Saw Stop Feedback anyone?

[Dale Morris]

I just looked over the Saw Stop TS today closely, man it looks like a much better saw than I thought, am I right? The blade tilt and raise and lower was by far the smoothest I've seen. the guy at Woodcraft said that the trunion alone on the saw weighted more than just about any other brands complete saw. the fence was very nice and seemed to me to much tighter then the Bessemeyer, and smother too. Does anybody out there own one? If so how do you like it? The woodcraft guy where I was has sold about 25, he said 2 of them have had the bade stop set off with no injuries. It looked really impressive, What do you guys think? Of course the price is pretty impressive too. Thanks in advance for the feedback!


Dale

[Mac Cambra]

I have one, a 5HP model. It is a very impressive machine. It was an upgrade from a Delta Unisaw. From what I can tell it is superior in just about every way, but then again at more that 2 times the cost it should be.

My saw was precisely set-up straight out of the crate. I have been very happy with it although the price tag makes you swallow hard. Hopefully I will never need the safety features but it is sure nice having them.

Haven't had a need for their customer service so I can't comment on that, I have heard good things through.

[glenn bradley]

I just did a search here on Saw Stop and got 2,700 hits ;-)

[Dale Morris]

Mac How long have you had it? The cost is tough, but figure in the cost of one little oops, ...........

I didn't know the saw was that good, Did you have to assemble it? How did you unload it and put it together?

[Todd Franks]

I just did a search here on Saw Stop and got 2,700 hits ;-)

And only 2600 of those had to be closed by the mods:rolleyes:

[Ken Pywell]

I've had mine for a couple of years and it is a terrific saw. But, my previous saw was an old Delta contractor saw, so moving to any cabinet saw is going to be a nice jump. Any of the top cabinet saws will give you many years of service. I chose the Sawstop not just because of the safety but because it had a nice on/off switch, a little larger table, and a little better fit and finish. But again, any of the top saws will give equal performance.
Ken

[Roger Jensen]

I've had mine for six months and love it. My only other saw was the Ridgid portable contractor saw, so I don't know how it compares to other cabinet saws. The saw was perfect right out of the box. I have the 3 hp, shorter table and it is plenty big for me.

The portable stand is also a must have. Expensive, but you're investing so much anyway why not go all the way.

My other reasoning is I thought it would retain its value better than some of the other saws out there, although I have nothing to support that - I just assumed as much. We'll see, if and when I ever have to sell it.

Roger

[Joe Mioux]

I have a SS cabinet saw.

Yes, the SS is really an impressive tool.

The brake system is just a part of the cost. Fit and finish, the trunnions, the micro switches on the doors, the hydraulic mobile base, the extension table, riving knife, the riving knife with blade guard and palls, the saw blade, the fence, etc all add to the price.

It is a wonderful saw and a joy to use and yes I would buy it again.

joe

[Ken Milhinch]

the guy at Woodcraft said that the trunion alone on the saw weighted more than just about any other brands complete saw.

Dale

That's just plain xxxxx. The Sawstop 3HP and the Powermatic 3HP weigh roughly the same.

[Mark Koury]

I was in the market for some new tools and recently purchased a PM2000. I looked at Sawstop - seemed like a good saw with an interesting idea. Safety is no-doubt important to me but the somewhat arbitrary limitations placed on the owner by Sawstop put me off. In short, I like moulders. You can’t run them on the Sawstop unless you put in the jury-rigged wire fix as mentioned somewhere else here on SMC. Frankly, you should be able to turn the protection ALL THE WAY OFF. But, YOU CAN‘T! Now I wonder what will happen in years to come when Sawstop is out of business? I guess someone will then make a kit to disable the mechanism or explain how to totally remove it. Maybe some Chinese factory will make the brake cartridges? That would be an interesting crap-shoot!

What follows is the text of an email that I got from Sawstop regarding the moulder issue (Dec 5, 08):

It is true that our saw will not work with the magic molder. The
electronics in our saw checks the proximity of the blade to the brake
cartridge before it will allow the saw to be turned on. Since the magic
molder only has 4 cutting tips, this initialization will not complete
successfully. Our saw has a "bypass mode" that allows the saw to run
without the protection of the braking system so that you can cut
aluminum or pressure treated lumber or other materials that have
conductive qualities, but it still has to complete the initialization in
order to be used in "bypass mode". I cannot recommend that you use a
work around to make the saw run with the magic molder although it is not
difficult. It is not consistent with our intention of providing the
user with protection of the SawStop. It is our desire, of course, that
after you weigh all the pros and cons, you would still decide that the
benefits of our saw far outweigh those of any other saw.

Mark

[Don Bullock]

Dale, I have a 5 hp SawStop and really love it. It's been in my shop for several years now. After showing my wife the videos on their website she told me to buy one. As the guy you spoke to at Woodcraft said, the SawStop is a very substantial saw and is well made. I have an Incra fence on mine so I can't answer your questions about the fence. As Mark states there are other saws in the same class that include the Powermatic 2000.

You might like to do a search here on Sawmill Creek for threads about the saw, but be aware that it has its critics. Some people got very upset that the inventor tried to get the government to mandate the technology. Like was mentioned above there are thousands of hits when you search and many of those threads ended up being locked because of the rhetoric over the politics of the saw, not its quality and design. If you search through the threads I'd suggest that you look at the more recent ones because they will have more posts from those of us who actually own one and that seems to be what you're looking for. Mark does bring up one drawback of the saw. It can't be used with molders. That doesn't bother me, but for someone like him it was an important issue. The only thing that I've noticed is a similar one. The arbor length limits the width of dado blades that can be used. This may be limited due to the width of the dado brake. Since I don't intend to use molders with my table saw and I don't plan to do a lot of dado work with it because I prefer to use a router, I don't mind those limitations.

[Carl Babel]

I have a 3 HP SS. I struggled with the "which cabinet saw" decision for almost a year. The SS and the PM2000 were on my shortlist. The clincher for me was that my I have a 5 year old who enjoys spending time in the shop. One day (when he's old/mature enough), if he is still interested, I will teach him how to use the TS. I could never forgive myself if he had an accident that could have been avoided if I had spent an extra $1-2000.

FWIW, if I thought that the risk were only ever going to be to me, I probably would have gone with the PM. Having said that, I love my SS - it is the smoothest TS that I have ever used.

[M. A. Espinoza]

That's just plain xxxx. The Sawstop 3HP and the Powermatic 3HP weigh roughly the same.

Yup, salesman at work.:rolleyes:

I own the contractor Saw Stop and have never heard anyone have quality issues with the cabinet saw.

BTW they are introducing basically a "cabinet saw light" later this year with a lower price. If you aren't in a rush that could be an option. But the full size cabinet saw is as good as any out there.

[guy knight]

sold my jet cabinet saw and bought the 3hp ss love it

[Brian Penning]

Fortunately for me I had no choice in buying the SS cab saw. Like Don, my wife saw the videos and I must say, quite forcefully told me to buy one.
It replaced my 3HP General.

[Jay Knoll]

I have the contractor version, a BIG step up from my Dewalt benchtop saw, I have been very happy with it, although I've only had it about 3 months. I upgraded the fence and got the mobility kit.

[Mac Cambra]

I had mine somewhere between 6 months and a year. I have never used a Powermatic saw so I can't comment regarding how they compare.

Honestly speaking I can't say that I feel like the huge difference in price between my Unisaw and this saw is well justified. There is no doubt this saw is built better, and is safer. I used my Unisaw probably for somewhere around 5 years, is the wood cut any more accurately, or did the saw stall or some other notable performance difference the answer is no.

I like the safety aspect of the tool and really appreciate the quality of the tool, if those are important aspects of a purchase for you then you won't be disappointed. If you are looking purely for wood cutting performance I think you can get a more than capable saw for a lot less money.

[Kevin Groenke]

For an educational shop like ours (design college) the SS is a no brainer.

Fortunately, since the machine is well designed and built and has nearly unheard of customer service (so far) little has been lost with the change from Unisaws. We have 2 of the first 50, delivered in 12/04, we were on the pre-order list for ~2 years. I stand by my oft stated opinion that the SS cabinet saw is the best available ... and it stops.


I'm not concerned that our saws will become disfunctional if SS doesn't make it. If for some reason the brakes become unavailable, a simple mag-switch wired to the motor and the saw is a conventional saw.

-kg

[Mike Heidrick]

I have had a SS cabinet saw 5hp since 10/06. It is really really nice and with all the new US style cabinet saws that have come out or have been announced since then, there is none I would trade my SS for. I will also say this I am glad I bought when I did. Price was high but it is higher now and I do not see that changing much. I also believe that if I ever did not have carts available then I could make some mods and also get my saw up and running and maybe make a mint selling conversions to other SS owners.