the external device via the wireless communication interface, a user-selected sensitivity parameter for the kickback control, wherein the user-selected sensitivity parameter is set by a user via a graphical user interface of the external device, and wherein the user-selected sensitivity parameter includes a kickback threshold,
• determine whether the characteristic of the power tool exceeds the kickback threshold included in the user-selected sensitivity parameter, and
• control the switching network to cease driving of the brushless DC motor in response to determining that the characteristic of the power tool exceeds the kickback threshold.

A power tool comprising:

• a housing;
• a brushless direct current (DC) motor having a rotor and a stator, wherein the rotor is configured to rotationally drive a motor shaft about a rotational axis;
• a switching network electrically coupled to the brushless DC motor;
• a wireless communication interface configured to communicate with an external device;
• and
• an electronic processor coupled to the switching network, and the wireless communication interface tool, the electronic processor configured to:
• receive, from the external device via the wireless communication interface, a user-selected sensitivity parameter for the kickback control, wherein the user-selected sensitivity parameter is set by a user via a graphical user interface of the external device,
• set a kickback threshold based on the user-selected sensitivity parameter,
• receive, from the external device via the wireless communication interface, an updated user-selected sensitivity parameter for the kickback control, and
• adjust the kickback threshold based on the updated user-selected sensitivity parameter.